***This is a sponsored post for Big W. All opinions are mine and all toy related tantrums are genuine***
Remember the early days when you still had your “Green P” parenting plates on? Being an absolute rookie at child rearing.
Mistakes were constant. Like clipping the inside of their chubby thighs when fastening their seat belts. Or almost burning their little infant tongues because you didn’t properly test how hot the heated milk was in their feeding bottle.
Oops.
When the twinlets were in their toddler prime, Mr Surfer took them for a quick trip to the toy store. There was no intention to buy anything but for them to have a quick play and kill some time.
Big blunder. Huge.
Tantrums and tears were imminent.
One by-stander who witnessed the entire meltdown had to have his 5 cents worth:
“Mate, if you knew you weren’t going to buy anything. You shouldn’t even take them in there”
And there folks, lies the absolute truth.
It’s best to leave these things to the experts.
Even being in 5 metres vicinity of the toy section or a toy store, you’re doomed. You’re never going to win the war. Your child will always know best.
You leave with an extremely scorched hole in your wallet.
The futile alternative is being at your wit’s end trying to usher out a screaming child who’s sprawled out like a hysterical starfish, refusing to be peeled off the shopping mall floor.
Just in time before their big online sale (starts 20th of June ends 10th July), Big W gave me the rare opportunity to conduct a little experiment. A chance to see how much the twinlets “know their toys”.
Jumping on the Big W website, there was much excitement over seeing on the computer screen familiar characters like Thomas, Lightening McQueen and the Octonauts crew.
When asked which of the toys they would like, there was some deep contemplation.
Sourcing toys is a serious business, didn’t you know? Especially when you’re a feisty 3 and a half year old.
The process was so much easier than having to drag everyone into the store.
I’ll have to head back there for my Christmas shopping, taking advantage of the online lay-by option.
And the best part…I have 5 x $100 Big W gift vouchers to give away, just in time for the upcoming Giant Toy Spectacular!
To be in the running, all you have to do is:
- Check out the Big W website and tell me your little toy expert’s favourite 3 items.
- Follow With Some Grace on Facebook
- Subscribe to With Some Grace by Email
The important stuff:
- This giveaway is only open to Australian residents
- Closing date for entries is Thursday, 27th of June.
- The winners will be contacted via email on the following Friday.
- If the winner does not reply to my email within 24 hours, another winner will be chosen.
- Entries will be judged on merit and decision of the winner will be final
As always, joining Essentially Jess for IBOT
Uh oh – “usher out a screaming child who’s sprawled out like a hysterical starfish” …I missed the other screaming child monkey climbing the shelves to reach what you put up high, while my back was turned trying to pick up the starfish. Mine wanted Shrek and the donkey at C supermarket once…worse day ever.
My toy experts want LEGO -Ninjago Garmatron, Warrior Bike and Earth Driller from BIG W.
Subscribed and Followed.
Trish recently posted..AntiOx Snack Bars and Chocolate {Giveaway}
Such a great idea and very helpful for me as i was stuck for ideas for Mr 3 nearly 4’s birthday so having to take him to the shops to see what he wants and them leave with nothing wasn’t exciting me at all! From he Big W catalogue he picked out the crayons caddy of textas, the Lego duplo construction set and the fisher Price ballapalooza!
Martine@themodernparent recently posted..Connecting with our kids: how do we keep it up?
Such a great idea Grace and very helpful for me with Mr 3 nearly turning 4 and having no idea what to get him. Taking him to the shops to find out and leave with nothing was in no way exciting me! From the Big W website he loved the Crayola caddy of textas, the Lego Duplo construction set and the Fisher Price Ballapalooza!
