{Update: In case you missed the posting on my Facebook wall, it looks as if Toys R Us has unfortunately discontinued the gift card portion of this deal. It seems to have happened on Wednesday, and there are understandably a lot of frustrated shoppers out there. The rebate is still working, so you can still get games for $1 (Candy Land & Shoots and Ladders) or $3 (the Cootie games, Hi Ho Cherrio and Memory games) after rebate.}
I finally had a chance to run into Toys R Us without the kids today. (Is it just me, or is coming within 500 feet of Toys R Us with children over the age of 9 months a complete and total disaster?)
I wanted to update you guys on an even better deal than the one I originally posted about. Once I was in the store and got my hands on the original rebate form, I was able to pick up the following SWEET deal to get eight Hasbro games for just $10 (after gift card and rebate). Here’s what you do:
Buy (1) Candyland (original version only) ~ $3 on sale
Buy (1) Shoots & Ladders ~ $3 on sale
Buy (1) Don’t Break the Ice – $5 on sale
Buy (1) Ants in the Pants – $5 on sale
Buy (1) Don’t Spill the Beans – $5 on sale
Buy (1) Cootie – $5 on sale
Buy (1) Hi Ho Cherrio – $5 on sale
Buy (1) Memory – $5 on sale (any version – we got Toy Story 3)
= $36 out of pocket + tax
– Earn $10 Toys R Us gift card (when you buy $35 worth of Hasbro games)
– Submit for $16 in Hasbro rebates
= $10 (+ tax) for all 8 games!
As you can see, my son was on to me the second I got home, so he now knows what his older brother is getting for Chanukah (Don’t Break the Ice – a game he loves!). I will use the rest to restock our gift tub. But I was also thinking that these eight games might make a nice donation to your favorite preschool or children’s hospital — it’s quite a generous donation with very little out of pocket for you.
If you can’t print the rebate form from the link I shared (here again), the store I shopped at was stocked with rebate forms — both on the shelves and at the customer service desk.
Have you had a chance to stop at Toys R Us yet? What deals did you score?
Mara, this looks great. But please explain to me how you factor the $10 gift card as $10 off- doesn’t it just mean that you have to go back and spend it on something else? so that you’ve actually spent $20 on these 8 games (still a great deal) plus another item that will be free? Because to me, in the end, that means i’ve spent $20 on 8 games plus another item that i don’t need (and that i have to go back to the store for, which will likely not even happen). Or am i misunderstanding this?
By the way, thanks for the costume tip- i went to CVS and bought a bunch of costumes for $3 and $4- i only wish there were more left.
Skai – Think of it like ECBs at CVS. The ECB is like cash, but that you can only use it at CVS. So when I say something costs $1 after sales, coupons and ECBs, that means that your out of pocket was $1 + the ECB you got back. But the ECB is “free” cash to spend on something else you *need*.
The TRU gift card doesn’t expire and I *think* you can use it as Babies R Us as well as TRU. While I was buying the games today, I noticed that they had a number of BabyGanics and Method cleaning products on clearance. I will do a quick look through my coupon files, pull any relevant coupons and head back there later (when I’m anyone in the area, to save on gas ;-)) to pick up some of those with my gift card. That way, I’m buying something I would need anyway — laundry detergent (but at a deep discount, thanks to clearance and coupons) — with the gift card. Does that make sense?
I get it, thanks! So the key is to use it to buy stuff you would otherwise buy anyway. I’m sure i would use the toysrus credit at some point in the future, but the key will be to use it on something i need. sometimes i find myself using those gift cards just because i have them, and then its probably not really a savings.
Yup, that’s my strategy. I mean sure, you can use it for whatever you want. But I feel like trying to get something I need makes the Hasbro games (or whatever) really feel like $10 and not $20. That said, if baby needs a new pair of shoes that are on sale for $10, then baby needs a new pair of shoes 😉
yeah I went yesterday and since I can’t add in my head like you, I spent 40.19 and got the $10 card plus my rebate will come to $15. So my total would be 15.19.
Would it make you feel better to know that I had a pen and paper (and no children) and double-checked my math about, oh, 15 times before I checked out?
Just wanted to let everyone know that this gift card deal is dead. 🙁 At the store I went to, they did not honor the ad. I called corporate and they said something about how not all the games were just Hasbro, so they told all the stores to stop honoring it. (I assume the rebates are ok though, I forgot to ask about that, and they did give me a form at checkout.)
Rivka – Did you “like” me on Facebook? I posted this really frustrating update over on my FB Wall the other day, b/c I wasn’t sure if people would come back to this post. But I should also update here, thanks for the reminder. I am very disappointed in TRU – it seems to me that they realized that they goofed up once the rush on games began. Not sure why they didn’t anticipate it going viral. Re. the rebates — as far as everything I’ve read, the rebates are fine.