Hawkin's Bazaar Blog

Buried Treasure

We've been getting some wonderfully creative mail recently, including this charming poem from Susan Davis, inspired by the Hawkin catalogue:

Jim Hawkin's went to search for treasure,
and he searched high and low.

He thought x marked the spot,
and he would find treasure galore.

But I received a copy of Hawkin's Bazaar,
with happy times in store.

I found my buried treasure,
and they delivered it to my door.

Thanks for this Susan. Perhaps we should have a poetry competition? Add a comment below and let us know what you think.

Paul is a Winner!

Congratulations to Paul from Coventry. Not just because he has won the first of our monthly review writing competitions, but also for his forth coming marriage (which he is probably even more excited about). Paul wins £50 in Hawkin Vouchers for this review about the magnificent Horsey Hoppers.

"I work in the betting industry and am getting married in July.  For me this is the world's most perfect product!  My (soon to be) wife authorised 4 boxes of these as a legitimate wedding expense.  God I love her.  These are set to be the highlight of our wedding reception & have already been requested for numerous summer barbeque ceremonies."

We'd like to wish Paul every success on the big day and hope the hoppers do the trick at the reception (we'd love to see some picture!).

If you would like to be automatically entered into next month's competition, just add a review to the bottom of any product page on our website.

A Bit Ratty

We enjoy hearing from all our customers, and don't mind if they have two legs, four, or even more. In the 2nd edition of Bazaar Times we were impressed with Chocky the Border Collie, who emailed us pictures of his friends opening their Christmas Crackers and now this from Lu, playing with her Remote Control Rat.

"Dear Hawkin,
My tin-opener/person bought me a remote controlled rat because I'm poorly and can't go out.  I really like it, but it would be better if it was furry or feathery; although I do like getting my teeth into the rubbery plastic almost as much as getting them into my person in revenge for locking me in."

Thanks for the email Lu. We hope you feel better soon.

Record Breaking Geyser

Our Geyser Tube (as demonstrated here by Mr Fisher from Peterborough) has been very popular since we started selling it at Christmas. It looks as though sales have been even more popular in Belgium recently, when they set a new world record, setting off 1,360 bottles in one go. Click here to see a brilliant video of the big moment.

Let us know if you are thinking of breaking the record - we would probably consider some sort of bulk discount!

Crazy Grandad

We are delighted to share this entry in the 'best way to recycle the Bazaar Times' feature. It has brought much delight to everyone here and we can do no better than to reproduce the full email from Rachael. We don't want to get ahead of ourselves, but have a sneaky suspicion he will be making it into the next edition of the Bazaar Times too. Thanks Rachael.

"This is my crazy Grandpa in his Bazaar sunhat, and I hadn't even finished reading it! I love reading the Bazaar Times and I'm looking forward to the next one.

                                                   Love,
                                                           Rachael Fossey aged 11"

Bazaar Times - The Sizzling Second Edition

We're very pleased to announce that the much anticipated, second edition of the Bazaar Times is out now. All our latest finds are featured including the super Sun Jar, an Intelligence Test for your Dog and some funky new String Puppets. There's lots of the usual nonsense, such as our own version of Lonely Heart Ads and an interview with our great friend and genius toy collector, Tim Rowett. You can collect your copy from one of our stores, or click here to request a copy.

Don't forget to tell us what you think, email comments@hawkin.com, or add your comments below.

Granny in Egypt

We would like to say a big thank you to Ruth Griffiths for this brilliant entry to our Toy Tourists feature. This picture of her Racing Granny was taken at Abu Simbal in Egypt - who would have thought she would have been able to hobble so far?

We love seeing our products behaving in strange ways or visiting exotic places, please send pictures to the usual address, or email them to comments@hawkin.com. Don't forget, we award £20 Hawkin Vouchers for anything we publish in future editions of the Bazaar Times.

Win £50 When You Write a Review

We love hearing what you think of our products and now you have the chance to win £50 worth of Hawkin’s Bazaar vouchers. Each month we will pick the best review, so make sure you let us know about your favourite products and any anecdotes about playing with them. Just click on the ‘add a review’ link at the bottom of any product page on our website - we look forward to hearing from you.

Sock Puppets - The Final

We had enormous fun reading the letters and playing with all the puppets and would like to thank everyone who entered our Sock Puppet Competition. The end has left a void in our lives and the postman is no longer greeted with the gleeful anticipation that he has come to expect. We were so overwhelmed with the clever ideas and amount of work put in by the entrants that we immediately knew we couldn't just pick one winner, so in addition to the £75 (in Hawkin Vouchers) first prize, we spontaneously created a second prize of £25... and then decided to give everyone who entered a £5 voucher because, basically, they were all brilliant.

And the winner is...
Puppet punch-ups were narrowly avoided as the judges fiercely defended their favourites. Special mention has to be made of 'Silence of the Lambs' - a woolly sheep, with Hannibal Lecter style mask (scary) sent in by the Heath family and 'Michael Sockson' - a Michael Jackson look alike puppet, entered by Sian Pilkington. There were many others that amazed us with their ingenuity, but a socky consensus had to be reached: the winner of the first, £75 prize goes to Elizabeth Saunders (aged 13) for 'Slurpy the Snail'. Points had to be awarded for Slurpy being a sock puppet in every sense - even the shell is made of two rolled up socks. Simple, but very effective.

The runner up, £25 prize had to be awarded to Mrs S Ward for Henry the Caterpillar, who turns inside out to become 'Henrietta the Butterfly' - not only is it a fantastic idea, it's also beautifully made from two socks, sewn together.

Click here to see more of our favourites.

 

 

The judging panel (we'll leave you to work out the puppets from the judges).

Thanks once again to everyone who entered and for giving us so much entertainment. Your vouchers will be in the post shortly, and don't worry - we couldn't bear the idea of parting you from your puppets any longer, so they will be returned to you at the same time. Don't forget to keep an eye on this blog for details of more competitions in the future.

In a Hawkin store Far Far Away...

It has come to our attention that some of our products have been appearing in the movies. Ok, it's not exactly Hollywood, but the You Tube mini movies made by our customers are even more fun. Lots of them are shot in our stores, and are very amusing, but we are particularly impressed with these budding Jedi Knights, enacting light saber battles using our Paper Lazers. The acting might not be Oscar winning, but everyone seems to be having fun and as long as the the good guys win, we're happy.

If you've taken a funny video in one of our stores or using one of our toys, let us know so we can add it to the blog.