My little human toy expert is aged 2 and is dinosaur mad! He has chosen: Dinosaur Train Interactive Dinosaurs (T-Rex); Robert Irwin’s Dinosaur Hunter DVD Series and Collective Dinosaurs (Glow). Subscribed and have been following for a while!! Thank you xoxo
Mine is a 3 year old super expert who thinks everything Lightening McQueen is awesome! He also thinks there is a ‘shop’ for everything – for example, he decided he wanted bigger bubbles in the bath, so asked me to go to the Bubble Shop & get them! 🙂
Jodie@FreshHomeCook recently posted..Quick Recipes – Sneaky Vegetable Pasta Sauce
Great competition Grace! I’ll show my boys the website in a minute. I’m sure it’ll blow their tiny minds!
natalia familia recently posted..the natural order
Ah, but the key is knowing that the toys they want ( I want it I want it I want it) are NOT the same as the toys that they will ACTUALLY play with.
Parental discretion is always advised.
Katyberry recently posted..School Holidays are Coming
Mega bloks Wagon, large farm tub and play and go table
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Oh Grace, poor Mr Surfer! I think the online toy shopping is a great idea, much less stressful.
BTW, your 2 little possums are way too adorable xx
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This is such a great idea Grace as I was just contemplating but dreading taking my Mr 3 who is about to turn 4 to the shops to see what he wanted for his birthday!Letting him loose on a website was so much easier! From the Big W website he has chosen a Crayola Caddy of textas, the Lego Duplo construction set and the Fisher Price Ballapalooza!
Martine@themodernparent recently posted..Connecting with our kids: how do we keep it up?
Grace, this is such a great idea and much better than my idea of taking my Mr 3 nearly 4 to the shops to see what he wanted for his birthday. Bringing him home empty handed was never going to be fun and not nearly as easy as letting him loose on the internet! From the Big W website he chose the Crayola Caddy of texts, the Lego Duplo Construction set and the Fisher Price Ballapalooza.
Martine@themodernparent recently posted..Connecting with our kids: how do we keep it up?
My kids love catalogues, the ones that come in mail but I will get them on the site and have a wee squiz! Great giveaway Grace x
Emily @ Have a laugh on me recently posted..On being a bitch, a lover, a saint and a sinner!
Oh yeah we have so been there!! Now when I go to a toy Shop I let my boys know that 1. I am not taking money 2. if they ask for anything we have to leave and not go back!!!
Mind you there is a lot of “If only” or “I wish” statements while we are “Only Looking” at the toys 🙂
My two boys are into Lego – anything and everything to do with Lego! They Love Lego City Fire station https://www.bigw.com.au/toys/lego-construction/lego/city/bpnBIGW_0000000331089/lego-city-fire-station-60004
Already Liked on Facebook.
And subscribed to your blog 🙂
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Minnie Mouse Bow-Rific Fun Plush (what an absolute cutey), Cabbage Patch Kids Fashionality Doll (can’t believe these are STILL cool) and KidKraft Petal Pink Kitchen (and I am absolutely more than happy to encourage a love of cooking, fingers crossed for a future gourmet chef in the family).
This post is perfectly times Grace as I was going through the Toy Spectacular catalogue on the weekend figuring out what I’m going to lay-by Punky for her birthday and for both girls for Christmas (having a November baby means I can kill two birds with one stone at the mid-year toy sale now!). The three things I’m really keen to get (Punky would just point at everything in the catalogue and say “more” if I asked her!) are the swing set with the two sings, monkey bars, seesaw swing and slide for the girls to share, the Leap Pad for Punky and the My Pal Scout for PJ#2. We are going lay-buying next week and I am looking forward to it!
Kylez @ A Study in Contradictions recently posted..Anti-What???
Great idea Grace! Much more appealing than the thought of taking my Mr 3 nearly 4 to the shops to find out what he wants for his birthday…..and getting him out of there empty handed! Much more stress free letting him loose online! From the Big W website he chose the Crayola caddy of texts, the Lego Duplo construction set and the Fisher Price Ballapalooza.
Martine@themodernparent recently posted..Connecting with our kids: how do we keep it up?
Ah my wee ones are not so wee and it’s all books, DVDs and computer games these days. I miss the toy section!!
