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MGA’s Miniverse includes a range of miniature replicas of food
One of these is a rare “Buddy the Elf” Spaghetti plate
These have resold for $100+, and can be found in stores now
We talk about a lot of weird products on this blog, but today’s might just take the cake. Target is selling a set of collectable “mini food” items packaged in plastic balls. Each container has something different, and you won’t know what you get until you open it. One of these foods is much rarer than the others, and highly collectable. Resellers are now flipping this item for ten times what it retails for.
Alright, before we go any further, let’s clarify just what the hell we’re talking about.
MGA’s Miniverse is a line of miniature scale replicas of real world items sold as toys. Many of the minis are based on food, but they also do Bratz and Little Tikes minis.
All of the items sold in this series are contained in small plastic balls that conceal what miniature is inside. It’s like a pack of cards; you know what might be in it, but the only way to know for sure is to crack it open.
What we’re looking at today is the Make It Mini Diner: Holiday Theme. This is a food based line of minis with a holiday twist. Gingerbread houses, hot cocoa, Thanksgiving turkeys; you get the picture. Oh, and by the way, none of these items are edible.
Each ball costs $10 and contains one entree. While most of these aren’t really notable to anyone who isn’t a collector, there’s one that is.
Remember that scene from “Elf” where Will Farrell dumps a bunch of syrup and sprinkles and shit on his spaghetti and eats it? Of course you do, because even though the movie came out 20 years it’s become an enduring part of pop culture for no real reason.
Anyways, this plate of sugary spaghetti is featured as an “ultra-rare”, “highly collectable”, and “extremely dumb” part of the MGA Make it Mini Food collection.
Collectors are absolutely fiending to have this plastic plate of slop for their “Elf” dioramas, and are willing to pay. It’s also proving quite popular on TikTok.
@tinybuilder8 We have secured the Buddy the Elf Spaghetti!!!!!! Join me tuesday night 11/7 @830 pm est to build this and more!! @Miniverse #mini #miniverse #miniverses #makeitminiverse #miniverseremix #makeitmini #miniversemakeitminifood #miniversecafeseries #miniversecafeseries1 #miniversecafeseries2 #miniversecafeseries3 #miniversedinerseries #miniversedinerseries1 #miniversedinerseries2 #miniversedinerseries3 #miniverseayce #miniversemultipack #miniverselifestyle #miniversehalloween #miniverseholiday #buddytheelf #buddyspaghetti #miniversebuddyspaghetti #miniverseelf
But hang on. Even if these particular Minis are worth money, there’s no way of knowing if you got one without opening the ball. There aren’t specific numbers available on rarity, but it seems like 1 in 6 MGA Holiday balls are a Buddy the Elf Spaghetti ball. Is it even worth trying to find one?
Well, resellers have found a clever way to tell if a Make it Mini ball contains the item you’re looking for without opening it, or even buying it.
If you have experience with trading cards, you’d know that the weight of a deck can sometimes give its contents away. Manufacturers have to be careful about how they pack the cards to make sure that special items like holographics or foils don’t weigh more than the others in the pack.
Here’s the bombshell: Buddy the Elf Mini Spaghetti balls weigh more than the other balls (what a sentence). Specifically, they weigh around 109 grams. Other balls weigh around 102.
If you have a cheap handheld scale laying around, you have everything you need to start finding these collectable balls. Target and Walmart have tons of these, and you just pull up in the toy aisle and start going to town weighing them.
Or you can just purchase them online and weigh the balls at your house. Target will allow you to return them within 90 days of purchase as long as they are unopened.
If you’ve gotten this far, you’re probably interested in what these are actually worth. Driving around to a bunch of Targets and Walmarts and weighing balls in the aisle isn’t hard work, but it still takes time. Is this flip worth the time?
Well, right now a sealed MGA Buddy the Elf Spaghetti toy is reselling for $50 to $100 at a time. These toys have only just started stocking, and there plenty of eBay sales for them through this month. If you manage to snag several, you have an opportunity to multiply your money to a significant degree.
Better yet, if you’re a Target Circle member, there’s a coupon active right now for 25% off of toys. That includes these balls, bringing your cost per ball down to $7.50
The bottom line? This is an incredibly easy and very reliable flip. Collectors want these balls, and even if the market slows down they’re cheap enough to be profitable at a $30 to $50 price point. If you’re not taking advantage of it, you’re leaving money behind.
Want to learn more about reselling? Subscribe to our newsletter! We’re making lots of money during the holidays by flipping stuff like Little Debbie Christmas Trees, Starbucks Stanley Tumblers, and John Derian Pillows at Target.
Expect to see these blow up on TikTok
Start calling your local Cinemark
