to think the Build A Bear situation is crazy

[OnNaturesCourse]

Today they have a 'pay your age' deal on and I have seen reports of people queuing for hours just to get a bear.

My reckoning is most of the kids will be 5/6 years old if not older so the savings will be roughly £10 a bear. Even going with 2 or so kids is queuing for hours really worth the savings!?

People seem to be going nuts for it, and build a bear really don't seem to have anticipated the craziness...

I was going to take my DSs after work, as they are both saving up for a Jigglypuff. The voucher is a nice touch. We'll be able to go in the holidays now and avoid the queues/rush.

It’s just a bear, isn’t it?! Why are they so special? I found this story utterly incredible as well, and I don’t think it’s even the price that motivates people. A woman on the bbc story said that once she’d factored in parking costs for the day she probably hasn’t even saved much money!

£12 off, how much are they?

There is a lot of people on the fb page admitting keeping their child off school and being furious they never got a bear.

I thought about going, but I’m 54 so probably not worth it

@StealthPolarBear some are around £14 but the more desirable ones (for a child perhaps) start at £21 so £12 vouchers are a decent discount. I was pleased to get one as DD was at school today. She has never been to build a bear but may take her in the holidays now.

1sttime How long did you wait?

I went for the shop opening time that was listed online. Turns out they actually opened an hour earlier so the queue was already four hours when I arrived. I declined to wait as I didn't think it was worth four hours of my time to save less than £20.

People were behaving in a violent and bullying manner towards people they thought were trying to cut the queue, not just at BaB but also at the Disney Store (where parents who refused to queue had taken disappointed kids to buy consolation bears). Someone threatened me because they insisted they were in front of me. Two other mums were physically fighting.

It was unsafe and unpleasant, not to mention dangerous and cruel to make small children queue in the hot sun for hours with no shade or drinks (parents' fault entirely). Imo the police should have shut them all down due to safety concerns.

Not RTFT but you needed your child with you most kids aged 5/6 would be at school. It was parents with younger children that would get them for £4 or under.

@Nicknacky, we were there for about 3.5 hours. It was slow going, but I didn't see a single child upset or causing problems. A couple of Mum's went up and complained about the queue being shut down, but were fine once they were told about the voucher. There were a few school children there, and I did wonder how they were all going to get around it with their teachers!

Two of mine are school age, but we home educate, so it wasn't a problem. Apparently some places had the truancy officers out asking why the children weren't at school!

Loads of kids were kept off school to get cheap bears!

Bloody hell - was the offer for a full sized bear ?! So like one of the usual ones they stuff for £4 if you have a 4 year old? Blimey.

Imagine how annoyed you'd be after waiting for 4 hours when the next week the bears basically shoved in a pile of other cuddly toys and your dc is over it.

@1stTimeMama might be worth some home education sessions of the value of time, capitalist system etc. Think they’ve covered the syllabus on queuing now