How technology can help find those hot toys

Good luck — the animatronic bird-like creatures that “hatch” from eggs are one of the toughest toys to find this holiday season.

Nostalgic Gen Xers looking to introduce their own kids to the classic Nintendo games of their youth have made finding an NES Classic a tough task as well.

[...] with the help of technology, along with a few phone calls and a decent amount of shoe leather, your quest for a Hatchimal, NES, or other tough finds on your little one’s list, may not be in vain.

Neighborhood Facebook pages and Internet mailing lists geared toward parents can be good sources of information, Breyer said.

Toys R Us will also have more Hatchimals in stock before Santa’s big day, air freighting them from China, when they would normally bring them in by sea, said Richard Barry, executive vice president and global chief merchandising officer.

The hype surrounding Hatchimals, which started before their fall release, combined with the complicated manufacturing process used to produce them, makes it tough to get enough of them into stores fast enough, he said.

There are websites that specialize in tracking online inventories, such as StockInformer.com, but they’re probably not going to be much help.

Because the available stock is so low, most Hatchimals will be going straight to stores.

EBay can be safe, too, as long as you pick a seller with a long history and good reviews, Breyer said.

[...] while Hatchimals may be grabbing headlines, demand for them isn’t nearly as crazy as the competition for the original Tickle Me Elmo, Zhu Zhu Pets and Pokémon toys.

[...] SpinMaster, the company that makes Hatchimals, has a nifty certificate of ownership you can print off their website.