McDonald's Teenie Beanies from 1997
In 1997 Beanie Babies were definitely the hottest
toys around. With Beanie Babies popularity and McDonald's proven power to bring
children into their restaurant for toys, these two were bound to meet up.
Especially with both being based in the Chicago area! Beginning in April of 1997
McDonald's was going to introduce the first ever "Teenie Beanies," which are
miniature versions of Beanie Babies, to be given away with their Happy Meals.
Two Teenie Beanies were to be offered each week until May 15, 1997.
Even before the Teenie Beanies were officially announced to the public
McDonald's restaurants all over were getting dozens of phone calls from people
asking when they would receive them. These were going to be the hottest
McDonald's toy yet!
Each Teenie Beanie was packaged into a square plastic bag, the front
of the bag had a picture of Ronald McDonald holding a Happy Meal box. Inside of
the Happy Meal box he was holding was the name of the Teenie Beanie in the
bag.
Teenie Beanies were beyond hot! They sold out quicker than expected;
restaurants were packed with people from open to close looking for these little
stuffed toys. Most styles sold out in the first day by noon! Collectors were
buying dozens of Happy Meals a day just to get enough toys to satisfy their
kids, grandkids and even neighbors! Many turned around and sold them on the
secondary market for much more then they paid.
Hundreds of Happy Meals were simply discarded in the trash after the
toy was removed, leading to a lot of wasted food. (To help keep this from
happening so much next year McDonald's decides to let people purchase the Teenie
Beanies without a Happy Meal but with some other food purchase.)
The demand was high and the supply was low! Many people were forced to
get their Teenies on the secondary markets where complete sets of the 1997
Teenies were already selling for well over $100. Once again Ty added fuel to the
fire and kept his collectors going and interested! Teenie Beanies would be
released each year at McDonalds until the year 2000. 1 had heard that Ty signed
a 5 year contract with McDonald's to do promotions, so if that is true that
means something is in store for 2001, but what? It has already been publicly
announced that McDonald's would not do Teenie Beanies this year but that
something else was in store for November 2001 with Ty!
At the end of the promotion pins were distributed to employees of
McDonald's that read "I Survived the Attack of the Teenie Beanie Babies!!"
Inside was also the McDonald's logo.
Time frame of promotion: April 11, 1997 to May 15,1997
Number of Teenies:10
How to get:
Purchase of a McDonald's Happy Meal
Names of Teenies:
1.
Patti
2.
Pinky
3.
Chops
4.
Chocolate
5.
Goldie
6.
Speedy
7.
Seamore
8.
Snort
9.
Quacks
10.Lizz
The following goes into more details about each of the Teenies:
1997 Teenie Beanie News Articles:
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