Life Hack | When all your kid wants is a plastic toy bus from South Korea + Giveaway
Nixon is two and quite the savvy YouTube aficionado (Imma let you finish, but don’t even go there about letting my 2 yr old on the iPad mmkay? Time and place, time and place). He has his favourite Mummy Finger music videos, favourite ‘Egg’ opening channels and his All Time Favourite Show EVER – Tayo The Little Bus.
Tayo is a public bus from Seoul, South Korea. He lives with his ‘brothers and sisters’ under the watchful eye of mechanic Hana (female, yes! No gender stereotyping here!) and quite simply, does a stand-out job of being a Friendly Little Bus. He also has a kick-ass, catchy K-Pop theme song which is stuck in my head 24-7.
Nixon LOVES Tayo.
Do you think I can find a small, plastic Korean bus anywhere in New Zealand? The answer is no. No. And NO. So I took my search offshore and found SO many cute toys which ONLY ship overseas that you just can’t source here in New Zealand! Check out my faves below:
Rosi The Little Patient from Sigikid
Constructables Motorized Building Dinos Playset
Peaceable Kingdom / Hoot Owl Hoot! Award Winning Cooperative Game for Kids
Fairy House Making Kit By Liza Gardner Walsh
My search has been further hindered by the Little Tyrant being quite specific in his requests. Tayo and his family of buses are of course on the wishlist, but there is also Bong Bong (a baby VW bus) and Carry (a car carrier) to consider. Oh Help!
There was a way around my quandary, I’d just always put it in the ‘too hard’/expensive/complicated/what-if-I-mess-it-up basket. As luck would have it, that basket is currently overflowing in my brain, so it was time to give YouShop from NZ Post a go. I’ve said it before, I’m pretty much a professional shopper and as such, there was no way I was going to be beaten by a hard-to-find toy bus from Korea! ::::::shakes fist::::::
Here’s how it works in picture form – in case you haven’t had your morning coffee yet lol;
……..and here’s how I did it;
Making the Little Bus Mine
- I signed up to YouShop via the NZ Post website. Surprisingly quick and easy. Within 5 minutes I had received an email with my personal YouShop delivery address for the USA plus one for Europe and one for China.
- I found Tayo and his mates for sale on Amazon. ‘But Amazon ship to NZ’ you say? Not always the case. The Korean suppliers who had the toys I was after only delivered to the USA. Never mind…..
- I completed my purchase using my new YouShop warehouse address located in the USA, yay, now I can shop like I live there – again!
- My packages are now en-route from Korea to the warehouse in Oregon, where they will be packaged together to save $$$ and shipped to NZ! Too easy.
I lived in the states for six years and my husband is American so there are lots of things we miss from many different stores. YouShop is a game changer for us in that we can aggregate purchases from different retailers plus we can now shop from stores that only deliver to American addresses! Also, my shopping will earn Airpoints as my packages are winging their way over to us!
Loving it.
Also loving that the search for Tayo the Pesky, formerly unattainable bus from South Korea is now over. We can move on!
I have a $50 Prezzy Card and 3 x 20% off YouShop tokens to giveaway that you could put towards that hard-to-get item you’ve been lusting after, simply comment below and let me know which overseas retailer you’d love to shop with using YouShop. (All in all I have four prizes up for grabs across my blog, facebook and instagram).Everyone who has commented and is eligible automatically goes in the draw to win. A winner will be announced here on Monday 30 November.
Thanks NZ Post for contributing to my shopping and providing free YouShop shipping!
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Oh I love this, I’m definitely signing up! My partner and I moved home to NZ from Canada 4 years ago, I stayed in usa prior and miss so much from there! My kids too have had some toy requests I haven’t been able to find here! Thanks
Amazon has a lot of fun stuff
What a great idea for Christmas pressies
I’d love to be able to get the John deere set for my wee boy from amazon! I’ve used you shop before you get toysrus things and it’s fab!
Would love to but my eldest certain pop vinyl character I can’t get here from their website or the likes of anything jurassic park so maybe Walmart.com or toysrus
You big enabler, thanks for the heads up! My bank balance may mot thank you though.
Inside out toys and Frozen things from Disney Store.
I had until reading this thought I knew all there was to know about online shopping…this is so so cool! my boys are at the age where amything they see on youtube or tv they want…often its American and next to impossible to get here :-/ this has now given me hope and abit of an itch to shop hehee…thankyou!! Plants vs Zombies and Gravity Falls hunting here we come
I also find lots of things on Amazon from companies who don’t ship to NZ. Mac Cosmetics is another favourite!
I’ve signed up to you shop but haven’t used it yet. I am addicted to browsing Walmart so that’s where I’d use the prize!
Wow, never knew this was possible! Fantastic, thanks for sharing!
Hubby uses YouShop to get all sorts of things shipped from the US. I’d use it to get a bowl with my son’s name on – I dropped his one and it smashed, and then it turns out that you can only get them overseas now! Grr.
