There were the Cabbage Patch riots of 1983, the Furby craze of 1998 and who could forget Tickle Me Elmo? Each holiday season there is a “must have” toy – and this year it’s a small electronic, bird-like creature that hatches out of an egg.

The Hatchimal is the hottest-selling toy of 2016, so popular it’s practically impossible to find. CTV’s Ross McLaughlin went on the hunt to track down the coveted toy and went to extreme measures to buy one.

McLaughlin started off at Walmart and searched the shelves. But had no luck and the customers there didn’t know where to find them either.

"I just know that they're one of the most popular toys and they're hard to find," said one shopper.

He came up empty handed at Toys R Us as well. An employee at the store told McLaughlin they were all sold out and didn’t expect to get any more before the holidays.

After searching Showcase and Gift Surprises in Metrotown mall in Burnaby, McLaughlin decided to try the big man himself. He hopped on Santa’s knee and asked if he could help out.

"They are very hard to find," said Mr. Claus, “I’ll be looking out for you.”

The manufacturer, Spin Master, can’t keep up with demand and says it likely won’t have any more until the New Year.

So we decided to search Craigslist and found all kinds of ads in Metro Vancouver, but at highly inflated prices. Some Hatchimals were as much as $400, more than four times the suggested retail price of $89.95.

The McLaughlin on Your Side team answered an online ad for a Hatchimal priced at $200 and set up a meeting to buy it.

The woman we purchased the Hatchimal from says she bought two at Toys R Us months ago.

It’s the same move two brothers in Arizona pulled back in October. Mike and Stan Zappa bought 100 Hatchimals and are now cashing in re-selling the toys to crazed parents.

Spin Master is discouraging people from buying from re-sellers and says there will be more stock in stores early 2017.

The Hatchimal CTV purchased will be raffled off with all money going towards charity.