Tickle Me Elmo — the craze?

The craze: Christmas 1996: a $29 toy resold for $1,500; a Walmart clerk was injured by a crowd.

Toy Files · 🧸 Dolls & plush

G33Z3R Toy Files · 1996–1997

Why was Tickle Me Elmo so hard to find?

Tickle Me Elmo

Introduced: 1996
Made by: Tyco
The craze: Christmas 1996: a $29 toy resold for $1,500; a Walmart clerk was injured by a crowd
Still made?: Revived in several versions

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The file

A plush Elmo that laughed and shook when you squeezed him. Rosie O'Donnell gave them away on her show that fall and demand went vertical; by December stores were sold out and classified ads were asking four figures.

It was Cabbage Patch for the parents of the youngest Gen X, and the frenzy became a news story about the frenzy. The toy itself was fine. The line outside was the memory.

Sources: Wikipedia — Tickle Me Elmo

Did you have a Tickle Me Elmo? Tell us about it — or about the year you asked and didn't get one.

The drive, the dance, the heartbreak, the summer. Add a memory of Tickle Me Elmo.

Why was Tickle Me Elmo so hard to find?

The file

Did you have a Tickle Me Elmo? Tell us about it — or about the year you asked and didn't get one.

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