Searcy(LP) The beginning of the TY Beanie Baby toys were first made in 1983, made by a 39 year old, Ty Warner. Warner is an aspiring actor who has either  been fired or he just left the Dakin toy company. Warner called his first toys Himalayan Cats. They  sold out fast in the local stores. He stuffed his toy with little plastic pellets instead of the conventional stuffing they used for other stuffed animals. His competitors thought it was crazy using plastic pellets for his stuffing. Ty had the last laugh after he sold all of his Beanie Baby toys. Some teachers here at SHS own some Beanie Baby toys, such as Calandra Cook. She said “My grandmother started collecting Beanie Babies for us when I was eight or nine. She wanted her grandchildren to have something to collect that she could help with. Later, she realized they might be worth money someday. I haven’t sold any, but my daughters enjoy playing with the toys now.” Calandra Cook’s children must be grateful for that. The “original nine” as the collectors called them were rolled out in Chicago in 1994, they are: Spot the Dog, Squealer the Pig, Patti the Platypus, Cubbie the Bear, Chocolate the Moose, Pinchers the Lobster, Splash the Killer Whale, Legs the Frog, and Splash the Dolphin.

Beanie Babies were only for sale at little gift shops instead of large retail stores. There were fifty official Beanie Babies for sale within a year. Most people just started to collect them because they look so adorable. Tonya Crisler said “I bought a bunch because I thought they looked cute. I also collected some for my friends, we brought them around everywhere we went after we bought a lot of Beanie Babies. Then my students started to bring me some little Beanie Babies from happy meals and they asked me if I still have them and I said yes, I still have them and it makes them happy and it makes me happy.” Isn’t that adorable, students bringing her some little beanie babies from a happy meal. If you’re collecting the TY Beanie Baby toys, keep them they are worth money. The rare collectables and the originals are worth twenty-thousand dollars but the fifty-five original retired beanies are worth twenty-five thousand dollars. The original beanies are worth money with the little cardboard heart on them if it is not on there then it costs fifty percent less. So keep collecting those TY Beanie Babies because they might be worth money in the future.