Elmo Toys

Elmo is a furry red Muppet character which features on the American children's television series called Sesame Street. Sesame Street is an educational television series whose primary target audience is toddlers and preschoolers. The show delivers its educational instruction in an extremely entertaining format which features much music and Muppet characters like Elmo, Big Bird, Cookie Monster and Oscar the Grouch. Sesame Street is one of the longest running television shows in the history of American television.

Elmo is one of the most popular Mupppet characters from the show. He is a goggle eyed furry red monster who has his own segment on the show which is called 'Elmo's world'. Elmo is featured with his friends like Dorothy the gold fish and Mr Noodle. Elmo always refers to himself in the third person.

This beloved Muppet character has inspired a range of merchandise including many Elmo toys, the most popular of which was the Tickle Me Elmo which first debuted in the US in 1996. Tickle Me Elmo would chortle when his stomach was squeezed and he would urge his young playmates to "Tickle Elmo again." This Tickle Me Elmo Toy became the must- have toy for Christmas in 1996. Parents fought each other violently in their bid to bring a Tickle me Elmo home to their young ones. Such was the demand for the toy that stores soon ran out of supplies and soon the $28.99 toy was being sold for as much as $1500.

In the fall of 2001, a "Surprise Edition" of the Elmo Toy, Tickle Me Elmo was issued in the form of an elaborate contest. Five lucky winners discovered that on the 9th of January 2002 their Elmo's stopped giggling and instead announced to the young people who were squeezing them that they had won many prizes including a grand prize which amounted to $200,000 which could be used as a down payment towards the purchase of a home.

Ten years later, in 2006 for the 10th anniversary of its debut, the T.M.X. Elmo was unveiled to the world amid much secrecy on an episode of the popular morning talk show Good Morning America on September 19th. The T.M.X. Elmo was shown only to a few toy industry insiders prior to its release but this didn’t stop the pre-orders from coming in. This new Elmo toy just doesn't vibrate but it has three tickle spots on his chin, tummy and toe all of which trigger infectious laughter and much movement. The T.M.X. Elmo requires six AA batteries and is priced approximately around US $40.

In 2007, yet another Elmo toy was launched called the TMX eXtra Special Edition. This new version of the Elmo toy laughs, rolls and does much more when tickled. You have to find the correct movement combinations to discover the secret surprises of this toy. This Elmo Toy comes bundled with rhyming cards which hint at these correct combinations.