There won’t be a jostling adrenaline-filled midnight rush for low-priced deals at this years’ Big W Toy Mania Sale. Plus there are a few other big changes to the retailer’s annual toy bargain sale that you should know about.

Big W has announced the official start date for its popular annual toy sale. While in previous years Toy Mania usually kicks off around 19 June, in 2020, its getting going a bit earlier, starting online on Tuesday 16 June (then in store from Thursday 18 June) running through to 15 July.

Toy Mania fans were super excited to see the catalogue appearing on the Big W website over the weekend. The paper version of the catalogue will not be mailed out this year though. The only way you can get a physical version of the catalogue to flip through is in store.

Midnight Mania

Another big change to Toy Mania this year is that the cut-throat midnight line-up to be the first in the store will be replaced with an online version. Clearly there would be no hope of social distancing if the traditional nighttime ritual took place. So instead, Big W is appeasing shoppers with switching the sale on from  12.01am, online only, of course. So this year you can calmly grab your bargains dressed in your PJs, instead of elbowing deal-hungry shoppers out the way.

What About Lay-Bys?

There will be a return of online lay-by as well as contactless pick up and home delivery options.

Thousands of savvy shoppers use the Toy Mania sale to pick up their early Christmas gifts – many using the lay-by option. This year, you can online lay-by for Christmas via PayPal only. If you don’t have a PayPal account, you will need to set up a PayPal account first.

If your lay-by has been created online, you can only collect it between 10 November 2020 to the 9 December 2020. Whereas for in-store lay-by, your order can be collected once you’ve paid the balance of your lay-by, and must be collected by 9 December 2020. A useful comparison between online and in-store lay-by can be seen on the Big W website.

What About The Toys?

The Toy Mania sale will feature cut-priced offers on over 700 new and old favourites including Barbie, Nerf, Hot Wheels, LEGO, and Fisher Price. There will also be a number of hot deals available on outdoor toys.

My Nerf-crazy son will go nuts over the mega Nerf N Strike elite, which is over 50% off at $59 (save a whopping 70 bucks). You can pick up the new Barbie reveal dolls for $19 (save $10).  You dip the doll in warm water to reveal her look and she comes with four mystery bags holding surprise accessories.

There’s also a great collection of PJ Masks toys – some half priced like the awesome playset for $39.

Bluey!!!

My kids are going Wackadoo over the Toy Mania Bluey collection and they’re begging for the Bluey family playset for $69. But they’ll probably get the more affordable mini playsets on sale for 25 buckeroos (save $5). There’s also the giant Bluey and Bingo plush for $27 (save $7).

There are also heaps of outdoor swing sets, trampolines, jumping castles and even a ride-on Lamborghini for a premium price of $299.

Mixed Emotions!

Many shoppers can’t wait for the sale to begin. Shoppers on a Big W facebook group have shared how excited they are, especially about the Lego variety on sale. You can save $20 on Minions lego or save $40 on the Friends amusement pier lego. There’s also a great variety of Disney and Trolls lego sets.

Disappointment!

As always, you can’t make everyone happy and there are some disappointed Toy Mania shoppers.

“Anyone else pretty disappointed with this years catalogue? one Big W fan enquired?

“It’s the first year I’ve not been super eager to get anything,” agreed another shopper.

“The only thing I wanted on sale in there isn’t there and has been for like the last 3 years straight,” read another comment.

“Super unexciting and disappointing, so many things from last and past years gone by. get things stay popular also but deffs no wow factor at all!”

“Very disappointed, some things have been marked up and put on ‘sale’ as the normal price,” said an unhappy customer.

However, some fans jumped to Big W’s defense saying:

“Have some people forgotten we are in the middle of a Pandemic?”

The catalogue can be previewed at www.bigw.com.au.

What are you keen to buy at this year’s Big W Toy Mania sale? Or Are you not planning on buying anything? Tell us in the comments below.