The Ultimate Hot Wheels Experience

Now that I've had a chance to sift through all my photos of the Hot Wheels Collectors National that we attended in Chicago, I can throw together a decent overview of it.

Before I begin, I want to address a question that was presented as a comment to my teaser. Mommytime asked if it's always in Chicago - No. Last year it was in Detroit and next year I believe it will be in Virginia. For anyone living in Southern California, they have a convention there annually also.

DH is an avid collector of Dodge Vipers that are the size of Hot Wheels so he follows the collector forums to keep track of what new Vipers have hit the market. We attended the Collectors National in Detroit last year but the girls were too young to really appreciate it all and nap time tended to interfere with a lot of it. This year, we decided to let the girls stay up late, attend all kid-friendly functions and really partake in the entire event. They loved it and so did we!

The girls remembered the downhill races from last year and were anxious to get started on that. Practice sessions were set up during the week and the actual races were held on Saturday. Didn't really matter because the girls had as much fun during the practice sessions. They got to pick whichever cars they wanted, get into line, hand the guy on the ladder their cars then run to the finish line to cheer on their respective cars. They would return those cars to the case and pick new ones - always asking "Which one is fastest, Daddy?"

We paid a little extra to participate in the vending pull session. What's that? Well, it was a vending machine chocked full of limited edition Hot Wheels. The catch? You couldn't see what you were getting. That's the total fun of it. The glass on the front was frosted and it was just a game of chance. We let the girls pick the letter/number combination and push the buttons. Miss K was quite excited to win one of the bonus prizes!

The girls also participated in two different coloring contests. One was sponsored by the convention. The rules are very simple - parents can't help. Period. The kids were grouped by age then awards given out to the top three winners in each age group. I thought the girls did great and it was nice to see their independence during the contest.

The second coloring contest was sponsored by John Rhodes of Woodie's Adventures, someone attending the event. Each year, he sponsors the contest then has the winning design custom made into actual diecast cars. By completing that coloring contest, they were given one of the custom cars in last year's winning design. No charge. No purchase required. No catch. These guys do it for the kids because they want to. I don't know the name of the man who did the custom work for Woodie's Adventures, but he was also very generous - even stopping us in the hall to give some stuff to the girls for their scavenger hunt. Oh yeah, I haven't gotten to THAT yet. I'll get there in a minute. (If someone knows his name, could you please email me and I'll be happy to give him props.)

The Collectors National is held in a hotel and throughout the entire event people can open up their rooms to sell stuff... or buy or trade but that's semantics. Anyway, conventioneers set up tables and displays in their rooms, use the desks, the drawers, the beds for displaying stuff and you literally walk in and out of open doors like they are mini stores. It sounds kind of freakish, but it is so much fun that it's ridiculous. If you collect Hot Wheels, this is heaven because you are bound to find something that you don't already have in your collection.

That's where the scavenger hunt comes into play. To keep the kids occupied during the down time, the convention folks put together a contest where kids look for about thirty different items. A purple Hot Wheel, a convertible Hot Wheel, a napkin with a logo on it, anything with a Speed Racer logo on it, state quarters for Illinois, Wisconsin and Florida, etc. As the kids walked around the convention, they were constantly on the lookout for scavenger hunt items. People who manned the 'stores' were always so generous, offering to fill the bags with whatever the kids were looking for. The catch? None. The charge? None. Was it fun? Like you wouldn't believe. We would enter a room and the girls were responsible for asking for help. They would walk up to whomever they thought the room belonged to and tell the people they were on a scavenger hunt. The list would change hands and they would try as hard as they could to find something from the list. It is an excellent way for the kids to get involved and an awesome way to teach them about manners as well as start to develop interpersonal skills.

But wait, that's not all! In addition to autograph sessions with the actual Hot Wheels designers, Mattel had a room set up displaying some of their latest products. In that room, you had the opportunity to put your destruction skills at work. An honest-to-God Hot Wheels smusher. What a marketing gimmick that is. Adults could crush their cars, but when kids did it Mattel was kind enough to replace the destroyed car with a brand new one. Whew. It took me forever to convince the girls to do it but once they did they wanted to keep doing it! The rep from Mattel said that it was mostly boys that thought it was cool.

