I'm Back! With Free Toys and More about Ken

   I know it's been a while, but I'm still here. Ken is improving all the time. He has therapy twice a week, with two or three different therapy sessions each time. He has physical therapy, which works on  his walking and stair climbing, occupational therapy, which works on  his arm and hand, and speech therapy, which, in spite of the name, works on all kinds of things, including cognitive, vision, swallowing, etc. Ken's swallowing is fine now, but his vision is not good. (He lost his peripheral vision in his left eye, and his general vision is blurry.) He also still has some brain fog. So we've been pretty busy between therapy and doctor appointments. He also does therapy things at home. I've also been having to figure out what food I can make for a guy with diabetes, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure.         

 Anyway, we are still living with nothing but a mini fridge, and a tiny one at that. Our regular fridge stopped working when we had the fire. The electricity surge must have blown it.) Even as mini fridges go this thing is tiny. So I've been having to go to the store frequently, since I can't buy much at a time. I usually try to check out the toy aisles when I go, so I have accumulated several Mini Brands display boxes recently. 

  I've been getting them since the beginning, but they are getting harder to get. The stores seem to think they refill the display boxes when they get more stock, which is wrong. The stuff comes in a new display box each time. It's a shame to think a lot of the displays get thrown out, with the sample toys attached. What a waste. A lot of people have caught on though, and either take the empty display boxes, or just plain rip the samples off the boxes and take them. I haven't done that. I only take empty boxes. Mind you, I am not above cramming the two or three balls that are left in a box into the next box, or leaving a single ball on the shelf. The other reason they are getting harder to get is, the practice of putting sample toys on the display boxes seems to be on the way out. There don't seem to be nearly as many boxes with sample toys on them any more.

  Here are some of the display box samples I've gotten over the last year or so.

  I got three on this day. My favourite was the esspresso maker.

There was also this plant one.

And this one makes a mini aquarium.

  Another time I got this LOL Surprise display. This is after I already ripped it off the box...at home.

  It's quite a free haul, considering that it includes two complete sets.

  In fact, I ended up with two of these. I usually don't take sets if I already have them, and leave them for someone else. I figure there are kids who could use a free toy. 

  And later I got this one. It contains squishy hairdos you can mold. I think it didn't have the squishy stuff though. 

  I also got this one. I seem to have hit on a LOL streak.

  These were in the last couple of months, so these are still available at the stores.

   The bottles that would normally contain the resin to do the 'make' part are empty. That's okay. I can handle that for free stuff.

 This Harry Potter set is pretty great stuff. It's one of my favourites of the ones I've gotten. Lots of little potion bottles and cauldrons.

    Yesterday I got the best haul yet, I think. These are some great sets, and there were multiple sets on the one box!

Min Brand Create Garden.

Mini Verse Hello Kitty waffles. 

Tiny individual strawberry slices and blueberries!

Mini Verse Make It party sets! There was so much fun stuff in this display! 

Three sets! 

  Now, be forewarned. Some of this stuff is hard to get off the packaging. They have it glued on there pretty well. But with a little work you can get it loose. The cake that came off the cake stand was stuck down with some really sticky greasy glue. But it washed off with warm water and dish soap. Some of the other stuff has thick glue you'll have to peel off.

The cake came unstuck from the cake stand. And look. This is more than one full set, because there are two cakes and decorating bits.

  I still haven't freed all the Harry Potter stuff from the packaging. I think it's going to be a little time consuming to not break anything, and I don't have much free time these days.

      And don't forget, Micro Toybox also has samples on their display boxes. These were clearanced for  $3.49 at our local Meijer.

  So get out there and get yourself,(or someone else) some free stuff the stores are going to throw away otherwise, while you still can.

  I don't know when I'll get a chance to post again, but I'm still trying to keep my hand in.        

Doll-A-Day 2023 #65: Bratz Flashback Minis Plus Totally Tiny

   Today's doll is a bunch. They're Bratz Flashback Minis.