Seana – Sydney, Kids, Food + Travel recently posted..Go Red For Women Australia – My Heart Health Check
Lego, Guess Who and Winnie the Pooh plush toys!
My youngest daughter Kayla, aged 3
Thinks the Dora Kitchen is cool as can be
Nikki, aged 5 loves Barbie the best
The Barbie Limo pack is what impressed
And for Penni, a tomboy, aged 8
Thinks that the Nerf Laser Tag toy is great!
I just keep coming back to the photo of your boys staring at the computer screen. They look unimpressed with whatever it is – either that or concentrating until it hurts.
So cute. I know I keep saying that…but they are!!
kirri recently posted..Celebrating life + Mary Grace Jewellery Giveaway
I can totally relate to your P Plate Parenting tales!
Dora goes mad for Peppa Pig, so the cute Muddy Puddles Peppa is top of her list followed closely by the Peppa Camping Van. She also pointed to the big sand pit (sand is another obsession) 🙂
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kazatmeltingmoments@gmail.com
Kaz @ Melting Moments recently posted..Wordless Wednesday – Yo Gabba Gabba Fun
You’ve made me regret sticking the “No Junk Mail” sign on the letterbox now. I kind of miss those catalogues, even though the kids read them and got ideas. But one has a birthday coming up and it’s good to have some inkling of what he might like!
I think that Lego garbage truck has my little one’s name all over it. And anything Scooby Doo so the Mystery Machine and the Pillow Pet would be great for him.
What a great giveaway – mine are too young to discern what they want, they would have it all so I’m picking on their behalf – petal kitchen, play dough creative set and that amazing jumping castle…thanks Grace x
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Oh, Mr Surfer’s rookie mistake had my giggling… sorry about that! 🙂 One of my many rookie mistakes happened only 2 days ago when I booked an evening flight from Adelaide to Sydney thinking my 2.5 year old would sleep! Instead he turned into insane toddler and sprayed water from his mouth on to another passenger. Second rookie mistake in this scenario was allowing the flight attendant to give him M&Ms after this! I had a sugar-high over-tired psychotic child on my hands. :/
My crazy but delightful toy experts have chosen the following from the awesome Giant Toy Spectacular catalogue (actually, they wanted to whole thing, but I quoted Rolling Stones back to them – “you can’t always have what you want” – and they soon narrowed it down):
1. My Octonaut mad 4 year old girl (who believes she is a reincarnation of Peso the Penguin) chose the Octonauts Gup X Vehicle.
2. My 2.5 year old little lion boy adores Raa Raa, so couldn’t go past Raa Raa The Noisy Lion’s Hufty Train.
3. My 4 year old girl (who also believes she is Raphael) also chose Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 4 Pack Giant Turtles.
L-EGO, LEGO, and more LEGO
E-ntertains for hours
G-reat skill and educational development
O-nly limited by your imagination
Amelia wants an electric scooter – She promises me she’ll actually go outside and ride on it, “like you used to back in the olden days Mum!” (erm, thanks kids).
Oscar is gaga for that Fireman Sam Stationhouse set, since this week he is adamant that he is going to be a firefighter when he grows up.
Abi needs one of those sweet little Pillow Pet Dream Lights. Well, *I* need it for her but you get my drift. ANYTHING to convince the wee button to sleep in her own bed and not mine!
xx
Having just visited Big W today, I can safely say that the favourite toys were lego friends (all of it) Tinkerbell (all of it) and any kind of ball that bounces!!!
