Holiday 2006: The season of broken dreams

Shoppers getting stung as stores post 'out of stock' signs on T.M.X. Elmo, PS3, some plasma TVs.

By Parija B. Kavilanz, CNNMoney.com staff writer

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Will it be "Happy Holidays" this year or a season of broken dreams and empty promises?

Unfortunately, plenty of households are bracing for wailing kids and even some weepy grown-ups when the time comes to unwrap those holiday gifts.

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Though Christmas is still more than a month away, many store chains and online merchants already have "out of stock" signs up for the season's most-wanted gifts.

Toys 'R' Us on Tuesday said it won't have T.M.X. Elmo in any of its stores on Black Friday. But on Wednesday, the toyseller told CNNMoney.com that it now expects to get Elmo shipments on a regular basis and will have the product in stores over Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

Wal-Mart (Charts), Target (Charts), Toys 'R Us and others said they will try to restock hot sellers like T.M.X. Elmo, Sony (Charts)'s PlayStation 3, Nintendo (Charts)'s Wii whenever they get more supplies.

But given that demand for these item is clearly outstripping supply, there's no guarantee that you'll find one or all of these products in time for Christmas.

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Wal-Mart's hiding some Black Friday deals Top of page

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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.