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.
Another time I got this LOL Surprise display. This is after I already ripped it off the box...at home.
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!
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| Tiny individual strawberry slices and blueberries! |
Mini Verse Make It party sets! There was so much fun stuff in this display!
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| 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.
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| 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.
Tam, I’m so glad to hear from you—I was worried! I’m happy that Ken is trucking along with therapy—I am continuing to send good thoughts his way. You certainly got a haul of freebies! I’m going to have to try that, since I seem to be a tiny bit obsessed with those mini sets!
ReplyDeleteWell thanks Beth. Ken is indeed 'trucking'. He has been doing the stairs at therapy, and walking with the therapist and no cane. He's still wobbly without help, but he is doing great. If he could grip with that left hand he might move to a walker soon.
DeleteGlad to hear Ken is getting better.
ReplyDeleteI have also gotten some display boxes the last years + a mini Play-doh container and a gross miniature. First the cashiers at my local hypermarked were reluctant to let me have the boxes (and I have later seen them fill a box halfway up with toys from the back room (it was the gross versions with maggots put in a Toy Mini Brands box)). And one let me buy the box for the same price as a ball, which was fair as there were five toys that were just like those in the balls. The man who gave me the mini Play-doh container that was on the empty (after I bought the last balls) box, told me that they just tossed the whole boxes, with the toys on them, when they were empty. Then I got a mini baby display from a third store as I bought the last balls. After that, I got a Miniverse box from the same store that gave me the mini Play-doh container. And in a fourth store I got the box that had contained Miniverse Valentine balls, when I bought the last three balls. The owner of this store said that they also tossed everything when the boxes were empty, so of course I could have it, and I should not believe any store that would not let me have the empty box. And earlier this month I bought many balls from the store that had given me the baby display. I asked if I could take the display off the now empty Mini Fashion box, and she was very reluctant at first, and said that they did not usually do that -- maybe they had some balls in the back room that needed that box (and maybe they did, maybe they are one of the stores that move the balls a few at a time from a box in the back room to a box in the store...). But then she said I could have it, since I was buying so much from them...
Thank you. He's making progress every day.
DeleteYou have to think they are then throwing away the box in the back room, so they could still give you one. I can't afford to buy those balls. They are ridiculously expensive, even when we had income. I got some more recently, which are great, but I would never have bought them. I can't understand all the waste, just throwing the boxes away with toys on them. I saw a huge display in one store that has refillable bins with one display case on each for the samples. That makes more sense waste-wise, and monetarily for the company. Unfortunately for us, that makes the free stuff harder to get.