December 2000 News

==December 31, 2000==
In my opinion this story was bound to get out sooner or later! It's a shame that this mans approach to the market has been tarnished by his inability to appreciate the fun of collecting. While he is entitled to his opinion like everyone else, it appears to be written to grab attention more than anything!
Hey, this is strictly my opinion. Ms. Janie

MIKE HARDEN: Gone - and soon to be forgotten I take great pride in the fact that I am one of seven living Americans (including five cloistered nuns and an Idaho hermit) to never have purchased a Beanie Baby. For years - and with considerable amusement - I pondered the very real possibility that otherwise intelligent adults might court prison time by plotting to intercept UPS trucks hauling mother-lode shipments of Smoochy the Frog. No more. "Beanies are dead," groused Jim Richter,
proprietor of a Bloomington, Ill., shop called Five Star Collectibles and a regular vendor at collectibles shows in central Ohio. "I'm selling the common Beanies for $3 apiece," he continued. "Last year I was selling them anywhere from $6 to $10. "Like the stock market did this year, the bottom completely dropped out. We are sitting on a couple of Beanies we paid $500 each for. We'll be lucky to get $100 each." To read this story in its entirety, visit the following link.
http://www.nandotimes.com/opinions/story/0,1098,500294419-500468073-503157371-0,00.html

Some comments from Ty's Cyberboard concerning his latest release ISSY
I think I'm quitting beanies......
oscarbean (09:39 pm. Dec 30, 2000 )
Message Id: 779134
oscarbean writes:

O.K. I didn't like the thank you bear, but tolerated it, but now a bear that is only being sold to the people who rent a room at a hotel!!!!! I bet most of these people aren't even beanie collectors!!! So, they will end up on ebay and the true collector will get gauged. Believe me, I don't mind a few exclusives, as a US citizen I had to pay for buckingham, chinook, sakura etc... but the issy and thank you bear are more exclusive than the country specific bears. Ty, just say the word that you want to cater to the rich, and I will be out of collecting beanies in a flash!!!!!!!!
(this is just one of the MANY postings about ISSY.. you can read more
here: http://web2-3.ty.com/cyberboard/news/threads.html)

Profile On Isadore ("Issy") Sharp
Wanting to know more about the person Ty's latest release is named after? Isadore ("Issy") Sharp founded the Four Seasons Hotels And Resorts in 1960 with the opening of the first Four Seasons hotel on Jarvis Street in downtown Toronto. Click Here:
http://www.fshr.com/press/releases/release36.html For Isadore ("Issy") Sharp Profile

==December 30, 2000==
HUGE Ty Collection!
Andrea Puts Collection on Auction
I did some early Spring cleaning (I was told pregnant woman get these sudden burst of energy and want to clean! lol) and was able to get over 1,000 Beanies/Buddies/Attic/Kids put neatly and alphabetically for that matter, into a new shelving unit. However, many of my prized pieces would just not fit! Here is a chance at a really great bargain... Chinook, Buckingham, Maple Buddy, Germania Buddy, Germania Beanie, Beginning Bear, 1997 Holiday Teddy, 1998 Holiday Teddy, Santa Buddy and MANY MANY more! http://www.collectingnation.com/auction/2003000/item_2003200.shtml

Bean Watcher
The Bean Watcher shares his thoughts on Ty's line of products during the year 2000. To read his year-end perspective on assorted styles, click the Bean Watcher link above! http://www.beaniewonderland.com/news/beanwatcher.htm

BeanKid's NEWSCenter
"Hi! This is Kody Looper, at BeanKid's NEWSCenter. Our town had a severe winter storm that knocked out electricity out and has been out along with our phone since Tuesday morning! I have been going to the library to update the site, but haven't got anything done on the site since the grand opening! Could you please post on your site that we are back! Thank you all so much for you help!" --Kody Looper (BeanKid's NEWSCenter)

FUNORAMA AT TY
My kids are now addicted to the Memory game. LOL I managed to get my name on the list twice (friend4life). http://www.ty.com/funorama/funorama.shtml

TY HAS INTRODUCED ISSY
http://www.ty.com/announcements/issy.html
In Memory of Christopher Sharp 1960-1978

Issy is named after Isadore Sharp, Founder and Chairman of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts.

All profits from the sale of this Issy will go to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan to aid Pediatric cancer research.

This exclusive Beanie Baby will be available for purchase to all guests staying at the Four Seasons Hotel in New York City. www.mskcc.org

==December 29, 2000==

PLANET BEANS WON AN AWARD
I was surprised when I received this award in my email this evening. I've displayed it on the Awards page proudly!! :o)

"Planet beans has been singled out from the many applications. It gives LineBite great pleasure in presenting you with the enclosed plaque commemorating your achievement which can now be placed with pride on your web site."

NEWS IN THE WORLD OF 'GET PAID FOR SURFING'
Here's what my friend Deb had to say: "I belong to many freebie and other mailing lists and I heard that ALL ADVANTAGE IS GOING UNDER, filed on 12-22-00 so if you are still using their pay bar while surfing I highly encourage you to change and sign up for SPEDIA, I use that pay bar and they pay every month on time!" ==I have still been trying to use AllAdvantage and have grown quite tired of their payscale being so much lower than first promised. I have started using SPEDIA again and can't wait to start receiving my checks. :o) If you'd like to check into getting paid with SPEDIA go here: http://www.spedia.net/cgi-bin/dir/tz.cgi?run=show_svc&fl=8&vid=1270427

DON'T GET TRAMPLED BY COLLECTION OBSESSION
From: Ms. Janie
Children also have gotten into the mania of collecting. Owning every Beanie Baby, Christmas Barbie or Pokemon card can become a driving force in a child's life. There are lists compiled so that a child can check off each item to make sure that he owns every part of the series. However, there are big differences between all these collections. For Roxie and her mother, the collections were ideas that went out of control. My children's collections are merely races to see who can get all the stuff first. But for my Aunt Violet, the collection was a sort of album of her life. http://www.copleynewspapers.com/sunpub/60504/city/f28buchenot.htm

A LETTER FROM ANDREA (http://www.andreasattic.com)
Well as many of you have noticed, I had to leave for a week quite sadly. I had a very tragic family emergency and needed to be with my relatives during this time. For those who sent your warm wishes and prayers, I cannot thank you enough. The support was overwhelming. I was truly amazed to find out that we were missed! I realized I have made many Beanie friends through this website and thank God for each and every one of you. For those worried about their orders, please know that I will have them all shipped out by Tuesday via Priority Mail. Please be patient with me, as I am due to give birth within 2 weeks and trips to the Post Office are quite a work out for me! ... And the changes... Because of my current condition, all inventory pages and shopping cart features have been shut off from the website. I also had an awful experience with my post office and roughly $300 worth of merchandise and packages did not reach their destination. Although all postage fees were paid and accurate, my post office will not give me any answers, thus I have filed a complaint with them. We have left open the contest page and our chat and trade boards. I will post the question and stats of our contest on our trade boards as well as in this newsletter. Hopefully within a month I will have all sales features back up. Once again, I cannot thank you all for your patience, support and understanding. Having left this website for a week truly broke my heart as me and my webmaster, Hank, have worked very hard to bring you this website. Please stop by and visit our website and trade boards. If you receive the "Temporarily Closed" message on our front page, please refresh the page or clear out your internet browser cache. Thank you again, and here's to better fortune in the year 2001. -Andrea

THANK YOU BEAR HITS THE SHELVES
From: Andrea's Attic
Recently Ty gave retailers a "Thank You Bear" which has been fetching upwards of $250. An Andrea's Attic subscriber who works at a Hallmark store shares with us that Ty will introduce a copy of the Thank You bear for retail customers! The bear will have a hang tag change and will not come with the card. I have a hunch that if it does hit shelves, it will be quite popular!

ANDREA'S 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS CONTEST
From: Andrea's Attic
Unfortunately, my leave of absence took place in the midst of our 12 Days of Christmas contest. So now that we are back, the contest will start up again tomorrow with Day #6. The prize will be a Wallace Beanie! So it just might fall a bit after Christmas, but it will still be fun! The question will be announced before 9:00 AM Pacific Time tomorrow. Best of luck!

NEW BUDDIES
From: Bean eWonderland
We have received some information regarding the prediction list made yesterday (27th December). We now know that at least three of the new Buddies are correct. We also know that they are not the Country exclusive ones so it narrows down to any three from: Ariel, Bananas, Billionaire Buddy, Cashew, China, Howl, Peekaboo, Runner, Swoop, Glory, and Beginning Bear. A little nearer, hopefully we can find out some more later.