Bridie’s birthday is on the day of the toy sale each year, and she gets money so we always have to go. It’s actually quite painful and I’d much rather shop online
EssentiallyJess recently posted..Live Full. Die Empty. #IBOT
I have to admit to taking JJ to toy shops to play rather than shop all the time, and it works for us. Perhaps because I’ve never bought her anything, so she doesn’t expect it… The only things I buy in there are presents for other people’s kids – mine all get second hand stuff, but it’s a bit rude to buy second hand for presents 🙂
oh Grace, dare I ask what toys that little adventure ended up costing your husband??? We now set a limit, because AJ can understand numbers we tell him he can spend $10 – so he spends AGES looking at price tags and scanning items – both hilarious and frustrating to watch xx
Josefa @always Josefa recently posted..The Importance of Cake
Oh, how I love the toy sales! Christmas shopping done in July. FANTASTIC for us control freaks. I mean for control freaks. That’s not me at all. Ahem.
My little toy expert is very excited about having an outside area to play in once renovation stage three is finished! (By the end of the year… surely.) So she went crazy for the Little Tikes Playcentre Playground from the online catalogue, and the garden cart and a trampoline from the ‘standard’ catalogue.
Thanks for hosting the giveaway. x
Emily recently posted..Telling me to ‘relax’ does not make me relax
This is such a lovely giveaways! Yes when we go out to the toys store it should be with the intention to buy otherwise ooooh. When my first son joined summer class we always passed through inside a mall nearby because walking outside was too hot (it was in one of emirate in the middle east) and there was this little toys store on the way that made my son always wanted to stop by and get some toys followed by awful tantrum whenever we walked by. So every time I made sure we walked on the other side and made him busy with conversations so he wouldn’t notice the store.
Toys and children are like sugar and ants, they attract each other ha ha..But if I ask my boys which toys they want they normally will get overwhelmed and resort to want everything T_T
Rina recently posted..WW Series: Happiness is Simple (3) – with Giveaway
Toy sale time is always met with excitement in this house – for my big boy as well as for me! I love that my toy expert will sit quietly pondering the pages of the catalogues (buying me much needed peace!) and that I can bag a bargain in time for his August birthday. On his wish list so far it is all about TMNT – the lego, the figurines, the Secret Sewer play set…
Donna @ NappyDaze recently posted..Big Brother, Lil Sister
What makes my daughter sing and shout?
Sesame Street is what she’s mad about.
The characters are cute, cuddly and love to share,
cheeky, yet precious and oh so rare.
She loves it when Elmo breaks into dance,
her tiny feet skip and prance.
To see her own ‘LOL Elmo’ roll and wiggle,
would certainly make her jump and giggle.
Together with Elmo, she’d be on on a journey,
also including ‘Flying Super Grover’ and ‘Rockin Ernie’.
Learning about colours, numbers, music and more,
her daily development would continue to soar.
She’d love these Sesame Street toys – hugs she’d share,
to her the gang is beyond compare!!
We are a Lego crazed household so:
– Lego Cars 2 Mack’s Team Truck
– LEGO City Excavator Transport
– LEGO Friends Stephanies Cool Convertible
Lego would be great,
something the kids would appreciate.
Keeping them entertained happily for hours
(maybe I could then have a shower!)
Thank-you Lego you can’t be beat.
For allowing a toilet break in peace!
My darling daughter would like Tinkers Baby Doll Stroller, so she can push it around just like her mama.
She’d also like Barbie Big Box Furniture Set, because imaginary play is what she does best.
Lastly, Minnie Mouse Happy Hauler would be super, as she’s a Disney lover.
Thank you BigW & With Some Grace, for bringing smile to my lil girl’s face.
—
Followed via email.
They would love the crayola caddy (i always wanted one of thipose when I was a kid, so I will be very envious!), they love Lego too, as well as a pillow pets dream light, that looks unreal.
I love the toy sales!
I follow you on facebook and by emails.
I have twins boys, so their top three toys would be the fun riders (I’d have to get two – sharing a ride on is a bit too much to ask! lol), a little tikes tough workshop to share, and an interactive dinosaur each from the dinosaur train collection.
Honestly they would be happy with anything!!
Kate recently posted..The reality of parenting
I would be smothered in kisses if I brought home the Leonardo or Michelangelo TMNT combat gear and don”t get me started on the Ben 10 Omniverse Playset. Oh crap, only 3 you said…..
