Linda Hall: Mini toys cause mighty stir

These simple inventions I found on Google tickled my fancy.

If you have little people between the age of two and 12 years in your life you have more than likely heard of New World's Little Shop collectables. One tiny toy grocery item is given to shoppers with every $40 spent on groceries.

There are 44 items in the collection and it seems that people have gone rather crazy over this latest trend. And when I say people I don't mean the children, I'm talking about adults.

There have been comments on Facebook from mums wanting to do swaps for double ups and talk in aisles about who has what.

I really liked this Facebook post: "I have 14 unopened New World minis here. We don't collect them and I know lots of you do, so I'm going to give them away to somebody. If you would like them just comment on this post so I can see you and I'll draw and announce the winner tomorrow evening... I will post free within New Zealand. These kinds of things make me wish I had kids to share them with! Cheers."

What a lovely thing to do. Good for them.

What isn't so lovely are the people who get all wound up about being given two of the same items at once. I kid you not.

A checkout operator told me some people got really upset "I've been told off for it,"one lady told me.

Come on people, leave the checkout operators alone. They have no control over who gets what.

But what really amazes me are all the posts on Trade Me. When I looked last week people were asking $300 for a full set. I have been told that the week before a full set sold for $500. I can't confirm that but, wow, can you believe it?

The promotion is part of New World's ongoing 50th birthday celebration and while all supermarkets have promotions to entice customers in store this is the first I can remember that has caused such a stir.

I have to admit the little grocery items are really cute. There's Marmite, Milo, chippies, chocolate, mild bread and even potatoes.

I bet there are some kids out there that haven't been able to resist opening them just in case there's real food in them.

The person who came up with the idea must be grinning from ear to ear. And so they should be. A simple idea which has been a huge success.

It got me thinking, not for the first time... "why didn't I think of that". If only I could invent something that would make me millions I could sit back and play ladies. Go shopping, travel the world. Take the two samples I found on Google ... a wineglass necklace and spotlight slippers? Not sure if they would make me millions but it would be a start.

There has, however, been hope for me this past week. Maybe I wouldn't have to rely on my brain. Luck was all I needed with Lotto Powerball up to $32 million and a must go. I started dreaming of all the ways I would spend it.

I'm not greedy, I'd be happy to share the winning numbers. In fact I wouldn't mind if 31 other people got a share of the pot. I'd be happy. But no... I didn't even win 20 bucks. Some lucky sod in Auckland scooped the lot.

Oh well, back to the drawing board and my desk for another week of dreaming.

Linda Hall is assistant editor at Hawke's Bay Today.