If you know someone that has been entering the contests daily, please pass along this link and ask that they join the Planet Beans Newsletter http://www.planetbeans.com/newsletter.htm for updates just in case the server goes down again. Thanks!! :o)

==December 28, 2000==
What is it they say about "no news is good news"?! I can't seem to find anything to share with you today that's newsworthy. LOL Let's hope this means something will happen later, perhaps a retirement that we are all expecting.

==December 27, 2000==
PRICES CONTINUE TO DROP
Just look at the MegaExchange banner above. Germania and Nipponia have come down a bit more. Click on the banner to see many of the greats at reasonable prices. You can even buy a Periwinkle and Sunny set for $15.90 and that's for barcode OR eBeanie tag.

Ty's Info. Beanie talks about a New Year's Eve Party!
From: Ms. Janie
In year's past this meant a retirement. Could Ty be gearing up for another retirement or is this simply another party? Hmmm, only Tyme will tell! The early retirement of Sunny and Periwinkle sure sparked a lot of interest, it may be time for Ty to get back on track and bring back the good OLE days! Tuesday December 26, 2000 3:57 p.m. We made a list of everything we need to do for our New Year's Eve party. Most of the things we have to do are fun things like decorating and cooking. We'll also have to clean and take down the old decorations which won't really be fun but that's ok. We can tell jokes and sing songs while we work so that will make it kind of fun. We decided we are going to have chips and dips and that sort of thing to eat. We have a whole list of yummy things but I don't think that we'll be able to make them all. We have plenty of time to decide on our final menu. Gosh, thinking about yummy things is making me really hungry! I'm going to see if I can have a snack. I'll talk to you later. Bye! http://web2-3.ty.com/infobeanie/lastpage/

From the celebrity column:
From: Ms. Janie
You ask celebrities for their New Year's resolutions, you deserve whatever you get: Bill Maher of the U.S. cable talk show Politically Incorrect said he has resolved "to take my Beanie Babies out of the display case and actually play with them." http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/pages/001226/5073879.html

Pupils at Fairmount School were rewarded
From: Ms. Janie
Friday for some of their good deeds so far this school year. As a highlight of the pupil incentive program she initiated four years ago, veteran educator Georgianna Ellis provided a holiday gift for each and every pupil in the school — all 340 of them. The much-anticipated drawing began at 1:30 p.m. sharp, when the pupils, dressed in their finest for their morning holiday concerts, began filing into the school gymnasium. After what must have been to them an excruciatingly long wait, the pupils erupted into wild cheers when the blue curtains in front of the gymnasium stage parted to reveal a row of tables groaning under the weight of mounds of toys. There were dolls, basketballs, books and Beanie Babies. There were Skittle Basketball games, ice skates and warm winter boots. There also were stuffed animals, collectible cards, board games and more. There also were six Razor Scooters, unarguably the most sought-after items this holiday season. http://www.bangornews.com/cgi-bin/article.cfm?storynumber=25870

AN EXTRAORDINARY SET OF SERIES I CARDS SELLS FOR $19,516!
From: SmartCollecting
An auction for an extraordinary collection of Series I cards sold for $19,516 on December 22nd on Smart Collecting Auctions at Collecting Nation. The set included two signed cards (a silver Bessie card and a gold Bessie card) plus 50 gold cards! "The auction went great. The reserve was $17,000.00," explains Gary and Kathy Marquardt, known as "organize" on Collecting Nation. "We own a store in Moore, Oklahoma and we sell Ty Secondary Market. We have used your web site religiously since you started and we love your newsletter. Keep up the good work. You make our job a lot easier with all the hard work your staff does." http://www.collectingnation.com/auction/1995000/item_1995487.shtml/asc

Retirement Predictions
From: Bean eWonderland
We have had several rumours over the past few days but here is our first prediction from one of our regulars. Even though these are just one persons predictions it will be interesting to see how near they come. Why? because I know how correct their 'predictions' have been in the past:
Beanie Babies: There are a ton of rumors that Ty will retire the entire line. One simple reason stated is that the hang tags say 2000. While I don't think Ty will retire the entire current set, I do think he will begin using the hang tag that simple says Beanies. Now here is a list of Beanies I "predict" will retire: All of the Zodiac Beanies (Big disappointment) Aurora, Billionaire 3 will be taken off the current list, BUCKINGHAM, Bushy, CASHEW, Cheezer, CHINOOK, Clubby III will also be taken off the current list, Glow, Grace, Halo II, HUGGY, India, Lurkey, Niles, Prince, Runner, Sarge, Sneaky, Swampy, Swoop, Trumpet, U.S.A., Wiggly.
Buddies I "predict" will retire: Both Batty Buddies, Bushy, Clubby III will be taken off the current list, EMPLOYEE BEAR, GERMANIA, Happy, Large LIBEARTY, XL LIBEARTY, Lips, Jumbo PEACE, XL PEACE, Rainbow, Roam, Jumbo Schweetheart, XL Schweetheart, Large Schweetheart, TEDDY, WALLACE, White Tiger. Possible NEW Buddies: ARIEL, Bananas, 1st Time Ever Billionaire Buddy, BUCKINGHAM, CASHEW, China, CHINOOK, Howl, SAKURA (Japanese Ex.), Peekaboo, Runner, Swoop, U.S.A., Glory, and Beginning Bear (with stamped Stars, not stickers).
Possible New Beanies: New German Exclusive (Bear), New England exclusive (non-bear), new Canadian Exclusive (Bear), 2 New USA Exclusives, 3 new Dogs, 2 new cats, New Japanese Exclusive (Bear), Whale, Fish, Bee, Shark, and Opossum. These retirements will take place over the next week and the new ones will be announced between Jan. 1st and Jan 3rd.
(Bean eWonderlands comments - Remember, these are just one persons predictions but it will be interesting to follow).

Officers Get Stuffed Animals For Kids
From: Beanieholics
A Cracker Barrel Restaurant in Alabama handed over about 300 teddy bears, bunny rabbits, koala bears and even a few space aliens as part of a much needed donation to the Hug-A-Bear Club. The Hug-A-Bear Club is sustained through employee and private donations. St. Clair County law enforcement officers carry at least three stuffed toys with them in their patrol cars and use them to help calm young victims of domestic violence or accidents. Click Here For Story

ADVERTISING
If you are interested in advertising on the main page or any other area of Planet Beans please email me at Advertising@planetbeans.com You may be surprised at how inexpensive it is to get the word out to so many people daily. I will provide you with detailed information, such as, an average number of visits, the extra advertising you will receive, and cost per month. Advertising on Planet Beans has proven to be a valuable asset to many. Just ask Andrea of Andrea's Attic who has seen quite an increase in sales coming from her advertising here.

Win a Thank You Beanie at BeanieKidz!
Visit BeanieKidz.com today for your chance to win a MWMT Thank You Bear and loads more!

==December 26, 2000==
Germania Update
From: Bean eWonderland
One of our regulars writes the following in regards to our recent Germania reports: It is true that Ty has flooded the stores with Germanias, probably in an
attempt to "kill" the secondary market. But he could be "killing the goose" by deterring adult buyers. They take the children to the stores. If the adult doesn't go there, then nor do the children i.e. The Germanias do not get sold. What has he achieved?

GERMANIA ONLY $9
Click on the Meta Exchange banner above and you will find Germania for only $9!!
Buckingham and Nipponia for $64?
Chinook is $25.65.
Red-Nose Roxie is $8.49.
Maple Buddy is only $28.50.
Peace Bears for ONLY $2.85!! WOW - LOL

More Rumours
From: Bean eWonderland
From one of our readers: Just a rumour - but a reasonable source who works at Ty Europe told me there are two new dogs in storage - waiting for shipping - Winston and Churchill (apparently they are going to be new UK exclusives) - and also they have loads of Chinooks there also - could they have been shipped to Ty Europe by mistake? (Bean eWonderlands comment - The dog called Winston rumour has surfaced many times in the past, it always sounds a possibility. I would also have thought that if a large quantity of Chinook's had arrived by mistake they could quite easily be sent back. I guess we shall just have to wait and see).

