Personalized toys and methods for manufacturing and delivering the same

A method for marketing a toy, comprising the steps of:

• providing several different configurations for at least one of a plurality of components that may be assembled as part of a finished toy;
• displaying on a computer screen images of the different configurations of the at least one of the components;
• allowing a customer viewing the displayed images to record a selected configuration of the at least one of the components, to be assembled as part of a personalized toy;
• displaying a representational image of a toy incorporating the selected configuration;
• establishing a quantity limit for at least one of the configurations of the at least one of the components;
• maintaining a cumulative total of customer selection of the at least one of the configurations;
• and
• preventing further customer selection of the at least one of the configurations after the cumulative total of the at least one of the configurations exceeds the quantity limit for that configuration.

A method for marketing a toy, comprising the steps of:

• providing several different configurations for at least one of a plurality of components that may be assembled as part of a finished toy;
• displaying on a computer screen images of the different configurations of the at least one of the components;
• allowing a customer viewing the displayed images to record a selected configuration of the at least one of the components, to be assembled as part of a personalized toy;
• displaying a representational image of a toy incorporating the selected configuration;
• assembling a personalized toy according to predefined instructions as modified by the selected configuration;
• providing a package;
• printing identifying material for the selected configuration;
• connecting the identifying material to the package;
• and
• placing the personalized toy in the package.

A method for marketing a toy, comprising the steps of:

• proving several different configurations for at least one of a plurality of components that may be assembled as part of a finished toy;
• displaying on a computer screen images of the different configurations of the at least one of the components;
• allowing a customer viewing the displayed images to record a selected configuration of the at least one of the components, to be assembled as part of a personalized toy;
• displaying a representational image of a toy incorporating the selected configuration;
• saving the selected configuration as a machine-readable order;
• assembling a personalized toy according to predefined instructions as modified by the selected configuration in the machine-readable order;
• saving as a machine-readable record an indication of the particular configuration of at least one of the components in the personalized toy based on physical observation of the assembled personalized toy;
• and
• verifying that the order matches the record.

A method for manufacturing a toy, comprising the steps of:

• providing several different configurations for at least one of a plurality of components that may be assembled as part of a finished toy;
• establishing a quantity limit for at least one of the configurations of the at least one of the components;
• recording in a computer database a customer selection of at least one of the configurations of the at least one of the components, to be assembled as part of a personalized toy;
• maintaining a cumulative total of customer selection of the at least one of the configurations;
• and
• preventing further customer selection of the at least one of the configurations after the cumulative total of the at least one of the configurations exceeds the quantity limit for that configuration.

A method for manufacturing and packaging a toy, comprising the steps of:

• providing several different configurations for at least one of a plurality of components that may be assembled as part of a finished toy;
• recording in a computer database a customer selection of at least one of the configurations of the at least one of the components, to be assembled as part of a personalized toy;
• providing a package;
• printing identifying material for the at least one of the configurations;
• connecting the identifying material to the package;
• assembling a personalized toy with the at least one of the configurations;
• and
• placing the personalized toy in the package.

A method for manufacturing and packaging a personalized toy, comprising the steps of:

• providing several different configurations of components that may be assembled as part of a finished toy;
• saving as a machine-readable order a customer selection of a particular configuration of at least one of the components and a recipient of a personalized toy defined at least in part by the order;
• assembling a personalized toy according to predefined instructions as modified by a customer selection in the machine-readable order;
• saving as a machine-readable record an indication of the particular configuration of at least one of the components in the personalized toy based on physical observation of the assembled personalized toy;
• and
• verifying that the order matches the record.