I queued outside Aldi at the crack of dawn to buy Christmas presents and it was wild

Oct 16, 2024

It is easy to see why parents go so mad for the Aldi wooden toy event which hits the supermarket around this time every year in time for Christmas. The products are so much cheaper than its competitors, and they are also incredibly cute.

This year's selection topped that of previous years. One of the things that I think parents love so much about the wooden toy event is the selection of role play food and furniture.

There is a little bit of an element of living through your child by buying them mini toy versions of Colin the Caterpillar as well as miniature versions of Aldi food.

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Aldi doesn't restock its Special Buy items, so the stock that they have on that Thursday morning is the only stock that they will get. This means that for people who desperately want something, it is worth there while heading there for opening to make sure they don't miss out.

I decided to go to the event for opening on Thursday morning, and got to my local Aldi store at abour 7.40am. When I arrived, there was only around eight people queued up outside at the time, but that quickly went up, and I joined the queue with about 15 people, and around eight trolleys ahead of me.

I'd heard rumours about previous years where stores only had two or three wooden kitchens, so even though it wasn't on my list, I knew I wouldn't be in with a chance. At this point, the queue behind me quickly started building.

One person in the queue told me how their sister had gone to a different store to double their chances of getting the items that they wanted. Another said how they had just finished a night shift and come straight to Aldi not to miss out.

By the time the store opened at 8am, I estimate there were around 50 people waiting to be let inside.

As everyone was let in, the stream of trolleys all headed for the Special Buys aisle. While I wasn't at the front, I was in a good position to get to the toys and quickly grab the small few items that I wanted.

But I couldn't believe how mad it was. Walking in and seeing that area packed full of flailing arms grabbing the toys they wanted was mad.

There was so much stock of the smaller toys, I was really surprised. There were plenty of the fan favourite Colin the Caterpillar toy cakes as well as the other food selections, which are a great hit.

There were also surprisingly a lot of the different wooden climbing toys available. However many shoppers were left devastated that the shop had no stock of the toy kitchens. All I could see were big boxes of the toy fridges and a section where the wooden washing machines would have been.

It was quite overwhelming to quickly scan what was there and get back to my trolley, which was getting pushed about as the more and more people came in. I am really glad I went in armed with a list as I was able to overlook much of the items and focus on getting the stuff I wanted, as opposed to browsing and deciding there and then what I would purchase.

I think most of the people shopping there had the same plan as me. One mum told me she had a list that she was going to stick to and that she was picking up stuff for others. Another mum joked how she had been tasked with buying five kitchens if she could as there were so many people she knew who wanted them. However the toy kitchens are clearly the prize ticket here, and I bet only a lucky few around the country could get their hands on them.

There were also plenty of doll houses and the accesories to go with it available. I was surprised by just how much some people had in their trolleys, especially of the bigger items.

It was like a quick scurry, and I'm glad I only wanted several of the smaller toys that I was picking up for myself, my sister and a friend, because I managed to get in and out of the store by 8.15am. I realised when I was packing my car up I'd picked up the toy biscuits instead of the requested macaroons, and I had no problem nipping back in and grabbing them the second time.

I managed to pick up two sets of the loaded doughnuts, the toy biscuits, a Colin the Caterpillar cake, the macaroons, the dentist role play set, a wooden activity board and a toy truck.

If you are hoping to head along to the event at some point today, the earlier you set off, the better, as I would not be surprised if most of the main items sell out today. I would not be surprised if the fan favourite Colin the Caterpillar cake is sold out in most stores by 9am, and you will have to count your lucky stars if you can get your hands on a toy kitchen.

If the event comes around again, if there are larger items you want, I recommend going with another person, so someone can stay with the trolley while you nip in and out of the aisle, dodging other people with their trolleys.

All in all, at first it was quite overwhelming but it didn't take me long to grab what I wanted and leave, and no one was fighting over anything. I'd definitely queue up for a Special Buy event again.