A SPECIAL THANK YOU HAPPENS FOR ONE OF OUR READERS!
From: Cajun Connection
I am an avid beanie collector. I found myself working in a small doll store because of my beanie "habit" (the store sold beanies as well as dolls!) Last week my boss (and owner of the store) received her Thank you bear, not 1 hour after a customer offered her $200 for it. She later told me, that the bear means little to her except for the money she could get for it, and the same for the one other employee at the store. So she told me she was giving it to me to thank me for all my hard work and dedication to her store. I thought this was very touching. It seems as though so much revolves around money these days, and it was wonderful that it's not always that way! I hope everybody remembers this, this season, and tries to do a little something for somebody they appreciate too. I have!!!

Ty Posts Holiday Wishes
From: Beanieholics
Ty Warner posted Holiday wishes on each of the four sections of the Ty Cyberboard last night. Each note was the same:

Happy Holidays! Just wanted to stop by and wish everyone a Happy Holiday and a Happy New Year!

This is Kody Looper from BeanKid's NEWSCenter ( http://www.beankid.cjb.net )! BeanKid's NEWSCenter has been shut down for a few months until I got settled into High School. Well, it reopens Christmas day! If you don't mind, please post on your site that we are reopening December 25th at http://www.beankid.cjb.net and we are giving away a complete set of the 7 new holiday Beanies (Roxie Red Nose, Roxie Black Nose, Snowgirl, 2000 Holiday, Santa Buddy, Wallace Buddy, and Halo II Buddy)

==December 25, 2000==
=Merry Christmas!!=
May your special day be filled with smiles and abundant hugs from those you love. Make some special memories this Christmas.

Merry Christmas from Bean eWonderland
Merry Christmas to all our readers, I shall be going out with friends later today to start the holiday celebrations and I hope that you all have a safe and happy festive period. I have added a behind the scenes style page for you to take a look at, visit it at the following link and learn more about us all. View Here:

==December 24, 2000==
Germanias
From: Bean eWonderland
There is a toy store in Jacksonville that usually gets the new beanies first. Well this really is a first, they got in a dozen Germania's yesterday. They were not the normal $5.95 they charge for beanies, but they were $19.95. Which in my estimate is still a great deal, seeing as how I paid alot more for mine. But this is amazing this changes everything about the country exclusives. I wouldn't mind running across a Sakura at the toy store because I still can't afford that one. Dixie. (Bean eWonderlands comment - We would not get too excited about this one just yet, it is more likely that the store has purchased them on the secondary market or maybe a delivery was made as a mistake).

Tracking Santa
From: Beanieholics
NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) tracks Santa every Christmas eve, following his trek around the world for children everywhere. This year's Santa tracking program is the 44th broadcast by NORAD. Boys and girls, both naughty and nice, will be able to stay in touch with NORAD starting tonight at 7 p.m. EST. as they track Santa's ride on the worldwide web. Those on American Online can do this by using the keyword: Track Santa. Others can use the link below.
Click Here For Santa Tracking

Ryan from BeanieSpot.com shares the following:
to whom this may concern,
a few months ago i stopped collecting ty products. right before i stopped i found this graphic on the ty site under announcements/classic_beans.gif. i thought it was quite odd, as i fuond it after the date the graphic says (10/12/00). well since i had quit collecting beanies i just never thought about sending it to anyone. but i just started collecting again because i like most of his new stuff. so i thought it might be cool to share this with someone. also, since i just started collecting again, did he ever make these? here is the graphic that i found.
Click Here to view graphic.

from: confused "K"

[BeanieSpot.com's Comment: Personally I think this is a fake graphic because, ty never puts the Date they were introduced. I don't think he would use the same graphics as used in the Ty Classic line. Also, there was already a China™ the Beanie 10/12/2000. Send your comments to use @ webmaster@beaniespot.com]

==December 23, 2000==
Beanie Babies to the Rescue
From: Bean eWonderland
Members of a local sheriff’s organization brightened the day for several children Thursday by spending time with them at a local hospital. Eathen Biship (2) has a hard time choosing a Beanie Baby from a basket full delivered by Debbie Brewer and Ginger Vail to Sparks Regional Medical Center Thursday. The two women are members of the Sebastian County Sheriff's Department Women's Auxiliary. Full Story:

Bloom Update
From: Bean eWonderland
After hearing that Ty Trade had pulled the auction for the rumoured Bloom Bear, we received an email from the person who sent us the original information. It was supposedly a forwarded copy from Ty Inc. asking the seller to refrain from listing any future 'Blooms' on the auctions. I am not going to publish the email because it is clearly a fake one, I am not going to say why we know it is fake as next time this happens pranksters will be aware of the points mentioned. All I will say is that I have received enough emails on behalf of Ty Inc. this year and know the routine only too well.

Sunny & Periwinkle Shelf Sitters?!
Alanna shares the following:
I went to the Hallmark at the Ft. Wayne (Indiana) mall yesterday and found a load of Sunny's and Periwinkle's! They had to have had at least 12 of each. All of them had the bar code tags. I asked the sales lady about them and she's said they've been sitting there for awhile. I guess they aren't as popular here as they are in other parts.

=December 22, 2000==
SERVER APPEARS TO BE WORKING AGAIN!! :o)

From: Ms. Janie
Once again, is it live or is it Memorex? The following was found on Ty's Cyberboard. PLEASE keep in mind that this has not been verified and may or may NOT be true! I personally think it’s a great idea but can not verify the story.

Beanie Kid Buddies Sighting??!!
Paso Fino Ranch (11:51 am. Dec 21, 2000 )
Message Id: 774256
Paso Fino Ranch writes:

I just finished speaking to my mother long distance, and she told me that she had seen Beanie Kid Buddies at a Hallmark Store in the Wilmington, NC area. I know that I read a post here referring to the
possibility of there being Beanie Buddy Kids in the future, but no one has posted about having actually seen any. Mom said that they are larger than Beanie Kids (of course) but couldn't supply more details because she isn't very familiar with anything but Beanie Babies. But she did insist that what she had seen were Kid Buddies. http://web3-2.ty.com/cyberboard/news/msg774256.html

Ms. Janie supports Ty Trade and Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation by offering signed Dan Aykroyd and Donna Dixon Ariel bears. Read my story http://www.msjanie.com/dondan/dan_donna.html

==December 21, 2000=
Ty has retired Righty2000 & Lefty2000 Beanie Babies.
http://www.ty.com/announcements/retire1221_leftyrighty.html

AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM ANDREA
Hello fellow Beanie webmasters. I want to thank you for all the support you have given Andrea's Attic over the past few months. If it weren't for you and your faithful readers, we would not be where we are today. Unfortunately, over the past few weeks, I have had a terrible tragedy strike my family and I need to be with them through this time. Thursday night, Andrea's Attic will be taken offline. I will return home Tuesday evening and only then will I know the true future of Andrea's Attic. For those I am sponsoring contests for right now, your prizes will be shipped to the winners when you pick them. For those I am advertising with, please pull my ads when they expire as I truly do not know where
tomorrow may bring me. And for those who are awaiting their orders, please know that they will be shipped (if they haven't already). If you have recently mailed in a payment for an order, please know that it will be shipped when I return home. In the meantime, the Andrea's Attic 12 Days Of Christmas Contest sadly must be halted. I send my sincerest apologies to all of you, my Beanie friends, who have been so loyal to my website and who have become such wonderful friends over the past few
months. It brings me great sorrow to have to disable Andrea's Attic, but right now God has another plan for me. I will update you all when I return home. Please, keep me and my family in your prayers. I truly hope you all have an enjoyable holiday. Thank you for your understanding. Please, try to be patient with me through this difficult time. If you wish to e mail me, please send to Andrea@andreasattic.com. I will respond as soon as I get home.
==PLEASE KEEP ANDREA AND HER FAMILY IN YOUR PRAYERS DURING THIS
HOLIDAY!!==

From: Ms. Janie
Click on the following link to view one of the most beautiful holiday
trees I have ever seen. This tree is decorated with Ty Halo Beanie
Babies. http://www.msjanie.com/pix/tree.html

Ty Trade has posted a Robin Williams autographed Ariel
http://www.tytrade.com

From: Ms. Janie
The following note was posted on Ty's Cyberboard
I picked up Snowball Buddy today in S. Ontario Canada!!! READ ON!!
DNA-RNA (10:31 am. Dec 20, 2000 )
Message Id: 773763
DNA-RNA writes:
Hi Everyone!
I'm truly amazed, my luck is continuing... my mom went to my favorite
retailer who received 3 Snowball Buddies today and she got one of them
for me!! YEAH!! I can't wait until my mom gets home from work... she
says he is absolutely adorable! The rumor of the Snowball Buddy is true!

