Another Winner!

It really is mostly about competitions this week – we've already had one winner on Monday (see 30 June post) and now we have another. Fiona from Avon has won our monthly product review writing competition, with this review of our Music Maker:

"Quite frankly the best musical instrument you can buy for a child, or anyone fascinated by different instruments. We first came across this wonderful instrument in the lounge of a hotel on holiday, where the beautiful sound of it captivated the whole family to the point that I asked where it had come from. The answer? You guessed, Hawkin's Bazaar! I have been buying toys and gifts here ever since! The instrument is easy to play even for a novice, and appeals to adults as well as children.
Simply the best thing I have ever bought from Hawkin’s Bazaar."

Fiona wins £50 of Hawkin’s Vouchers to spend on her choice of fun and tomfoolery. If you would like to be automatically entered into next month's competition, just add a review to the bottom of any product page on our website.

Rubik's Cube Genius

Our Basingstoke shop recently had a visit from a very talented young chap called Alex (on the left), who’s 12. Alex boasted that he could solve the Rubik’s cube in under 1 minute and much to everyone’s delight and amazement, he was absolutely right. Not only that but he went on to solve it blindfolded (apparently he memorizes the corner colours!). Alex agreed to stay in store for a few hours demonstrating his incredible Rubik’s abilities to fascinated customers.
Click here to see a video of Alex in action.

Would You Like to be a Guinea Pig?

Would you like to see our latest discoveries before anyone else and get them completely free? We thought so! Well our new competition gives you the opportunity to do just that. We are looking for up to 5 people who would occasionally (we promise not to bombard you), like to receive new product samples, test them and review them for us – potentially making regular contributions to future Hawkin publications. Sound like fun?
To enter we would like you to write a review one of our current products - don’t worry if your English isn’t perfect (we can correct that) - flair, humour and clever ideas are much more important. No more than 200 words please and if your hand writing is at all suspect, then typing may be the way to go! See below for some hints and ideas to get you thinking. All ages, sexes and species (we’ve been getting increasing correspondence from cats and dogs recently) are equally eligible to enter, but please include the following information with your review (this would purely be used to help identify the most appropriate samples to send you should you win):
Age:
Male / Female:
Species:
Who you live with (single, with a partner, children, pets etc):

Entries can be emailed to competitions@hawkin.com or posted to ‘I wish I was a Guinea Pig’ at the usual Hawkin Address. All entries would have to be received by the end of August. And don’t forget to include your email, or full postal address so we can get in contact with you.

Hints

• Pick a product you really like – it’s always easier to write about something you are passionate about.
• Think what information would be useful for potential customers reading your review. If you’ve had an interesting or funny experience using the product, possibly with friends or family, then work that in to the review (but keep it tight – there’s rarely space for large back ground stories).
• Although this is a writing competition, if you have a picture or even video that supports your review feel free to include it.
• Look through the Bazaar Times and Hawkin catalogues for inspiration.

Good luck – we very much look forward to reading your entries.

Up Close and Personal

We have a winner! Entries have flooded in to our 'Up Close and Personal' competition, ever since we set the task of identify some of our best loved products from obscure close up images, in the second edition of the Bazaar Times. The competition is now closed and we can confirm the lucky winner of the £50 Hawkin's Bazaar voucher is Carolynne Woodgate, who correctly gave the following answers:

1: Ten Move Puzzle Box
2: Techno Robot
3: Fisher Price Two Tune TV
4: Stylophone
5: Squishy Mesh Ball
6: Weather House

Congratulations to Carolynne, commiserations to everyone else who entered. But don't be down-hearted we have exciting new competitions coming very soon. Watch this space.

Unexpected visitors

It’s not every day you’ll be served by Giraffes in one of our shops, but that’s exactly what happened in our Chelmsford store last week. Quite a crowd was drawn when a family of five Giraffes wandered in to the store and started taking over. Ok, they were French people dressed as Giraffes, but the costumes where remarkably realistic.

It was a week of surprise visits, with Fifi and Bumble also turning up in our Poole store. Apparently the stars of children’s television were driven into the store to shelter from bad weather and received a warm and dry welcome from the Hawkin shop team. We can't wait to see what will happen next?

What a Racket

We spoke to a very nice lady called Fae yesterday. Apparently she had been in one of our shops and played our Miniature Accordion. We understand she made quite a ruckus, but we don’t mind that, especially as she has featured it on the shopping page of the TVHits website. Click here to read what Fae had to say.

You Won't Believe Your Eyes!

	A debate has been bubbling away at Hawkin HQ for the last few weeks  over these amazing visual illusions. The problem is the incredible  visual effect is 3 dimensional – very difficult to describe or  replicate on a flat page or screen. But Fergus Sullivan, the brains  behind the images is very passionate about his product (rightly so) and  convinced us to try them - they are very good and after all, they are  the perfect Hawkin curiosity, brand new and unlike anything you are  likely to have seen before.
They aren't in any Hawkin publication, but finally available on our website. There are two designs - click on the links below to read all about them.
London Moving Eye Illusion Trick of the Eye Illusion

It's a Jungle Out There

Gemma Harvey is the latest to capture the natural behaviour of one of our toys in wild. This wind-up caterpillar was photographed in the swamps of deepest, darkest Devon and later, hitching a cheeky ride on
the back of a ferocious Turkish Tortoise.

If you should see any of our wee beasties roaming the world make sure you send us a picture - if we publish it in the Bazaar Times it will earn you a £20 Hawkin voucher.

Buried Treasure

We've been getting some wonderfully creative mail recently, including this charming poem from Susan Davis, inspired by the Hawkin catalogue:

Jim Hawkin's went to search for treasure,
and he searched high and low.

He thought x marked the spot,
and he would find treasure galore.

But I received a copy of Hawkin's Bazaar,
with happy times in store.

I found my buried treasure,
and they delivered it to my door.

Thanks for this Susan. Perhaps we should have a poetry competition? Add a comment below and let us know what you think.

Paul is a Winner!

Congratulations to Paul from Coventry. Not just because he has won the first of our monthly review writing competitions, but also for his forth coming marriage (which he is probably even more excited about). Paul wins £50 in Hawkin Vouchers for this review about the magnificent Horsey Hoppers.

"I work in the betting industry and am getting married in July.  For me this is the world's most perfect product!  My (soon to be) wife authorised 4 boxes of these as a legitimate wedding expense.  God I love her.  These are set to be the highlight of our wedding reception & have already been requested for numerous summer barbeque ceremonies."

We'd like to wish Paul every success on the big day and hope the hoppers do the trick at the reception (we'd love to see some picture!).

If you would like to be automatically entered into next month's competition, just add a review to the bottom of any product page on our website.