Is there a young (or perhaps not so young) person in your life who sometimes drives you crazy? “I’m bored, there’s nothing to do!” I have a perfect solution. Figure out what animal they would really like to own, and buy them a Webkinz® by Ganz! Webkinz® are stuffed animals, a lot like Beanie Babies, but these stuffed toys come with a secret code which, when you register your pet online, opens up a whole new world of fun and games.
You can choose from hundreds of different kinds of animals, from regular breeds of cats and dogs to lions, wolves, even monkeys, frogs, horses, birds, fish, and reptiles. Have you ever wanted to own an elephant? Maybe your heart is set on a panda bear or a polar bear? You can, for the low price of around $15 have your own! Finding these animals in Chicagoland might seem a little odd, but you can buy them at specialty stores all over. Many Hallmark® stores have them, as well as NEIU’s very own Beck’s Bookstore.
“Where will your new pet live though?” you ask. No worries mate, a spot on the bed, shelf or toy box suits the physical pet just fine, they won’t eat you out of house and home, and there is no clean up required. Upon bringing your new pet home, log into www.webkinz.com and set up an account. Then, all you have to do is decide whether the creature is a boy or girl, and what its name is. You can print out a certificate of adoption for your new family member if you choose. Upon entering Webkinz® World proper, you will get a room, a special favorite food, and an item unique to the kind of pet you chose.
Decorating the room can be a lot of fun. There are many different room themes to choose from, and you can mix and match styles to your heart’s content. Sports, space and racecars are some of the choices for a boy’s room, while the girls might prefer a fantasy, pink or cheerleader room. Visit the Curio Shop and see if Arte has any items from a rare theme such as: Medieval (mine is pictured below,) Egyptian, Ancient Civilizations or Science. Mix and match as you please. You may find that you have to buy several more rooms to accommodate all the furnishing that you wish to include.
You can decorate a kitchen, complete with refrigerator to store your food. Buy a stove, sandwich maker and blender and your pet can be a culinary master by mixing different foods to produce gastronomical delights, such as: an Astormishing Sandwich, Epochiquox Glimmer, Slimescraper, Magimmery Mist, an Unidentified Frying Omlet or a Chimericamaki. Of course, you may just make Gak. There are cookbooks in the W Shop for recipes, and if your pet has a TV, it can watch Chef Gustapo try to make some of ‘his mother’s favorite recipes.’
If the outdoors is where your pet really wants to be, get a grill, a cooler and a picnic table. Add a pool so they can swim, a trampoline for bouncing, and perhaps make them a nice garden where they can farm fresh vegetables.
Of course, decorating a room and buying appliances does take money. Never fear, in Webkinz ® World, there are lots of ways to make Kinzcash. There are daily activities that help you earn money, spin the Wheel of Wow once a day and you could earn prizes or up to 500 Kinzcash. The Wishing Well2 gives you a chance to win 1000, or a rare item. Every eight hours you can go to the Employment Office and check the job lists to earn money too. There are different ‘jobs’ and levels of each job, with more difficult tasks earning you more money. Quizzy’s Question Corner is a trivia room where you can answer all sorts of multiple-choice questions in different categories. This is possibly the fastest way to make lots of Kinzcash.
If trivia isn’t your game, there are plenty of other games to play. Visit the arcade and pick from lots of fun things to keep you amused. Many of these games resemble things that you have seen elsewhere. Zingo’s Quest is quite a bit like Frogger and the newest game, Smoothie Moves (my personal favorite) is a Zumba clone. Not only do you win spending money, but there is a chance for trophies too! Many of the games can be counted as educational, such as Goober Gets an A. Nothing like having fun while learning!
There is a parent’s area on the website where parents can learn all about how to monitor their child’s time, and get any questions they have answered. While you can invite other users over to your house to play and send gifts and letters to others, Ganz restricts language to their dictionary and there are many things that cannot be said and words that cannot be used as room names.
There are many other things to do in Webkinz® World, too many for me to fit into this space. Besides, the more time that I spend typing, the less time I will have to play on the site myself! I’ve been visiting there for over a year now, and every day I find something else fun to do. The funny thing is, even though this is really a website for children, my adult sister and my mother were the ones who got me involved. I’ve introduced it to a few people, and they still haven’t quite decided whether to thank me or not. It is a very diversional place to play!
Photographs and artwork © GANZ. WEBKINZ, WEBKINZ WORLD, KINZCASH, W SHOP, W, QUIZZY’S QUESTION CORNER, and all character names and game names are trademarks owned by GANZ, some of which are registered in the U.S. and other countries.