Happy Holidays Everyone!
http://web1-2.ty.com/cyberboard/news/msg773763.html

==December 20, 2000==
Thank you for your birthday wishes yesterday. It was so nice of some of you to send me birthday greetings. :o)

TROUBLE GETTING THE CLUBBIES
Joanna writes:
Thought you would like to hear the latest in my saga of never getting my Clubby I and II. I submitted credit card receipts, called, emailed, and threatened to sue them!! I received two Speckles and then today received two Clubby III Buddies with two Speckles. All I wanted was my Clubby I to be honest. I loved the blue. I think the Clubby III is downright ugly!!~lol!~

'TIS THE SEASON FOR GIVING
From: Ms. Janie
A Ty Retailer takes it a step above the rest! Her special way of thanking her Beanie customers!

The Treasure House in Great Falls Virginia decided if Ty is sending us a Thank You Gift as a retailer we should thank all of our Loyal Beanie customers. So we have been giving 1 grab prize to all customers for every 2 Ty products they buy. In the grab bag there is Attic Treasures and Beanie Babies. For the first 5 hours we gave out 64 prizes. We will continue to do this for the rest of today and tomorrow the 20th of December and we will do this again on the 29th and 30th. We currently have all 3 of the newly retired Christmas beanies in stock along with all the 2000 beanies. For the customers that did not need the prizes they pulled we have a box that is going to needy children for Christmas that they have been filling. I see this as a Win Win proposition.
Merry Christmas and a Very Happy New Year from our House to yours.
Thank you for the wonderful job you do all year round.
Helen Lerner
The Treasure House is located in Great Falls, VA at the corner of Georgetown Pike and Walker Road.
Telephone: (703) 759 - 2863
Fax: (703) 757 - 7649
Store: 9861 Georgetown Pike, Great Falls, Virginia
http://members.aol.com/TreasreHs/Default.htm

Ty's Christmas party has everyone talking and the sago continues!
From Ms. Janie
More information regarding the Ty Christmas party. It amazes me how much controversy this party has created!
1. There was a link on Ty's Cyberboard that stated that Ty handed out a new Beanie called Frost.
2. While one Rep. states that they received 2 Halo II Buddies and a current Beanie another Rep. shares the following with a reader from my list.
3. For those of you who like rumors, this party sure has stirred up enough of them!
Let's hope nobody ask for a recount because if they do we will all be in trouble! LOL

The following was submitted by a collector who received information from her Ty rep.

I want to let you know that the rumors about employees receiving gifts of a new Beanie Frost and new Buddy Snowball from Ty at a Christmas party are not true. I just finished speaking with a friend who is a Rep in the Chicago area and she said that no such items were received. However, I'm surprised that no one has mentioned that last week at the sales meeting in Chicago, which ended with a wonderful party, approximately 16 Reps were named as "Ambassadors."
Read the rest HERE

Beanie Babies Among Top Ten Fads
From: Beanieholics
Lycos has announced the top 50 search terms on the Internet for the year 2000. They also broke their findings down into different categories. Under the 'Top Ten Fads', Beanie Babies were listed as #9. Overall, including all items searched for, Beanie Babies came in at #63 for the year 2000. In 1999 Beanie Babies were listed as #13. Click Here For More

==December 19, 2000==
A Note From Ms. Janie
Yesterday Sly alerted us to a link on Ty's Cyberboards about the Ty Employee Christmas party. This link spelled out what employees received from Ty for Christmas. Sly reminded us in his note to me that the posting should be considered a rumor until verified.

Today I was informed of the following through a reliable source. Ty distributed 2 Halo II Buddies and a current Beanie; the man himself signed none of the pieces. Ty also assured his employees that year 2001 would be a banner year with lots of excitement and changes. If Ty's marketing strategy resembles anything similar to the early retirement of Sunny and Periwinkle we could be in for a fabulous year! Hold on to your hats folks, it looks like we could be in for the ride of our lives. It's very obvious that Ty has been paying attention and is ready to grant a lot of wishes!

WORTH SHARING
The next couple of days will be filled with delightful photos submitted from collectors using their favorite collectibles in a holiday setting. Today's photos are shared from Brian and Sandie -http://www.msjanie.com/holidaypic/sandie.html

Beanie Babies Fighting Aids
From: Beanieholics
An article on giving and charities made mention of the Ariel Beanie Babies that are being auctioned of on Ty Trade. We thought it was interesting that it mentions the auctions would continue through the end of this year. Does that mean they will end then? Here is what the article states:

The Ariel Beanie Baby was created by TY, Inc. in memory of Paul and Elizabeth Glaser1s daughter Ariel who died in 1988 from complications of AIDS. All of the profits from Ariel Beanie Baby sale will be donated to the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. "More than $2 million has already been raised and celebrity signed Ariel beanies are being auctioned off on the TY Web site through the end of the year with all proceeds benefiting EGPAF," says Adam Coyne, EGPAF spokesperson.
Click Here For Article

It's Hard To Duck This Quackery
From: Beanieholics
So far $200,000 has been raised through the purchasing of a stuffed-toy version of the AFLAC icon for $10 a pop via the Internet, telephone and hospital gift shops. All proceeds from the sale of this duck go directly to cancer centers at two pediatric hospitals, Egleston and Scottish Rite, run by Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. Mary Frances Campbell, who works in the Egleston gift shop. "The only thing that it can be compared to is Beanie Babies, but those sales didn't go to a cause."
Click Here For More

==December 18, 2000==
SNOWBALL BUDDY?!
From: Ms. Janie
Hi Ms. Janie!! I was just surfing the Ty Cyberboards and reading the message I sent you a link to earlier today about the Ty Christmas party and I found this message posted. In this Message the Person states That Ty Warner gave His employees a New beanie baby bear named "Frost" and a New beanie Buddy named "snowball"

Yes, he did. He gave his employees...
Ariel5242 (05:57 pm. Dec 17, 2000 )
Message Id: 772598 Ariel5242 writes: ...a "Snowball" the snowman buddy, and a "Frost" the bear beanie!!! "Frost" is the same sitting down style as "2000 Holiday Teddy", but has a green scarf and hat with blue trim. The rumors about "Black Battys" showing up with "Snowball" tags was true. There really was a "Snowball" buddie on its way! Hopefully they will show up at retailers and won't be another employee exclusive. The beanie and buddy were signed by Ty on the hang tag with blue marker. They also came with a Christmas card signed by Ty and dated. The card read, “Happy Holidays and much thanks for all your hard work. Ty Warner and Ty Inc.” The envelope read “Ty Inc. Employee Christmas Party: December 17, 2000”. This Ty news update brought to you by: Beanie News 24-7. “Beanie News all the time” -Ariel5242 http://web3-2.ty.com/cyberboard/news/msg772598.html

From: Ms. Janie
Sals Attic shares some interesting information for Attic lovers! Please see the following link on the fourth Woolie Brown being sold. Last one sold for $7030. This one sold for an undisclosed price. Sal. http://www.salsattic.com/hotnews9.htm

Christmas Musical "Holly" Limited Halos
From: Ms. Janie
Our designers have have worked up until the last hour to get these to us on time and we just put them on the site a few minutes ago. NEW specially designed Christmas "Holly" Musical Decorated Halos. These are SPECIAL one of a kind designs and will not be duplicated! Holly decorated Halos were our most popular sellers this season and most requested for special orders. If you think these look pretty on the page - just wait until you see them in person! These make a great gift!!! Each one has a wind up music box inside. Please make sure to click on each "Halo" picture to get the full detailed view. Visit: http://www.iluvcollectibles.com/halo_painted_musical.html

Ty Warner Among Chicago's Most Intriguing
From: Beanieholics
The Chicago Sun-Times has published a list of the 25 Most Intriguing Chicagoans of the Year. Here is what is listed for Ty Warner, chairman and CEO of Ty Inc.:

Warner caused quite a national stir when he announced that he was halting the production of his company's signature toy, Beanie Babies. Then he kept right on making them anyway, and we could all rest easy. Warner, whose net worth is known far and wide ($4.5 billion), is so private that not even his own public relations staff knows his home phone number. Click Here For Complete Article

**PLAYSTATION 2** NEW Mint in the box for sale. E-mail sawey@alpha1.net for serious inquiries only. Price has been lowered to $500 plus you will receive a FREE Roxie AND 2000 Holiday Teddy. What a great Christmas gift these items would make!! There's still time to receive before Christmas whether shipped UPS Overnight or Priority Mail!!

