The Blind Bag Secret That Has Saved My Sanity

My daughter is a collector. She collects all sorts of things but her most favourite things to collect are small, inexpensive toys she can put in her pocket and carry around. She loves little animals, little cars, small trains, little figures of all sorts and superheroes…she is what is known as blind bag heaven! 

She begs me constantly for these little bags you find in toy shops, corner shops, newsagents and at the cash desks at supermarkets. She loves the surprise, the fact you can collect them all and the magic of opening those little bags. 

Like so many children around the world she even spends hours watching others opening and ticking off little toys on collectors lists. There is just something special about these surprise bags that seems to bring her great delight….

Until that is she gets a duplicate! 

Then she gets most upset, feels let down and begs for yet another bag to try again. 

I had so many discarded toys, so much disappointment and so much money wasted that I was so close to saying she could never have one of those crazy bags ever again. 

Seriously I was finding myself in shops feeling those things trying to figure out if I could guess which one was inside! The more she would collect the harder it got and I would shake those bags, try peeking inside and be so mad at myself if I purchased a bag only to find yet another duplicate to be forgotten about and tossed to the bottom of the toy box. 

My daughter has autism and so swapping her duplicates was never an option as her friends were not interested in the same things she was. So the pile of excess figures, trains and cars just kept growing. She never ever asked for anything else and she delighted herself in lining up her treasures eagerly waiting on the last few to tick off. It became an obsessions for her. 

Then one day as I stood in a shop pulling bags off to feel and shake I could hear footsteps coming towards me. A hand tapped me on the shoulder and politely asked me if she could help me. I was sweating but explained how my daughter loves blind bags and was looking for a certain character and I was hoping to be able to figure out which one was in the bag for her. 

And that was when I was let into the secret that saved my sanity.

It IS possible to know what is inside those little bags and here is how:

The bags are coded. Seriously every one of those bags whether it is Thomas The Tank Engine or My Litrle Pony or Imaginext figures…every bag has a code hidden somewhere that prevents you from purchasing endless duplicates. You just need to know where to look! 

 
I walked out that shop like I had just been given a million dollars! 

I got home and did a quick google and low and behold I may not be the first person to have unlocked this mystery but it still appears so many others have no idea! 

So I wanted to share, not to be a spoil sport and take away any of the hidden surprise element to these bags but simply to let others know and give them an option to check if they wish.

My daughter has autism and duplicates to her have caused so many meltdowns that I would hate others to be going through the same when there is a secret to save parents sanity. 

You may wish to read this and keep the secret to yourself or you may feel this is something that could help a friend. What you do with this information is up to you. 

For me this blind bag secret has saved my sanity so much I HAD to share incase someone else was fed up with the tears and tantrums of duplicates too.

They do say these things are a numbers game..they were right after all!