  Have you seen these? I never liked Bratz dolls, but these are pretty cool. They have replicated the old Bratz dolls in mini form, right down to their original packaging! They're perfect little 1/6 scale, or Barbie sized miniatures. I was lucky enough to get the empty display box in a store recently. I say lucky because, as with many of the mini toys and blind bag toys displays, this box has some of the actual toys right on the box. That's them at the top of the picture above. You might want to check stores for the empties, because when the box comes in, it has these toys on it for display. When the box is empty, it's thrown out and a new box, (also complete with example toys), is put in it's place. I assume a lot of them go to employees, but you never know when you're going to be given the empty. Just ask.

  The toys come two to a blind pack, at a price of around $8. (You can still get the advent calendar on Amazon for $22. It includes 25 goodies. But be forewarned.  Five are the mini cosmetics, ten of them are the dolls, and ten are the boxes for the dolls- excuse me, the 'mini replica packages'. So really you're getting 15 things. But $22 is still a better price than for 15 things than the $8 for 2, as long as you get free shipping.) As the display box says, there are 24 to collect. The series includes individual dolls, (including one guy), a doll double pack of twins, a car, a styling head, a motorcycle, and make-up sets. And even more neat, since it's mini: the make-up is real. You can actually use the tiny make-up.

  But anyway, let's look at the stuff I got for free on the display box.

I ripped the display bit out of the display box so I didn't bring the whole thing into Emma's house. We bring enough stuff in here. The picture of the box above is a stock photo. This plastic shell full of toys tears off the box. It contains four toys: three dolls and a car.

The mini packages are replicas of the real thing. 

 The only difference is that the toys are hooked into the display box with plastic flaps that slide into the cardboard backing. (Unfortunately, they are taped on too.) To make them look exactly like the real packaging, those flaps need to be carefully cut off.

But look. They did even bother to make the back of the package too.

The packages are shaped just like the real things too. Some have the rounded edges and some are flat on the sides, depending on how the real thing was. Pretty well done.

And the packages do really open...but it's not easy without tearing them up. I don't think I'll try right now.

  Since I was never into Bratz dolls my favourite thing is the car.

  The other freebies I got on display boxes recently were these Totally Tiny ones.

Dollar Tree has these. This is the display box for the first series blind bags. 

The sample toys displayed on the box are a piece of toast and a pair of eggs, which are one piece. I've gotten two empty display boxes so far, so a couple of dolls can have free breakfast. As you can see there three sets of food, in the blind bags, available. But they really aren't much of a surprise, because it's easy to tell by feel what you're getting. The eggs and toast feel flat.

The taco and churro can be identified by the feel of the churros especially. And the cookie and macarons are the easiest, because those three stuck together macarons are pretty distinctive.

  So there you are. Freebies await you. Go forth and collect them. See you tomorrow for another doll.

More About the Blogaversary Giveaway

  I just wanted to let everyone know that I updated the giveaway post with details that I forgot to mention the first time around. To see the original post you can go HERE. If you just want to read the additional details, here they are:
UPDATE: I forgot to mention when the giveaway ends! All the build up, trying to decide what to give away, and I was so caught up in that I forgot to say that entries will be accepted until midnight Eastern Standard (United States) time on 2 June, 2015. That's 10 days. The winner will be announced on Thursday, 4 June, since we will be away an the 3rd, celebrating Emma's birthday with her. Don't forget, to enter you have to be a follower that shows up in the side bar. Good luck everybody!
  AND ANOTHER UPDATE! It occurred to me that I also forgot to let you know how the winner would be chosen! (I blame all this distraction on the merciless headaches I've had for a week now---I think I have a bad tooth---and the fact that the one year anniversary of my Dad's death was yesterday.) All entrants names will be printed on pieces of paper and placed in a box. The winner will be drawn from the box and will be announced June 4th, as stated above. There. That should be everything now! 
  Just to remind everybody that you must be a follower that shows up in the side bar to enter, and the prizes are your choice of EITHER the wallpaper and rug in 1/12 scale,or the trash can and desk lamp in 1/6 scale, or the laundry basket, sandwiches and cookies for larger dolls around 14" to 18". One winner will be chosen, so good luck!