==December 17, 2000==
CHINOOK RETIREMENT?
From: Andrea's Attic
Rumors are floating around that Chinook will only be in one more shipment to Canadian retailers and then it will retire. Stay tuned for more details as we get them!

Bogus Beanies Offer Comfort To Children
From: Beanieholics
We reported on this story on Thursday. Here is a different version about confiscated fake Beanie Babies being donated by the state of Ohio to help young survivors of domestic violence have a brighter Christmas.
Click Here For More

Ryan of Collectiblez shares the following: Today, I picked up an issue of People magazine and hunted for the article featuring the Ty Trade Autographed Ariels! The article reports that collectors should expect Ariels in the month of January which are signed by Cher, Madonna, Russell Crowe and Jodie Foster. Cher, Madonna & Crowe are already up for bids on Ty Trade, so could a Jodie Foster Autographed Ariel be next? http://www.geocities.com/angel_98_84/TyTradeInPeople.jpg

==December 16, 2000==
THANK YOU BEAR SHOWS UP
Ms. Janie has a beautiful scan of this bear.. you can see it HERE

The following 12 designs are the ONLY JUMBiES that are in circulation right now with ONE exception...yeah, you guessed it...the Rhinogator. However, there are only 1,000 Rhinogators in existence (excluding less than 10 prototypes). They are hand signed by creator/artist John Bilotta and limited to one per dealer. Furthermore, the only dealers that can receive one are the ones who order (or have ordered JUMBiES SERiES TWO). In other words, they are VERY, VERY rare. The hang tag lists the birthday (June 7th) of Carmen Bilotta, our designer's father. The Rhinogator is one of the six original designs first created and the "limited-edition status" exists as a tribute to John's father. The SILVER ink used for the designer's signature is the rarest to find... followed by the GOLD and only the FIRST "10" have been numbered.

Here are the other JUMBiES available now:

JUMBiES SERiES ONE

"Zumbo" ZELEPHANT (Zebra + Elephant)
"Pango" PANDAPOTAMUS (Panda Bear + Hippopotamus)
"Yuri" MOOSCOW (Moose + Cow)
"Samson" SEALION (Seal + Lion)
"Bunker" DINGBAT (Dingo + Bat)
"Billy" GIRAFFALO (Giraffe + Buffalo)

JUMBiES SERiES TWO

"Riley" Coyotah (Coyote + Cheetah)
"Leopold" Leopird (Leopard + Horned Bill Bird)
"Filbert" Blabbit (Bluebird + Rabbit)
"Darwin" Duckey (Duck + Monkey)
"Corky" Pigbit (Pig + Rabbit)
"Arthur" Camelot (Camel + Ocelot)

==You can also find D.O.J. (birthdates) and other important info on the Meet the JUMBiES page.==

Lastly, please click on the "Where to find JUMBiES" button on the home page of www.jumbies.com

Then follow the directions in the pop-up window that appears. You can either search by zip code or by state. It is recommended that you use the search-by-state function to find stores closest to you.

The stores are listed alphabetically by "CITY". Good luck!

With Love,

Bazoo T. Stork

JUMBiES Inc.
JUMBiELAND Island

info@jumbies.com

www.jumbies.com

JUMBiES characters & names are registered trademarks of JUMBiES Inc.

NEW CONTEST AT ANDREA'S ATTIC
Andrea writes: Hello again! We begin out Christmas contest on Saturday, December 16, 2000. We will have a new winner every day for 12 straight days! Check out http://www.andreasattic.com for all the details and best of luck to you all!

AUTOGRAPHED ARIELS IN PEOPLE MAGAZINE
Laura shares with Collectiblez at http://www.collectiblez.net : I was reading the December 18th issue People today during Physical therapy and noticed an article on page 26 (I believe that was the correct page number) about Ty Trade's autographed Ariel auctions. Just thought this might be of interest to someone :)

==December 15, 2000==
From: Ms. Janie
Thanks to Imal for sharing the following: President gives Beanies as holiday gifts! There is a mention in the latest Rolling Stones Magazine in the article on President Clinton. He and Hillary have a pile of Ty beanie babies on a shelf to give out as presents to their younger relatives.

From: Ms. Janie
Deb from Doodles is offering a wonderful holiday contest, please visit the following link for all of the details. http://doodlespage.com/

NOTES FROM COLLECTORS:
From: Ms. Janie
Hello Ms Janie, Two retailers here in southern Wisconsin got in a second shipment of the ebeanies today. Looks like those who penciled them into their order form are going to be rewarded. Both Periwinkle & Sunny had ebeanie tag backs. Marilyn

Retail v Auction
From: Bean eWonderland
Both online retail store ToysRUs.com and online price reference guide Strong Numbers are tracking their top toy sellers this year. ToysRUs.com updates its sales hourly, while Strong Numbers surveyed 250 auction sites throughout November. While PlayStation 2s and Barbie Dolls have made it into both the retail and auction bestsellers, Beanie Babies seen by many as the quintessential product sold at auction are conspicuously absent in the retail category. Not so for the auction category, where Beanies made up 17 of the 25 top sellers, with seasonal bear "Roxie the Reindeer Beanie Baby" in the No. 2 spot in terms of unit sales. Full Story

eBeanie Retirement - One Week Later
From: Beanieholics
Last Friday Ty shocked Beanie collectors around the world with the surprise retirement of Sunny and Periwinkle, the two Beanie Babies that were introduced just two weeks before. Now one week later both bears are available for almost retail prices on MetaExchange. Today a set would run you $17.75. Of interest is the ratio between the quantity of eBeanies available for sale as opposed to how many are wanted. In each category featuring them there are three to five times as many Sunny and Periwinkles for sale than collectors wanting to buy them. It is doubtful that the two eBeanie bears will increase in price until this sale / want ratio changes. Click Here For Link To MetaExchange

TY "THANK YOU BEAR" ARRIVES AT RETAILERS
The rumored "Thank You" bear started arriving at authorized Ty
retailers today, Friday, December 15th.

Randol in Illinois reports:
"I am the owner of Fudge and Floral Creation and we received our Thank you Bear today. It is a blue cloud bear like Nipponia with an embroidered red heart that says "thank you" on it. It also came with a letter from Ty thanking all of its retailers. It said that every retailer would receive one and only one of these bears as a present of thanks."

Jack from Indiana reports:
"Today local Ty Retailers started receiving their "Thank You Bear" from Ty. Each Dealer is to receive one bear. The hang tag calls it, " Thank You Bear" and the poem reads:

"Thank you for everything you've done
Because of you we're #1
We're a great team you and me
Thanks again for your loyalty! "

There is not a birth date and the tush tag says, "Thank You Bear."
http://www.smartcollecting.com/news.asp

==December 14, 2000==
Ms. Janie's 12 Days Of Christmas Contest ~ final day!!
On the 12th day of Christmas my true love gave to me
http://www.msjanie.com/holidaycontest/contestday12.html

Chinook Rumour
From: Bean eWonderland
Just wanted to let you know that the Ty dealer where I get most of my beanies said that the rep told her that they'd only be getting one more order of Chinooks. Could it be that Chinook is soon to be retired? (Bean eWonderlands comment - it could be that Chinook will be retired shortly, I also wonder if Buckingham will stay around much longer after being delivered in batches of 2 to most stores)

From: Ms. Janie
Please help me in wishing Sara Nelson (BeanieMom) a very Happy Birthday. In case you want to send Sara a card please use the following address. sara@beaniemon.com Tell her Ms. Janie say's its payback time! Thanks in advance, Ms. Janie

Fake Beanies To Help Survivors Of Domestic Violence
From: Beanieholics
Donna sends us an updated story that appeared in her local newspaper about the Brenda Theos trial in which Theos and her sons were convicted of running a 'counterfeit Beanie Baby scam'. The fake Beanie Babies confiscated in the trial will be used to help young survivors of domestic violence have a brighter Christmas. Click Here For More

CVS BEAN BAG NEWS
Hello,
I was just in my local CVS today and saw lots of the Rocky and Bullwinkle Bean Bags for just 50 cents each!!, and the Rudolph ones from past years are buy one get one free ($5.99 each). I would expect that they will not be doing anymore of these promotions, as they have NOT been popular in the past!!
Regards,
Mike Prescott
WCN-News.com

**PLAYSTATION 2** NEW Mint in the box for sale. E-mail sawey@alpha1.net for serious inquiries only.

JUMBiES NEWS
JUMBiES Inc. was in Vegas over this past weekend on business and John Bilotta, creator/designer of JUMBiES, signed a limited quantity of JUMBiES SERiES ONE that are displayed in the resort's main gift store. If you're in the area or just passing through, be sure to take advantage of this rare opportunity to obtain these rare characters. To learn more about JUMBiES, visit my JUMBiES page.