Becc @ Take Charge Now
Becc recently posted..Mistress of the Universe
What a great idea! I will check it out later with Miss three.
Renee at Mummy, Wife, Me recently posted..Sisters
great prize!
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Lego, PS3, Nerf guns – the only 3 things that will keep the kids SANE, so they don’t drive me INSANE!!!
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I have 2 gorgeous babies,
So how to choose just three!
My little man, what would he like?
A Tinkers truck it seems to me!
My little Miss 2 she looked and chose,
The water table from Little Tikes,
She thought was pretty neat,
And both kids would like the bikes!
Elise recently posted..Rain of Terror
Grace, could those boys of yours be any more adorable? – when not having complete meltdowns in BigW of course. Ok, so the 5 year old here wants the Star Wars Qui-Gon Jinn Ultimate FX, the Scooby Doo Goobusters Mystic Machine and the Splat Balls. Thanks heaps.
Leanne Winter recently posted..Growing (up) Pains
Gosh, so much great stuff. Miss almost three votes Dora Ballet Star, Disney Princess black/white board and Minnie birthday boutique as her faves 🙂
Renee at Mummy, Wife, Me recently posted..Sisters
Our five year old Toy expert will select LeapReader Activity Book Read Write Listen and Parallel Looping Electric Power Road Racing Set for himself & Pillow Pets Dream Lites – ladybug for his six month old baby brother.
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1. Octonauts Gup X Vehicle
2. Peppa Pig Laptop
3. Lego Friends Summer Riding Camp
So hard to get them back off that site once they got started!
Joe, although much older than 3.5, is still very keen on LEGO, LEGO, more LEGO, and then some Star Wars. So he couldn’t go past the LEGO Death Star at $598! What the? I’ll need all the vouchers and more for that one, so he’s just forfeited his other two choices. Meg was also enticed by LEGO (maybe it’s in their blood? My fault!), but she thinks the new girly LEGO is too easy and boring, so she went for LEGO City Town Square, plus a couple of packs of Mini Figs. Can never have too many Mini Figs apparently.
We love Lego in our house, so we love the look of the Lego Creator 3 in 1 Family House. The Emergency Fire and Police Playset looks awesome for the boys. My 2 also love Monsters University characters Mike and Sulley. And for me, I am loving the prices and variety this year.
nellbe recently posted..Gluten Free Soft and Light Rolls and Pizza Bases from Lifestyle Bakery
i’d think my boy would love the playskool show cam, and any vehicle that has a siren or lights that flash!
Stephanie recently posted..Wordless Wednesday – Big Boy Bed
Ahoy me hearties says Captain Ben,
What pirate treasures at Big W will we find then?
Firstly, a pirate ship,so large and grand,
The one with a working cannon from Never Land.
Secondly Jake’s magical sword for imaginary play,
With sound effects and lights for a pirate’s day.
Thirdly, something for when Mum needs some quiet,
A dvd, Jake and the Never Land Pirate!
Great giveaway G!
After reading the comments I learnt that a Peppa Pig laptop actually exists.
LOL. What the actual?
Robomum recently posted..The Bacon Post About Teaching
LEGO Friends, LEGO City and LEGO Creationary,
Because it’s not a passing fad but a trend that’s here to stay!
1. Tinkers Hampton Dolls House
2. LeapReader Activity Book Read Write Listen
3. Little Tikes Cozy Coupe – Pink
Fingers crossed and a big THANK YOU for the chance. 🙂
Big W – that’s like Toys R Us, I take it? Lucky you got to try it out at home. Though I LOVE torturing my kids dragging them through expensive toy stores and reiterating that we are NOT buying a thing!
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On this syndicate the number have to be at least two and no more than twenty.
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We maintain four children, two in diapers. Immediately my improved half perfectly conveys two or three diapers, a not many wipes, a couple of emptiness baggies and a pacifier soon in her tote. We guard some additional garments in the rear of the minivan. All things else is sauce.