For the past week, the TV channels I watch have been bombarded with ads from the Vermont Teddy Bear Co. I suspect you have seen them, too. With Valentine’s Day approaching, their pitch about men giving cuddly bears to their sweeties had to fall on many receptive ears. Not mine, however. On the ad, we can see a view of their website page for the “Thief of Hearts” bear with a price of $89.99. That is beyond my budget, but my wife loves the dozen pink roses I already gave her that cost less than a third of that.
I did wonder if Vermont Teddy Bear had any Elvis bears, so I checked out their website. There were three: “Jailhouse Rock” bear, “Love Me Tender” bear, and “That’s All Right Mama” bear. They cost $99.99, so I guess the extra $10 is to cover the EPE license fee. The Elvis sunglasses on two of them are pretty cool. I like the white jumpsuit better than the other two outfits, so the “Love Me Tender” bear might make a good gift next year if you are persuaded by the Vermont Teddy Bear advertisements. On the other hand, giving a bear with a prison shirt on might be a mistake. Bad karma.
Next, I went to www.shopelvis.com, because I remembered they offered a series of inexpensive Elvis teddy bears. These have different images printed on the bears’ bodies, and they cost only $12.99
The themes for the Elvis bears cover just about every aspect of his career, such as “68 Comeback Special,” “Heartbreak Hotel,” “Aloha From Hawaii,” and “G.I. Blues.” The red bear below is the “Can't Help Falling In Love” bear, and the pink one is the “Love Me Tender” bear. Both might work well as a Valentine's present next year.
Then, I Googled Elvis Teddy Bears to see what else might come up. Here are three, none of which do much for me. The first costs $39.99, and the only connection with Elvis is his name on the ribbon and one foot. The middle one costs $18.99 and doesn’t even have Elvis’ name on it, just the TCB logo. The last one would not be recognizable as an Elvis teddy bear without the tag on its ear. It’s not worth 10.99 to me.
I did find something else that surprised me – Elvis Beanie Babies. You can get the whole set for $30 new or $15 on eBay. I really like these, especially the Elvis shades and the sideburns. I showed the picture to my wife, and she said they look like hound dogs to her. I see her point, but this is an article about Elvis teddy bears, so I’m over-ruling her.
My favorite of all the Elvis teddy bears also came from www.shopelvis.com. They call this series the “Plush Swing and Sway” bears, and the price of $34.99 each seems like a good value. I like the hair and sideburns, and, of all the bears reviewed here, they are the only ones with mouths (and a nice smile). For some reason, ShopElvis fails to mention one very significant fact about these teddies (I found this out on another site that also sells them.) See the little red logos on the bears’ left feet. If you press that, an Elvis song plays. The little guy with the cape sings “Burning Love.” The bear in the gold lame coat sings “Don’t Be Cruel.” You can figure out what the one in the prison shirt sings.
Nest year, I’ll see if my wife would rather have a singing Elvis teddy bear or a dozen pink roses. I’m pretty sure it she’ll pick the roses. However, if she wants a gift idea for me, it will be the “Burning Love” singing Elvis teddy bear.
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