Back in the 90s there was a craze you may remember called Beanie Babies. My son was just a baby and I can’t remember exactly why or how it started but I do remember my first beanie baby. It was a light blue elephant named “Peanut”. If I knew what was to come, I wouldn’t have removed the tag and let my little one play with him. I guess that was probably the start of becoming a collector. Now those little bean stuffed animals are in a plastic bin somewhere in storage. I can’t bring myself to get rid of them even though it was a fad that’s long over. However they do come in handy when you need to entertain a little one.

Well last winter that collector fever returned when we discovered Tsum Tsums at the Disney Store.

Disney Tsum Tsum is a line of collectible plushies (stuffed toys) based on popular Disney characters. The name “tsum tsum” comes from the Japanese verb tsumu meaning “to stack”, and the plushies are designed to sit on top of each other, forming a pyramid. The toys were first introduced in Japan in 2013 as an accompaniment to Disney Japan’s popular mobile game with the same name and as of 2014 had sold 1.8 million toys. Disney began exporting the toys to the U.S. in July 2014, and in Disneyland Paris the following month. (Wikipedia)

Needless to say I fell in love with these little things. They were DISNEY and they were cheap, and most importantly they were so freakin’ adorable!

My #disney #tsumtsum & #ittybittys collection updated after #Xmas my sweet son hooked me up!!

A photo posted by Kelly Irvin (@rainiedazze) on Dec 27, 2014 at 7:14am PST

Oh, yeah I also collect Hallmark Itty Bittys and Funko Pops (mostly Disney princesses). But I’ll save those stories for another post, another day.

In 2015 Disney announced “Tsum Tsum” Tsuesdays! Every month on the first Tuesday a new set of plushes would be released. I am proud to say that I have visited the Disney Store every month this year to collect my prizes!

Its been sort of cool to watch my collection grow. It was also interesting to see the popularity and interest grow. I think the first time I witnessed a sellout on the first day was with the Aladdin set. I wasn’t able to get Jafar or the Sultan even though I was at the store pretty early in the day. It happened again in November when Captain Hook sold out in the first 10 minutes. Although, the store did claim that they weren’t sent very many of that character. What once seemed like an insider secret soon became a worldwide craze that’s got ebay and Amazon resellers driving up prices on an originally $4.99 plush toy. That’s the way it goes.

When I purchase my Tsum Tsums every month I only get one of each character that I am interested in. There is a limit of 2 of each character per guest. Personally its upsetting to be in line when the doors open and watch people ahead of me get more than one of each and they run out before I get to the register. I don’t like to be greedy.

The only exception was when I picked up a set of Marvel characters for my nephew for his birthday. He didn’t know what they were but immediately fell in love!

Luckily for collectors Target also sells Tsum Tsums. Sometimes you will see a past collection pop up. So there’s still hope I could get my hands on a Jafar or Captain Hook in the future. I love shopping at Target so I don’t mind sneaking back to the toy section to check what they have in stock.

I ordered this cute Tsum Tsum twin blanket from Target.

I present my Tsum Tsum Class of 2015, a grand total of 105 total mini Tsum Tsums. It will be fun coming up with a way to display these cuties in my corner of our new home office.

It’s been a fun time collecting Tsum Tsums in 2015. I was happy to learn that its been so successful that they will be continuing the monthly releases (Tsum Tsum Tuesday aka TTT) into 2016. First up, The Lion King in January! Happy collecting!