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BBOC Gold Membership Kits

 

The Beanie Babies Official Club made its grand debut in March 1998 as they introduced the Official Gold Membership Kits in Ty retailing stores. This was a new twist now to beanie collectors, so they could now be a part of the club as well. However, the kits were not quite a success as Ty Inc. and Cyrk Inc. had planned. They decided to move onto plan "B"--adding a very rare and elusive beanie baby to the kit. You would not know what the beanie bear would look like unless you purchased the kit for $9.99US, and then order the mysterious bear which the order form was contrained inside of it.
    Sooner or later, Ty decided that it was time for him to introduce Clubby the bear to the beanie world! On Friday July 10, 1998, Cyrk Inc. president, Pat Brady, unveiled the beautiful, royal blue teddy, Ty® Clubby® bear on NBC's Today Show! Clubby has been the first and only Ty® bear to be sporting a royal blue hue colour. Clubby has a colourful ty-dye ribbon tied loosely around his neck, and is the first out of two bears wearing a pin on its chest (B.B. Bear the birthday bear being the second). On Clubby's tush, it reads numbers, 00, 01, 02 and 03, which not many understand why it is there


On Clubby's hang tag. his poem reads:

Wearing his club pin for all to see,
He's a proud member like you and me
Made especially with you in mind
Clubby the bear is one of a kind!


Clubby the bear was obviously made as a fifth generation Beanie Baby, when you view the tag.  To be able to buy this cute Beanie Baby was a limit of one per membership number, meaning you had to buy one membership kit to be able to get Clubby.



 

Inside the official BBOC kits, you are welcomed with a sign saying:

Welcome

Thank you for becoming a BEANIE BABIES® Official Club Member.
We hope you'll enjoy all the fun things we've included in our very first
charter member kit. We especially love the giant BEANIE BABIES
poster with all the BEANIE BABIES play Stickers. As a member, look
for other new exciting offers coming from your BEANIE BABIES club in
the future. Don't forget to check out our website at www.ty.com.
Thanks again and have fun!

 

Clubby was also introduced on the Ty® website, before its appearance on Today with Pat Brady, at www.ty.com/bboc.html saying, "Ty is very happy and proud to introduce the "BBOC", the first OFFICIAL extension to the world famous Beanie Babies. Join the club so you can share all the fun, special announcements, offers, and games" and more!

 

Many things were included inside the Official Gold Membership kit, including the following:

Official membership card - This card is your admission inside the official BBOC Club house. This card is printed on gold glittery cardboard-like paper. On it is a unique, one-of-a-kind number you must type into as your password to get into the Beanie Babies Official Club Clubhouse. Once inside there are games to play, colouring pages to print out and colour, chances to order the new Clubby beanie buddies, Tic tac toe, and much more!

Official club certificate - Next is a form, in which you mail onto Ty. He will mail you a certificate with your name printed on it. The certificate states:
 

Upon recommendation of the President and Staff of Ty, Inc.
and by authority of the Beanie Babies this certificate recognizes
(Your Name Here)
As a Beanie Babies Official Club
Charter Member 1998

There is also another order form in which you fill out to receive the beautiful royal blue hue Clubby the BBOC beanie baby! This bear is only available to club members who send in for their certificate.

Official newsletter - This colourful newsletter is filled with many many pictures of beanie babies and is certainly one of a kind. The newsletter talks about the history of Ty® beanie babies, entitled A BEANIE BABIES® First. It also speaks about the Ty News going around, which is talking about the future of the Official Ty website. After the business talk is done, it then becomes "ty"me for fun and games, as the newsletter starts off with brain busters, and moves onto colouring Chip the calico cat, a list of The Top 10 Things To Do With BEANIE BABIES®, from taking car trips with them and to just plain collecting, this list says the fun things to do with beanies alright! Also, is a fascinating crossword puzzle, which after completing the crossword, you decode a fun secret message! On the back of the newsletter is a mention of the Ty® stickers and large poster.

Official checklist - The official checklist lists all the beanie babies which were part of the Ty® collection at the time it was manufactured, excluding the 1998 releases [Spunky, Bruno, Pounce, Prance, Stretch, Hissy, Iggy, Rainbow, Smoochy, Puffer, Britannia and Erin]. The checklist also includes the beanies' birthdates, date they were introduced, their style number, and a coloured picture of each one. This is the size of a poster and perfect for hanging on your bedroom wall!

Official Sticker sheets - Included inside the BBOC Gold kit is five sheets filled with oodles of beanie baby stickers--136 stickers in all! The stickers were originall designed to be put on the poster you receive free in the kit when you buy it [more information below] but they are fun to put on many other things as well [such as your books or computer!]

Official BBOC poster - This beanie baby poster which you receive seperately [for free] when you purchase the kit, includes different atmospheres for all those beanie needs. The different atmospheres includes a farm, ocean, arctic theme and such. This looks great when all the stickers are on it. If beanies could have a world, this is what it would defintely look like!

Official BBOC Door hanger - Something unique included in the kit is a BBOC door hanger. The door hanger is two-sided and ty-dyed coloured, with one side saying:
 

DO NOT DISTURB!
BEANIE BABIES®
Meeting in Progress

The other side reads:
 

COME ON IN!
Join the
BEANIE BABIES®
OFFICIAL CLUB



Announcements Made On www.ty.com or www.beaniebabyofficialclub.com

 

 

The First Edition Gold Charter Membership Kits retired on the Ty site on December 23, 1998, as it brought many shock to people. Clubby was only available to purchase until March 15, 1999, which from there was said to be out of production.

 

Cyrk Inc., for those interested, is a full-service promo- tional marketing company, specializing in the design and development of high-impact promotional products & programs. Cyrk Inc. was founded in 1976 in Gloucester, MA. Cyrk is a worldwide company with offices through- out North America, Asia, and Europe.

 

This ty-dyed coloured plastic folder is jam-packed with tons of fun "beanie" stuff just for kids [and adults young at heart too of course!] and it is just a wonder how Ty could beat the ideas of what he had placed in the club kit, but with trading cards and coin placed inside the Platinum club kit, as well as the new BBOC bear INSIDE the kit, he certainly outdid himself for 1999--2000 is a wonder of what he could change...and what to add.

 

 

Much thanks to Kelly Munce for her help with gathering photos for this page.
©Article written by Ryan Connell, Collectiblez website 2001- now closed.  Information reproduced with written permission October 2009.)