For a few months in the 90s, Beanie Babies were among the most popular toys in the world. People were hoarding them, putting them in safe deposit boxes and planning to sell them in the future to fund their retirement or put their kids through college. Unfortunately, the Beanie Baby craze quickly died out and what were once valuable items have never regained their value.
Some May Be Worth Keeping
The original nine Beanie Babies may be worth keeping for sentimental value or because they look cute. However, they aren’t worth more than a few cents on the open market. If you are planning on buying them as a gift for your child or for a niece or nephew, they are still worth the $1 or so that you will spend on them.
They Are Still Fun for the Kids
Your child will still enjoying looking at their collection sitting on the toy shelf. They may even be worthy participants in your daughter’s tea party or any other fanciful scenario that your kids can dream up. As they are soft and easy to wash, you can give them to a young child as a toy to sleep with in bed or to carry around both inside and outside.
Use Them for Decoration
While you won’t be able to get any money for them, you can still use them to decorate your home. If you don’t have kids, they can still provide some additional color and whimsy to your bedroom, office or the dining room. If you have a room where you store other collectibles, you could line the walls with your Beanie Babies as a conversation starter. If you do have kids in the future, you can point to them as a cautionary tale that you should never blindly follow the lead of others.
Don’t Fall for Scammers
There are many people out there claiming that certain Beanie Babies are worth hundreds or thousands of dollars online. However, this is not the case. Most of the people who are posting screenshots or other proofs of their claims are posting doctored photos that are meant to mislead or scam people into paying inflated values for these little toys.
Although Beanie Babies were once worth thousands of dollars on the open market, they will never be worth that much again. The best thing to do is to give your own Beanie Babies to your kids, buy them as gifts or simply use them as decoration until you can find some way to unload them on someone else.