I really really want to be able to shop at Scrapbooking stores in the US like Simonsaystamp and Michaels as well as Joannes 🙂 Never been to America but love those stores! Wish i lived there just for that reason.
What a great service! I’d love to get things from Mountain equipment coop in Canada, such great outdoors gear!
My slightly cynical daughter has an outrageous Santa list of impossible to buy in NZ things – would be great to shock her with a few Walmart purchases.
amazon they have some amazing stuff that I’ve been looking at thanks for the chance
My son loves tractors, new holland is his fave, after a duvet cover for his bed, some great USA sites that don’t ship here. I have a youshop account but haven’t tried it as yet.
AMAZON…Thanks for the chance too…:) x
That’s brilliant. I would have loved to have got Mr4yo the Thunderbirds Are Go toys earlier than they arrived in NZ from UK. I would instead get him the Thubderbirds Are Go magazine that hasn’t yet filtered down to NZ.
Fabric, fabric and more fabric. Shipping is so expensive to NZ so if I could ship to a US address and then get it sent over it would be great.
There are so many shops I miss from our time in London…H&M would be way up on that list!! My biggest used to live Tayo…I understand your pain xx
Congrats Ange! Please email through your delivery address so I can get your $50 Prezzy Card on its way xx Melissa at TheBestNest dot co dot nz
Gap or Jcrew, they both ship to NZ but you can’t take advantage of their amazing sale codes unless you ship to USA.
Oooh good tip I didn’t know that!
That would be ikea they have some cool stuff.
Love love love this!!! Blaze and the Monster Machines…come to NZ!!!
My favourite retailer is in the USA, and that is Sports Authority. Have used them a couple of times in the past to get some supporter’s clothing not available in NZ.
Definitely would be from Amazon, there are so many things on there that my daughter wants.
There are so many cool things on Amazon that I would love!!
Victorias Secret and Sephorra ? maybe Lego specific sites too!
It would be Amazon for me! Although Rosi The Little Patient from Sigikid is pretty cool too!
Yus!! This is so useful – don’t get me wrong NZ made stuff is great as I love supporting local businesses but sometimes you JUST need that particular hard-to-find-item from overseas. Clarks shoes for my young boys, they last forever xx PS I can subconsciously hear my bank manager groaning…
Amazon for sure – so many games!
For the past three years, I’ve been sending all my baby stuff shopping to a friend in CA. She puts everything in a USPS box and sends it to me when it’s full. It kinda worked but then we only get to receive the items every six months or so lol.
That said, it would be Amazon for me, most definitely. I’ve been on the lookout for Blaze (and the Monster Machines) toys since August but they’re still not available here!
Ohh this is so fab! I’d live to get my hands on some cute Elmo merch…so hard to get stuff here!
I’d love this… I’m always trying to source hard to find books… amazon might be the go!
Oh I’m waiting on a GAP order via You Shop (saved $35US in shipping costs) and will be stalking a few more US sites as well – would love Victoria’s Secret. My littlest loves Minnie – and you can so much cool stuff overseas!!
Oh I always had it in the too tricky/expensive box too!
I’d use it to buy from all the people I follow on Instagram that have awesome and as yet unattainable items!
I’ve been using http://www.shipitto.com for years. they’re a company who do the same thing as you shop. but it still works out pretty expensive buying the dream item and shipping it twice. did you feel like you paid as much as the gift again in postage? the things we do for our kids! nice work mama
My kids love Tayo too! I lived in Seoul for a year and secretly enjoy the lifelike cityscapes 😉 My husband is also American, so totally understand missing stuff! Nearly used Youshop recently, but in laws brought 17kg of clothes instead, needless to say I don’t think they’ll agree again! I need to sign up.
Such a great idea! Love some of the US clothing shops, but most don’t deliver here. Plus options for kids toys – fab!
amazon is my favourite
Hamleys Toy Store in London
I’d like to get my little boy some Blaze and the Monster Machines toys from Toys R Us in America. He loves that show but they don’t have any of the merchandise in NZ sadly.
I also need Tayo for my little man! He will only watch it in Korean too…so funny
Love, love, love Fairy House Making Kit, would love to make with my friends daughter on Christmas day when they will be joining us for a Christmas dinner.
I’d definitely love to do some Amazon shopping… It’s so frustrating to find something there you want/need them to discover it only ships to the US!
Toys R Us would be fantastic! Such a good range and would be great to get some more unique toys for the kids
Amazon, awesome range of goodies
Oh i have to admit i’m a makeup fiend, so i’d have to sneak a sephora order in there i think since it doesn’t ship to NZ! 🙂
Disney Store
Definitely Amazon
Always Amazon
Tegu magnetic blocks would be on my overseas wishkist… they are absolutely beautiful!
Straight up I would shop hard at sephora and whack some kat von d foundation in my online shopping cart. Been lusting over her products for years but could never justify the price!
I would pick amazon
I’ve got a long wishlist on Amazon that I’d start to tick off! ?
would love this please would love to do some amazon shopping
I think Amazon will be my first port of call, but there are so many others, Tiffany & Co springs to mind as well 😉