I remember hearing about Ganz Webkinz when they came out years ago but since I didn’t have kids at that time I really didn’t care too much about them. Now that I have a three-year old, I definitely pay more attention to what is going on in the world of toys.
Disclosure: I received a free toy, ePoint and membership to facilitate my review. Any opinion expressed in this article is based on my experience with the brand/products.
I’m happy/reluctant/proud to say that we are officially Webkinz owners. We recently got our first Diggity Dino Webkinz animal from Ganz. He’s a super cute plush toy that came with a special secret code to bring him to life online. My daughter is a little bit young to do anything on the computer by herself but the Webkinz website is a fun activity that we can work on together.
Our First Webkinz website experience was a little rough. There are so many colorful options to choose from that I didn’t know where to begin. I ended up creating a free Webkinz cat which I didn’t’ mean to do. This ended up being a nice little training tool and got me used to the Webkinz world. I eventually figured out that I needed to get to the adoption center to enter my Webkinz code for the Diggity Dino. After quite a bit of unsuccessful searching I found the Webkinz adoption center. Once I found this little building in the Webkinz town it was smooth sailing.
I set-up our Diggity Dino online character. My daughter renamed him “Cobka,” (yeah, I don’t know either) and we got to work making his home beautiful. There are so many little things you can buy with your Webkinz eStore points. To be honest, it’s a bit of a money pit but, if your kids are into it, what can you do?
So, I’ve talked about the fact that you have to have a Webkinz plush and purchase eStore points to make your character’s home better, but I haven’t mentioned that you have to purchase a monthly membership. There are a few different options for memberships. The more months you buy in advance the better the deal you are getting. If you prefer to just purchase one month at a time it’s about $5.99 per month. The prices per month go down from there if you buy in bulk.
There are lots of fun games and activities that kids can do once their account is loaded up with some eStore points. They can visit the arcade and play games, go shopping for their pet and so much more. Kids also have the option of chatting with other kids in the Kinzville Park.
Webkinz is definitely a whole world for children that are old enough to play on the computer. As a parent, you can actually use the Webkinz as a great way to teach budgeting. You can load your child’s account up with some eStore credits and teach them that they have to make the money last. By the way, kids aren’t able to add credit to their account without you and your credit card.
To Get Started
Head over to www.Webkinz.com. They have tons of eStore points deals going on right now!
My advice is to start with just one Webkinz plush, add that character to your online Webkinz account, start small with just a one month membership, purchase enough credits to get you by for that month and see how it goes. If you find your child excessively playing with their Webkinz account and needing more credits you can always add more.
We have Webkinz but they were given to the kids by their older cousins, so they never actually used the the codes or anything.
No I don't. I used to but the Mama's took them and now Grandma is without!
Yes! I have one Webkinz.
no, we do not have any
We do not have any of these.
Oh yes, lots of them! I even have Beanie Babies from that crazy fad too;)
We do have Webkinz, but they came from Goodwill without codes.
We do not have any Webkinz, as of yet.
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We have a couple, and he loves them so much!
We don't have any yet but my son has been asking for one.