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

Ertl John Deere 5″ Monster Treads Value Pack, Truck and Tractor Play Vehicles Toys Push&Pul, playground equipment Preschool Pre-Kindergarten Activity Toy

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

1. 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.
2. 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…..
3. I completed my purchase using my new YouShop warehouse address located in the USA, yay, now I can shop like I live there – again!
4. 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!

Comments

comments