Webkinz Talk

We speak Webkinz-Ease in our house, that is how greatly Webkinz has embellished our lives.

The Webkinz world is entered by purchasing a cute and lovable stuffed animal made by Ganz that has a tag that contains a special secret code that activates a virtual pet that looks similar to your stuffed friend (my daughter reminds me to tell people to not accidentally purchase a Webkinz stuffed animal that doesn't have a tag, and please do NOT throw away your tag!). Once you own one of these little pets, you are given a room to decorate and a world to explore (complete with games, jobs, and even a Post Office). You are also in charge of feeding your virtual pet so that it doesn't get sick. At all times, the pet has a meter that reads his health, happiness, and hunger level. The range is 0-100, with 100 being the highest.

Our conversations can go something like this:
How hungry are you?
I'm starving, I think I'm at about 60.
Well, I'm at a 75, so I'll make us a snack.

Then later:
I'm about a 95 on my tired level (we've made this category [and others] up), so I think I could stay awake a while longer.
Not me, I'm a 40, I'm going to bed now.

Then, of course, the games and their unique vocabularies have entered our world, too. Once a day, everyone gets a spin on the Wheel of Wow. We, however, call it the Wheel of Mom since WOW is MOM upside down. The wheel spins the word WOW, making it look like MOM. I often hear, "Wow, Mom! Look what we got!"

One of our current favorite activities is to sit and play the games on the (muted) Webkinz site whilst listening to audio books. Our second favorite activity is to play our homemade version of Webkinz Trading Spaces. Both of my daughters have an account. We log in on two different computers, show each other 1-3 possible trading rooms, decide on a KinzCash amount (usually 1000-3000 KinzCash), then switch places for an hour or two. We can't sell each others items without permission, but we can reuse items in the rooms we've chosen and we can do whatever we want as far as decorating goes. I go back and forth between the computers and I probably have the most fun of all. :) We've come up with some awesome rooms!

Oh, how we love Webkinz!