SHOPKINS?! What do I need to know before I buy??

[QuirkyKate]

Pre-schooler would like some - seemingly she hasn’t got enough plastic crap

Before I buy any neon coloured plastic choke-sized bits that can easily get lost and distress her, what do I need to know please?!

What is important in order for this ‘game’ to be played or is it purely imagination-driven?

Is there seriously a shop called shopkins...??

I'm out of touch with the UK, bring back Woolworths someone

My DD has the shopkins garage and cutie cars, she plays with them a lot, I think they've just brought out new ones that change colour so I'll try to track some down for Christmas.

There are so many pieces, I just don’t understand it. My head can’t compute what she needs and what she doesn’t. Is it supposed to be a smaller version of a dolls house or something??

This is the sort of stuff Woolies would have sold!

Once the pack is open and they've all been examined, they get pretty much discarded

She was given a swimming pool🤷🏻‍♀️ but I’ve had to Wikipedia it to find out more and that site says it’s based around a grocery store!?!?

My brain is frazzled from trying to work it out, seriously, how is a pool linked to a grocery store?

I clearly am missing something.

Once you start you'll never stop....

DD aged 8 was/is really into Shopkins.

1. You don't know which ones you will get in the packet. This is the 'blind bag' experience. She also spends A LOT of time on YouTube watching kids weird adults opening boxes and boxes of them.

1. You can check off which characters you have on the shopping list enclosed with the blind bags. Most will be common, but she may get a rare, or an ultra rare.

1. You will definitely end up with lots of doubles/triples, but DD doesn't do swaps.

1. Imagination is definitely required. DD does lots of sorting as she's collected a lot of the different series - fruit/veg/hats/shoes/cakes.

1. You will weep when you realise that a box of these 1 inch tall pieces of plastic with squinty eyes and a manic smile has cost you hundreds of pounds.

1. Notwithstanding 5, DD now 8 still loves playing with them and has some of the players, bit these aren't essential.

I was like you when mine first asked for Shopkins. But there isn't anything to understand really. There are no main characters or hierarchy of pieces. Some stack, some buzz, some smell. My girls do actually play with them months later which is surprising because it's such a load of nothing! It's just supposed to be collectibles I suppose.

They are shit.....

I wouldnt bother.

*playsets, not players.

Once you start you'll never stop....

Nah - three months after buying hundreds of them, my DD forgot they existed.

Yes! I know the videos you mean, they destroy your soul & will to live slowly and painfully!

Thankyou...I’m wondering if eBay is the way to go with a small bundle of this tat?

Cheaper on EBay.

DDs, aged 7 and 3, both like shopkins. I wasn't aware there was a 'game' or any specific thing you are supposed to do with them. They are bits of plastic tat that don't do anything. DDs just use their imagination and use them as characters in convoluted games with other bits of plastic tat (num noms, hatchimals, trolls, peppa pig characters, lol surprise dolls, anything else that comes in a blind bag). We do have a boring shopkins board game that is loosely based on a grocery store.

Oh yes, definitely eBay. No rules, no game, just a whole heap of tat for you to stand on/find in you car/in your handbag/everywhere, your child will probably love them!

We took all of ours to the charity shop and the lady was delighted. She said they fetch quite a lot so they eBay the Shopkins stuff.

I buy bulk from Facebook marketplace. Ds was thrilled with an ice cream van and 60 of the little crazy things and it only cost £10 😁

It’s not really a game as such.

They do different seasons/series of the original tiny shopkins. You collect them and can play with them.

They then have bigger shoppies dolls. There are several different characters of them.

Then there is shopkins happy places which are smaller dolls and can get play sets (like houses, pools, etc) where the ‘shopkins’ are furniture and house accessory type things (toothpaste, a tv, etc)

DD likes Shopkins. Things to know:

• They are released in ‘Series’. Your DD probably won’t care which Series you buy if she’s only just started collecting, so look in Argos etc for discounted ones

• There are also little Dolls called Shoppies. These are different from the regular Shopkins and are little dolls. No idea if they’re designed to be played with alongside the Shopkins as DD doesn’t like them. There were series of blind bags just for this range. Something about rooms?

• There are playset. Some playsets are designed to be used with the regular little Shopkins, some with the Shoppies dolls. No idea if you can mix and match as we’ve only had the regular Shopkins ones.

Oh, Heismyopendoor has explained it much better!!

I should add that DD is 8 and she’s been collecting them about 3 years now, pretty much since they came out I think.

We used to use them to practice her maths!

Thankyou all!

I am now a little wiser, my life is almost complete 😂

Can’t wait for yet more plastic tat to step on....

Opendoor, it is the pool she now has, meaning she has the small Happy Place size, so I have definitely learned that!

Are the blind bags any good as stocking fillers?

Yes my lots love them as stocking fillers. They have just brought out a new range of food ones. You only get one shopkin in those for the same price as two in the other blind bags.

Places like home bargains often have 5 and 12 packs for a great price. I think atm they have 5 packs for £3.99 and 12 packs for £5.99. Argos also have some reduced atm I’m sure. Well they did last month when it was my dds birthday 😂😂 their prices were even better than the home bargains bargain! The entertainer can also do good prices. My dd (10 now!) really doesn’t care which series she gets.

They'll play with them for 2 minutes before never touching them again!