We came, we shopped, we conquered!

This is a “Compensated (C1) Post”

for full details see my disclosure statement.

I’m quite partial to four letter words, my favourite of which is SALE. I’m sorry, were you expecting profanities? When in the John Hurt Way, throw another four letter word in the mix and you’ll have me frothing at the mouth. BABY SALE. Sadly, not a place where you can just pick up a bargain baby Angelina Jolie style, but where you can grab some specials and, in my case, show your second born that they are worthy enough to have at least one or two new things.

Now it’s not unusual for a company to offer vouchers to spend at a sale, but what is unusual is when they ask you to invite along some friends so that you can all become ooh-la-la-ladies who lunch and then give you all vouchers so you can shop til you drop! Which is exactly what Big W offered us… it was a tough assignment, but somebody had to do it and I’m quite obviously not above buying the affections of my friends.

We could have gone out to a fancy restaurant for lunch but the idea of four adults (one of which *coughmecough* is constantly vomiting) and seven children aged two and under going to a restaurant put the fear of the Google Gods in to me. Instead we had an awesome catered lunch at home where the kids could run riot (under the watchful eyes of my parents and Aunty Penny) and the mamas could whip out the iPads and start our bargain hunting using the Big W app. Plus it meant we could have chips without other people going “you came to a restaurant and you ordered CHIPS?!”.

Chips go really well with research

Our shopping exhibition was broken up in to manageable chunks thanks to the afore mentioned seven children and queasy woman, too. So we didn’t really stick to the plan (you try sticking to a plan with four toddlers and three babies), but we did all go out to our local store in the next few days and nab our goodies from the overflowing shelves. That stuck out to all of us more than anything, that there was actually stock! I’m so tired of giant fortnight long sales where a store seems to have only three items left on day one. There was stock galore that was, shock horror, actually being refilled as items were taken. Praise grilled cheesus, someone gets it!!

We make some totally cute kids

Being ever practical, Louise grabbed nappies, formula, wipes and a portacot; Trish snapped up a new pram, nappies and a toilet step; Kath grabbed some clothes, nappies, wipes and sippy cups; and I got my hands on a toilet step, some jumpsuits and toys for 2.0, a Belly Belt for me - which I'm totally claiming is actually for 2.0 now and therefore still counts as "for baby" - and Tricky’s entire winter wardrobe. When you’re not buying nappies it means a hell of a lot more cute clothes – The Trickster is gonna be lookin’ super funky. Between us we had enough goodies to melt our plastic gift cards, lemme tell you!

In store shenanigans

The only real complaint about the experience was from Trish… who needed two trolleys and an extra pair of hands to grab everything. It’s a bit of a first world problem, so I think we’ll let that one slide.

We had a great meal, no children were lost or injured (though Tricky did bolt out the front door at one stage – of course it was my child, of COURSE!), no one threw up in public, we got our hands on some fabulous bargains and my friends now think the life of a Blogger is very glam (she types at 1:00am).

If you want to get your hands on some discounted goodies, head to the Big W Baby and Toddler event which runs from January 31 – February 13.

Do you want some moolah to the tune of $100 to spend while you’re there? There are two ways to enter, by filling out the entry form below and/or head over to the 'book.

Alternatively head on over to www.bigw.com.au and use the promo code BABY10 to receive a $10 eVoucher for your online purchases (valid to 31st of March 2013, no minimum spend, but doesn't count towards postage).

EDIT 11th Feb 1:00pm AWST:  The eVoucher has been suspended due to improper use by a third party website. Big W extends it apologies to you all and thanks you for your understanding.