JUMBiES Inc.
949-448-7088
www.jumbies.com
info@jumbies.com

JUMBiES is a registered trademark of JUMBiES Inc.

From: Ms. Janie
TY donations belkatusa (01:52 pm. Dec 12, 2000 )
Message Id: 770098
belkatusa writes: I have a friend who went to assist with packing the Christmas Boxes for Samaritan's purse last weekend. He told me that he was overwhelmed with the size of the donation TY provided to go in the boxes. He said that it was over half a large warehouse full. These boxes will go to children overseas who otherwise would have no Christmas. Thanks TY - http://web1-2.ty.com/cyberboard/news/msg770098.html

From: Ms. Janie
Yesterday I made mention of Ty sending retailers a "Thank You" Bear and shipments are expected to arrive this week. The following was shared with me today. Ms. Janie, It's true what you reported about a retailer bear. . My Rep. told me to expect a special bear coming from Ty. I'm so excited I can hardly stand it. She would not give me all of the details but said I would feel like I was floating on clouds when I viewed it. Thanks for such a great newsletter and always delivering it in a timely fashion with the most up-to-date news available. Martha

Shopping: 'Worst toy' open to debate; card help online (Reuters Securities)
From: Ms. Janie
The ``worst toy idea of the year'' is the robotic baby doll, with interactive pets running close behind, said the Alliance for Childhood, a private, nonprofit group of teachers and early childhood experts. For the full story, go to: http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/001212/n12601963_2.html

New Products: Stocking stuffers in all shapes, sizes, prices (Reuters Securities)
From: Ms. Janie
There is no shortage of stocking stuffer items for one and all this year. Hugely popular mini toys continue to be Basic Fun keychains. For the full story, go to: http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/001212/n12492100_2.html

Matt from The Bean Scene shares the following:
Now that Holiday Teddy 2000 has retired who will be the Info Beanie? Roxie was second place they can't go to her will they go to the third place? Or leave it blank with no updates until January?

CONTEST REMINDER
Today is the last day to enter our Niponnia, Jumbo Peace and Chinook contest! Best of luck to everybody! http://www.andreasattic.com

Teenie Box set
From: Bean eWonderland
The following news was supplied by one of our regulars who is very reliable, even so please treat it as a rumour for now: McDonalds has a Teenie Beanie Baby offer for staff only in the UK. Sometime in the next couple of weeks they can buy a Teenie Beanie Box set for £65 (about $97.00). They don't know what Teenies are in it yet, the managers are trying to sell it to staff by saying it's worth much more on the secondary market.

From: Heather of The Daily Bean
NEW GERMAN EXCLUSIVE AFTER JAN. 2001 PEPPERMINT (08:22 pm. Dec 12, 2000 )
Message Id: 770371
PEPPERMINT writes: I HEARD FROM A FRIEND IN GERMANY, WHO OWNS A RETAIL STORE, HE WAS TELLING ME AFTER JANUARY TY WILL BE COMING OUT WITH A NEW GERMAN EXCLUSIVE, WHO KNOWS WHAT ELSE.??? HOPEFULLY~~ GERMANY HAS NOT HAD ANYTHING EXCEPT THEIR BEANIE AND BUDDY, THEY DO NEED A NEW EXCLUSIVE. GOOD FOR THEM THEY NEED SOMETHING NEW. IS EVERYBODY READY FOR X-MAS?
http://web3-1.ty.com/cyberboard/news/msg770371.html

BEANIE SPOT IS BACK
After almost 3 days of BeanieSpot.com being off the web, making our site more secure, and giving the site a facelift; we're baaack!! A majority of our pages are complete (just a few left to do). So come over and check out the new GREAT look, new features, and one last thing... BeanieSpot loads on NETSCAPE now!! See ya!

Ryan Johnson
http://www.beaniespot.com

Heartfelt Stories Holiday Deluxe Special!
While Supplies Last! (hurry - they are going fast) =Order by December 19 for Christmas delivery=
A Book and Companion Beanie Special! (offer includes a Beanie Bear, an autographed book, and shipping - all for only $14.95) If you'd like to see the list of bears being shipped with the book special visit: http://heartfeltstories.com/companionspecial.html

==December 12, 2000==
Ms. Janie's 12 Days Of Christmas Contest
On the 10th day of Christmas my true love gave to me
http://www.msjanie.com/holidaycontest/contestday10.html

NEW BEAR?!
From: Ms. Janie
Is it live or is it Memorex? Rumor has that Ty Retailers will be receiving a special "Thank You" Bear from Ty. The bears are supposed to ship sometime this week.

I would love to have a photo of this special bear to feature on my site. Please send your photo to ms.janie@home.com or msjanie@mail.com

Ty Retires 2000 Holiday Teddy, Snowgirl, and Roxie
Thank you to Linda and Andrea for the heads up
http://www.ty.com/announcements/retire_1212.html

Ty Trade
From: Bean eWonderland
Could this be the one to beat the Tiger Woods signed Ariel, pop superstar Madonna has added her signature View Here: Also putting pen to paper is the actor from Gladiator Russell Crowe

Ty Trade is proud to present: Peggy Gallagher's Authentication Service.
From: Ms. Janie
Home of the most reliable, trusted, and established Authentication Service. Literally Thousands of Beanies® and other Ty® products examined and authenticated with many years of uninterrupted service. http://www.tytrade.com/tytrade/CDA/Authentication/auth/1,1488,,00.html

Do you have a BEANIE tattoo? Adrienne shares her tattooing pictures. OUCH looks painful.. Adrienne assures me it wasn't too bad.

Maple & Chinook are now permanent. Don't they look great!! Now I'd say this proves Adrienne REALLY loves her beanies.

==December 11, 2000==
=TERRIFIC OFFER FROM PAM KNAPP=
Heartfelt Stories Holiday Deluxe Special!
While Supplies Last!

Order Heartfelt Stories About Beanie Babies and Those Who Collect Them now and you will receive:

A copy of this heartwarming book signed by the author
(Retail Price: $9.95)

PLUS one of the following Beanie Babies:
Hope
Peace
Signature Bear
White Face Spangle
Millennium
Erin
Fortune
Santa
Groovy
Princess
Glory
Osito
Halo

Holiday Deluxe Special Price: only $14.95 total
(includes priority mail shipping and handling)

Truly a heartwarming and loveable gift for yourself or the Beanie lover in your life! Order now by calling 1-800-891-3130; or by using PayPal (use e-mail: Pam@heartfeltstories.com); or by mailing your check or money order to:

Beckett Publishing, Inc.
Holiday Deluxe Special
PO Box 2036
Short Beach, CT 06405

Ty Gear Newsflash
http://www.ty.com/announcements/newsflash_1211.html

JUMBiES NEWS
Rumor has it that Billy the Giraffalo (Giraffe + Buffalo), as pictured to the left will become an "Endangered Species" (in other words retire) in the near future.

To meet Billy and all of the other JUMBiES visit JUMBiES

Now on Northern Trade Winds
http://www.beaniewonderland.com/canadian/canadian.htm
Periwinkle and Sunny are rumoured to hit Canada this week, a reminder that the Clubby III offer is Over. Air Mail Deadline for Canada Post and take caution with Counterfeiters. News on Buckingham Buddy being purchased over the counter.

