Update on ordering these: My June order on Amazon was supposed to ship in October and has now been pushed back to November. As of today, Amazon is not even showing you can pre-order anymore. Target and Walmart are still taking pre-orders. For some reason, the price at Walmart is much lower than anywhere else. They both say that they “should ship” 10/28 or “on or near” 10/28, so hopefully they will follow through!
I know it seems like half of my posts lately have been about Frozen, but if you are a mom, you are probably stuck in the middle of Frozen Mania. Heck, if you speak English, you are probably in the middle of Frozen Mania (like it or not).
Disney’s recent product announcement of “Hide and Hug Olaf” has parents everywhere pre-ordering on Amazon in anticipation of it being the “Elf on the Shelf” of this holiday season. That can mean a lot of things!
- Hot Toy That Every Kid Wants But Is Hard to Find: Amazon is taking pre-orders for these with an anticipated shipment date of October 28. That means that kids are going to start seeing them in early November and your kid is probably going to tell you that she wants one right about the time that they all sell out. Don’t let it be the Cabbage Patch Kid of this generation. For $20, it’s worth ordering now just in case.
- Moms On Pinterest Will Go Crazy Over It: Just like we saw with “the Elf” (that I have come to despise), we will likely see pictures all over Pinterest and Facebook where creative parents find new places and ways to hide Olaf. Ice cube trays, bags of marshmallows, and cotton balls had better be prepared.
- Cute Videos of Kids Finding Olaf Will Go Viral: Imagine the first time someone posts a video of their pressure toddler discovering Olaf under the covers and then scoops it up for a big, warm hug. There won’t be a dry eye on the Internet.
- Naughty Parents Will Get Creative: Have you seen the things they do with that Elf and Barbie? It’s actually pretty comical. It won’t take long for parents to start debasing Olaf as well.
- The Gift That Keeps on Giving: The Elf has to return to the North Pole at Christmas, but the snow season is just starting by the end of December. Will Olaf be playing hide and seek the whole way through April?
So what exactly is “Hide and Hug Olaf”? It’s pretty much a box set of a “brand-new story” about Olaf that has some kind of hide-and-seek theme that parents can then use to start hiding Olaf for their kids to find. It comes with a 48-page hardcover book as well as the plushy Olaf.
I have to admit that I’ll likely be pre-ordering this for my kids even though Amazon says the age range is 3-5 years. Frozen is cool among the tween set, which is unique for being an animated Princess movie. I’d rather pay the $20 now and have the darn thing then have to worry about tracking one down come December. But I can guarantee you that I will NOT be hiding it every day and it won’t be bringing my kids presents!
Will you order Olaf for you kids? Do you think it will be a big hit or a big bust for the holiday season?
I feel a great disturbance in the Force. As if a million parents screamed out in terror.
Thanks. After 8 months I had finally gotten Let it Go out of my head. Now I can’t hold it back anymore.
Don’t worry, Eric. As soon as the flakes start falling across the US, we’ll be treated to thousands of variations of “Do You Want To Build a Snowman” all over again. This thing just isn’t going way! My daughter is almost 14 and is dressing up as Elsa for Halloween!! Disney is going to ride this thing until we long for the days of “It’s a Small World” being the hardest tune to get out of our heads!