My cousin from Indiana sent me a facebook message a couple of weeks ago asking me to look in every Nashville area store I step into for a thing called a Zhu Zhu pet.  Huh?  She said she’d been looking everywhere for them for months and months – they are to be gifts for her eight-year old twin granddaughters.

I always thought the full press search for the hottest toys was kind of silly.  But then when my oldest daughter was three-years old, the Barney doll came out.  We love him, he loved us, we were a happy fa-mi-ly, with great big hugs and a kiss for me and you…

Yes we were a Barney family.  I drove to a town 10 miles away when I heard the local Wal-Mart had TWO plush stuffed Barneys left.  And they held both of them for me… we got our stuffed purple dinosaur.  Sadly, I’ve never owned a cabbage patch doll.  And I have yet to find a Zhu Zhu.

Ron over at PopFi gives us the low-down on the little gerbils hamsters,

Apparently, a Zhu Zhu pet is a little hamster that can drive a car and that runs around squeaking randomly.   The toys are the brainchild of veteran designer Russ Hornsby and St. Louis company Cepia Inc.  This six-year-old company is looking at sales of $100 million in Zhu Zhu Pets alone, with an estimated $300-$400 million by this time next year.  All for what is basically a $10 cat toy with a bubble car.

Will there be a zhu zhu in your house this gift giving season?