Holiday gifts meant for kids are stolen (Miami Herald)
From: Ms. Janie
A grinch has stolen Christmas for hundreds of needy children. Unwrapped gifts -- destined to brighten the holidays for young burn victims and children with cerebral palsy, brittle bone disease, spinal injuries and mental retardation -- were stolen Wednesday from the Shriners' Miami headquarters. Remote control cars, Nintendo games, even a laptop computer for a kid who just got into college -- gone. The party is Sunday and 320 children are expected from Miami-Dade, Broward and Monroe counties. There still will be clowns, music and food. But Santa Claus toting an empty sack? For the full story, go HERE

COLOR DIFFERENCE SPOTTED ON PERIWINKLE BEANIE BABIES
Smart Collecting member, Eva from Ohio, just emailed us a photo of the two Periwinkle Beanie Babies she purchased that are two very different shades of blue. "One has E Beanie on the swing tag, and it is a light gray with blue under," explains Eva. "The other one has the bar code on the swing tag and is blue." Click below to view photo: http://www.smartcollecting.com/newsresults.asp?ID=209

==December 9, 2000==
Holiday Cheer!! Winners Announced!!
Contests Congrats to the 4 of you

Playstation 2, Beanies, Barbie Top Toy Auctions
From Kris at Cajun Connection
With the holiday shopping season in full swing, the "gray" toy market is once again booming at online auctions, a new study indicates.Not only are customers turning to auction sites such as those hosted by eBay and Yahoo for the hard-to-find PlayStation 2, but they are bidding on collectible Beanie Babies and a holiday-themed Barbie doll. All three toys topped the list of most popular toy auctions put together by Boston-based Strong Numbers, which monitors auction listings and sales. Even though it doesn't get talked about very much, Barbie is still Barbie," Hart said. "The Beanie Baby trend is far from being over. The silent majority is still alive." VIEW ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE

Twilight tour evokes spirit of Christmas
From Kris at Cajun Connection
The halls of Montezuma (in Kansas) were decked out in full Christmas style Monday night. From 7 to 8, the Stauth Memorial Museum here conducted the first Illuminated Twilight Tour of its biannual Christmas exhibit. About 100 visitors wandered through the displays lit by Christmas tree lights and electric luminarias. The exhibit was almost hype-free except for the presence of the once fanatically collected Beanie Babies. There were literally hundreds of the tiny stuffed animals, from anteaters to jellyfish, decorating a tree. That was the highlight of the tour for Sherry Brown. "I think if I ever got to decorate my house that way, my grandkids would have a field day," Brown said, "They'd probably tear all the animals off the tree so they could play." VIEW ENTIRE STORY HERE

Just a couple of years ago, it was a national obsession.
From Kris at Cajun Connection
Daily calls to stores to see if a new shipment had arrived. Driving around the Twin Cities in search of UPS trucks. Standing in store lines for hours. For many people, the search for the latest Ty Beanie Babies consumed several hours each day, every day. They had to have them -- all of them. The $5 bean-filled toys were so popular that store owners had to create ways to stop hordes of people from wrecking the rest of their businesses as they scooped them up. Buying limits were set to try curbing resales -- on the secondary market, the most sought-after styles could sell for $15, $25, $50 or more. Police had to direct traffic when "teenie" versions of the toy were offered at McDonald's restaurants. Then, things seemed to change. read the rest at Cajun Connection

Ms. Janie's 12 Days of Christmas Contest
On the 7th day of Christmas my true love gave to me http://www.msjanie.com/holidaycontest/contestday7.html

From: Ms. Janie
An interesting note I found on Ty's Cyberboards
DON'T SEND YOUR BEANIES TO CANADA
tusk beanie (07:51 pm. Dec 08, 2000 )
Message Id: 768109
tusk beanie writes: I Sent 3 beanes as a gift to a friend in Canada ,and she never received them. Now I here that Canada won't let any beanies from America come into there country. I think that CANADA should send them back. http://web2-3.ty.com/cyberboard/news/msg768109.html

Preemie Prayer HolyBears!
Hello! I just thought I would pass on that I have created a page on Collectiblez about the Preemie Prayer HolyBears! They are bears produced by HolyBears, and 60% of the money from each bear goes towards the Beanies For Preemies organization! There has been two bears produced so far and are planned to be in production indefinitely. You can learn more information at: http://www.geocities.com/collectiblezz/BFP/

==December 8, 2000==
PLANET BEANS IS HAPPY TO INTRODUCE YOU TO...
The newest section of the site. I've added a JUMBiES section. You will be able to read how JUMBiES came about, read the The Story of JUMBiES and view their pictures along with birthdates/status. I hope you will take a few minutes to get to know the JUMBiES because I know you'll be happy you did. :o)

=HOLIDAY CHEER CONTEST ENDS TONIGHT AT MIDNIGHT!!=
THERE ARE 49 ENTRIES TO DATE
Remember it only takes one entry to win!!
http://www.planetbeans.com/NovemberContest.htm
49 people will receive a very thoughtful and generous gift this holiday season. You may want to consider giving this wonderful book as a gift to the Beanie lovers in your life. You may win a great prize too!! Order your book today in the Holiday Cheer!! contest. You can be the owner a fantastic book signed by Pam Knapp and have a chance at winning CHINOOK, 2000 HOLIDAY TEDDY, SNOWGIRL, or ROXIE. Remember to give some Holiday Cheer!! :o)

BeaNGO's Holiday Contest
Part II Will Begin Tomorrow, Saturday. Andrea's Attic Has Donated A Wallace, Santa, And Halo II Beanie Buddy To Be Given Away. For complete details, visit BeaNGO.

Message from BeanieSpot
Hi this is Ryan from BeanieSpot.com; I was just wondering if you could post on your site that BeanieSpot.com can be viewed by going to BeanYspot.com (with a Y) until our Domain name BeanieSpot.com is up again, for some reason it re-directs to "cyberspace.com?!" Hope this helps people that have been trying to access BeanieSpot!!

==DO YOU REALIZE... Sunny & Perwinkle were only just introduced on 11/28 and now they are retiring today, 12/8!! Amazing.. I'd bet the eBay auctions will really heat up. Now's the time to get these bears. They haven't yet made it to my area yet. :o(

==December 7, 2000==
MESSAGE FROM MS. JANIE
Thanks to Deb from Doodle's Page for passing this on..
Ms. Janie has been in touch with me to let everyone know that her cable modem is down. Therefore, she cannot send emails or update the site. As you are aware, The Twelve Days of Christmas Contest is in progress - today is Day #6. The contest will resume tomorrow night at the regular time (assuming that the modem problem is resolved then). The contest will probably be extended by one day to make up for lost time ... She will update everyone as soon as possible.

CLUBBY I FOR SALE IN THE ENQUIRER?!
From Kris at Cajun Connection
This is an advertisement for ClubbyI which appeared in the December 5th edition of the National Enquirer. The advertisement states Clubby #1 Guaranteed Authetic $19.99. It goes on to say "One of the rarest and least known Beanies was only sold to club members . . . Until Now!!! Compare at $35 to $50." The company advertising Clubby is Berry's. How funny . . . even the advertisements in the tabloids are a lie!!! To view the ad click HERE

Angry Customer
From: Bean eWonderland
Hi I expect you get mails like this all the time but I am so annoyed I had to write. I recently visited London for the day with my girlfriend and we spent much of the day shopping, not surprising as we are so close to Christmas, but can you imagine our surprise when we found four shops that all had Buckingham the Bear for sale. As we live in Portsmouth and cannot seem to get hold of one we were quite amazed to see so many. Then when we went to purchase one we found the reason why they still had so many, the first shop we asked wanted £75, the next wanted £80 and the remaining two said we had to purchase three buddies at £15 each before we could purchase a Buckingham for £5.99. This must be against Ty's policies, all four shops were official Ty supplied shops. I am disgusted that these greedy store owners can get away with this and still continue to be supplied by Ty. Then to make matters worse we visited a beanie fair at Epsom, the amount of Buckingham Bears that were on offer was astounding again for ridiculous amounts of money. How do these people get hold of them ? My girlfriend was at one stall when a self confessed owner of a shop was selling his allotted 12 bears to a trader. This cannot be right, is it not time that Ty did something about this. Yours Sincerely Glenn (Bean eWonderlands comment - I know a lot of stores 'claim' to be official dealers but they are not. Ty Inc. does have a special email address for accounts that do abuse their accounts at namenames@ty.com)

=HOLIDAY CHEER CONTEST=
I BELIEVE THERE ARE ABOUT 42 ENTRIES TO DATE ~ ONLY 2 DAYS LEFT!!
Remember it only takes one entry to win!!
http://www.planetbeans.com/NovemberContest.htm
I will keep you updated on entry totals as passed along by Pam. 42 people will receive a very thoughtful and generous gift this holiday season. You may want to consider giving this wonderful book as a gift to the Beanie lovers in your life. You may win a great prize too!! Order your book today in the Holiday Cheer!! contest. You can be the owner a fantastic book signed by Pam Knapp and have a chance at winning CHINOOK, 2000 HOLIDAY TEDDY, SNOWGIRL, or ROXIE. Remember the Holiday Cheer!! contest ends TOMORROW at midnight!! :o)

==December 6, 2000==
BEANIE QUESTION AGAIN APPEARS ON WWTBAM!!
From Kris at Cajun Connection
I was watching "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" on television tonight when a Beanie related question came on, so I ran and got a piece of paper so that I could share the question, which all Beanie collectors should know!
Q. Which of these celebrities had a Beanie Baby named in their honor?
A. Madonna
B. Rosie O'Donnel
C. Princess Diana
D. Elton John
The correct answer, of course was C. Princess Diana. The contestant was a farmer from the tiny town of Hooks, Texas with one stoplight in town, and a population of about 2,500! The question was worth $64,000 and he guessed correctly eventually winning $250,000. By the way, the contestant said in his charming Southern accent, that he didn't know anything about Beanie Babies...luckily, he guessed correctly!

