Teenie Beanies

The Teenie Beanies are miniature Beanie Babies that were offered as McDonald's promotions in Happy Meals from 1997-2000. The Teenie Beanies were most in demand from McDonald's in the first year they were offered (1997), but demand steadily declined in popularity every year thereafter, even though more were produced each time. During the peak of their popularity, which was in 1998, Teenie Beanies were the cause of many fights at various McDonald's locations, resulting in police calls, criminal charges, and injuries. among these incidents included a Miami area McDonald's employee, who was charged with the theft of the toys. Though originally acquired through the purchase of a Happy Meal (and for around 2$ additional charge for each release of specialty babies 1999 onwards) they were often sold for much higher prices on the secondary market after the promotion. Some McDonald's locations exhausted their supplies of Teenie Beanies before the promotion was over. Teenie Beanies returned to McDonald's in July 2009, featuring Beanie Babies 2.0, the subseries of Ty Beanie Babies. Consumers could log onto ty.com and play online with their new Teenie Beanie as a marketing decision to raise public awareness and garner interest in the Beanie Babies 2.0 virtual pets. Originally, there was a 30-day trial period for playing with the toys online, but now the company has decided to allow consumers to keep their virtual pets for an undisclosed period of time (albeit indefinite). An all-new line of Teenie Beanie Boos, a miniaturized version of the popular Beanie Baby spin-off with large eyes, were introduced to McDonald's in July 2014 and late May 2017. Another line, called Teenie Teeny Tys, was released in late March 2019.