Famous Signature
From: Bean eWonderland
Sheila writes: At my local gift shop this evening, I purchased a Sunny & Periwinkle beanie baby and guess what, we got Neil McCoy, a famous country singer to sign them and two Christmas bears for us. He stays at the hotel we use when we are down here. My stepdaughter is going to put her bear up for auction. I don't know if you have heard of Neil McCoy but he is not just a great singer, he is a fantastic person as well. He goes to the lobby and signs autographs and just chats with all the people there. He is one star who has not forgotten who made him who he is.

==December 5, 2000==
I just wanted to say ~Thank You~ to those of you that have inquired and sent words of encouragement in response to my posting the Top Sites Fraud page. I must admit I had reservations at first because I didn't want to step on any toes. I just wanted to let people know this was happening. I've been contacted by numerous websites telling me they've decided to take the top sites buttons off of their site too. Like I've always said.. Beanie people are among the nicest around and they are also proving to be among the smartest. ;o)

Two Arrested For Selling Fake Beanie Tags
From: Beanieholics
Officials, acting on a tip from Ty Inc., have arrested two men and have charged them with selling forged tags of Beanie Babies. Paul Hrdlicka, 26, was charged with one count of forgery and John Carroll, 45, was charged with two counts of forgery.
Click Here For More

Stuffed Animals Accidentally Tear Gassed
From: Beanieholics
Clarksville, Tennessee police are working to replace some unintended casualties of a tactical exercise -- about 700 stuffed animals intended for needy children. The toys, donated to the Clarksville Fire Department, were inadvertently tear gassed. They were to be handed out this month for Christmas.
Click Here For Story

From the Ty Cyberboard Lesson to be learned from auctions..
From: Ms. Janie
courtesy (08:25 am. Dec 04, 2000 )
Message Id: 765648 courtesy writes: I just figured this out of one seller from the bay of whom I have bought a lot from (not the great one I always speak of). I kept getting outbid by one person. That person was the sellers daughter. Please people beware when using auctions. I thought I searched good but when outbid in last 5 minutes and try to bid again I forget to look at bidder to see and I have even bought from this person as well and they said the other was her mother.. looking into it furthur I found out every auction I was outbid on by this seller was the daughter.. Live and learn.. http://web2-3.ty.com/cyberboard/news/msg765648.html

TY NEWSFLASH
Thanks to Andrea of Andrea's Attic for the heads up!!
Ty just posted a Newsflash at their website regarding the recent arrivals of Beanies and Attic Treasures at Dollar stores and what not around the world. http://www.ty.com/announcements/newsflash_1205.html

==December 4, 2000==
Top Sites Fraud
From: Bean eWonderland
Lisa from planet Beans has uncovered some disturbing news regarding the top sites people. When false accusations were placed against Bean eWonderland people like the Top 50 were quick enough to suspend us whilst they investigated. We were proved innocent on this matter and re-instated. After regaining our position at number 4 (to prove a point) we have decided to remove all our top site ratings. They gain us no visits and we do not wish to be part of people like the top 50 who set double standards. We only left the button in place to prove a point that we were not padding our hits and feel we have now proved this. To read the disturbing news uncovered by Lisa Click Here

ToySack
From: Bean eWonderland
The Toysack has welcomed a new staff writer for their Beanie news, in celebration of this they are also launching a new competition. Visit Here:

Shelf Sitting
From: Bean eWonderland
Carol writes: Just to let you know I bought the light blue Peanut buddy (I had a choice of four) and the tye-dyed Digger crab (a choice of two) in Coventry on Saturday 2.12.00. I paid £11.99 each for them thinking that I might never see them shelf sitting again, but on Sunday 3.12.00 I went to Sutton Coldfield in Birmingham and the crab was shelf sitting at £9.99. It is the same old scenario, I keep saying I am going to stop but something new comes out and I am looking all over the place to try and find it in the hope that I will be the working class owner of something valuable and rare. The ironic thing is, the most valuable Ty product I own is a Tyra without pom pom's. The hundreds of pounds I have spent on Beanie's and the most valuable thing being an attic treasure that cost me £3.50.

==December 3, 2000==
Some of you have asked why I have decided to take Planet Beans out of the beanie top sites ranking systems. You can find out exactly why by visiting HERE

Beanie Addict
From: Bean eWonderland
One of our readers calling themselves Beanie Addict sends us the following email together with a picture: You know I finally lost it, when I had the following picture custom made in red and purple Click Here: This will be hanging on a wall in my beanie baby bedroom. You know you're a Beanie Addict when...
- You're on a first name basis with every Beanie clerk in your town. - Your find yourself following every UPS truck you see. - You're considering naming your children; Bongo, Nip or Rocket! - All of the numbers on you speed dial are connected to your beanie baby sources! - You have trouble remembering your neighbors names, but you can easily recite all of the names of your beanie babies. - You can't attend your relatives wedding because it's on the same day as a beanie show. - You can't sleep the night before a new shipment of beanie babies is expected at a store. - Your moods are entirely dependent on beanie availability. - You hate waiting in line for 2 minutes to buy milk, but you will wait in line for hours for the new releases. - You don't get upset if your best china gets broken, but let someone bend the swing tag .. Watch Out! - Addict Support Meeting - You're thinking about checking yourself into beanie rehab! (Bean eWonderlands comment - Sound familiar to anyone??)

BEANIE ZOO CONTEST
Good Evening,
I am just e-mailing you to ask if you would be so kind as to post something in your news page about The Beanie Zoo's (http://thebeanzoo.cjb.net) newest contest! It's called Snow Search! and the prizes include Snowball, Snowboy and North! If you could I'd greatly appreciate it! Here is the link.. http://www.geocities.com/hoganzoo99/contests/snow.html

COLLECTIBLEZ CONTEST
Happy Sunday!! I was hoping you could please take the time as to mention Collectiblez' new Jingle Beans contest on your website? There is ten prizes to be won in the contest on my website, all holiday themed! To enter the contest, there is a daily Beanie poem verse posted on Collectiblez News in which you just fill out a form saying what Beanie Baby the poem belongs to! Very fun and easy! http://www.geocities.com/collectiblezdotnet/JingleBeans.html Thank you so much and have a great Sunday!! Smiles, Ryan Connell http://www.collectiblez.net

==December 2, 2000==
SUNNY HANG TAGS
There seems to be two versions floating around at the moment. One with eBeanies and the other with the standard barcode. From my personal observations on the club message boards, it appears that the one with the eBeanies hangtag is harder to come by. Grab them while you can!!

=HOLIDAY CHEER CONTEST=
THERE ARE 40 ENTRIES TO DATE ~ ONLY 5 DAYS LEFT TO GET THOSE ENTRIES IN!!
Remember it only takes one entry to win!!
http://www.planetbeans.com/NovemberContest.htm
==I will keep you updated on entry totals as passed along by Pam. 40 people will receive a very thoughtful and generous gift this holiday season. You may want to consider giving this wonderful book as a gift to the Beanie lovers in your life. You may win a great prize too!! Order your book today in the Holiday Cheer!! contest. You can be the owner a fantastic book signed by Pam Knapp and have a chance at winning CHINOOK, 2000 HOLIDAY TEDDY, SNOWGIRL, or ROXIE. Remember the Holiday Cheer!! contest ends in just 5 days, on December 8th. :o)<