And what event would be complete without a magic show. Miss M was especially fond of Mike D and his magic act. She couldn't stop talking about how he ate a (playing) card.

Overall, it was an awesome event and I regret that the next one is so far away. I doubt we'll be able to attend next year, but I can always hope that it will return to the central states in 2010!

Yes, I said "Hot Wheels"

Although I took a short blog hiatus, it wasn't all filled with gloom. We had to adjust the schedule slightly due to the funeral, but since we had already planned and paid for our family trip to Chicago, we really wanted to stick to it.

When we lived in Los Angeles, we didn't have to look very far for something interesting to do. Here in the Midwest, it takes a little more work. Granted, we do find some cool stuff to do with the kids, but for big, fancy events, we need to trek a little further.

This past weekend, the Chicago trip was focused around the Hot Wheels National Convention. Yes, I said Hot Wheels and I am referring to the toy cars. Yes, it was a convention for us just as much as it was for the kids… or vice versa. It was totally a family event.

I've been to several different work and hobby related conventions, but this one takes the cake. You know what people do at a Hot Wheels convention? Car stuff. Lots and lots of Hot Wheels car stuff. Some things, like contests for customizing your own Hot Wheels vehicle, are geared at adults. Scavenger hunts, magic shows and coloring contests are for the kids. The races, on the other hand are for kids of all ages.

There is so much to say about the Hot Wheels National Convention that it would be ludicrous for me to try to put it all in one post. So today, you're getting the teaser and the next post will have more meat to it.

Bribe the Auctioneer with Tears

DH and I have always tried to attend events that we think the girls could learn something from. Aside from customary outings like the Family Museum, we try to take them to less traditional events. Concerts like Trans Siberian Orchestra. Cultural Festivals like the Celtic Highland Games. Science stuff like Gem & Mineral Shows. Comic book and collectables shows.

This past weekend, we attended a coin show hosted by the Quad City Coin Club. We've been to coin shows in Los Angeles and random dealers always have small things for the kids. Keeps them entertained and hopefully gives them a respect for the hobby.

However, this show was set up differently. When we arrived, there was a treasure chest for the kids. They were each allowed to select 10 items from the chest. It contained a variety of foreign coins and the girls eagerly dug through it. Miss K selected 10 of all the same color but with different designs. Miss M selected various sizes and colors but was particularly excited about one with "100" marked on it. That was a nice way to start the show.

While DH was checking out what the vendors had to offer, I ran into a friend from the gym. She said her husband and kids were up registering for the kids' auction. After chatting, we got the scoop and headed to the auction area ourselves.

The auction was for kids only. Each was given $200 virtual dollars to spend on items graciously donated by the attending vendors. While the items weren't worth $200 real dollars, it was all about the experience. Some of the items up for auction were rolls of wheat pennies, silver dollars, books, annual coin sets and collection folders already containing some coins. Almost 100 lots altogether.

About 45 kids participated, bidding anywhere from $10 to $200 right off the bat. Auctioneer Mike Roberts did a great job of getting as many kids involved as possible. When Miss M and Miss K got to raise their 'paddles' they thought it was pretty cool. We didn't care what they won as long as they got something. We just didn't want them to bid too much and be done so we made sure they always pulled their paddle around the $60-$70 mark. Apparently they weren't getting to bid often enough because while DH and I were chatting, Miss K was bidding away on a book with some random coins. Yes, she won it... all on her own. Sometimes her independence is frightening. Miss M won a few auctions also and we were very excited that the event was so focused on the kids and not the parents. At one point, we told Miss K that she had won, but the auctioneer awarded it to someone else on accident. When she started to cry, he made sure that she won the next one to make up for his error.

When the final lots were coming up, they began to ask who had not won an item. Auctioneer Mike focused his attention on those kids first. When it came down to the last few lots, the woman keeping track of the bidder accounts stopped the auction. There were three kids on her list whom had not paid anything and the organizers made sure they won.

I've participated in a lot of auctions but have never enjoyed one as much as this. Thanks to the Quad City Coin Club for this wonderful event.

One Beanie too few… or too many?

Good grief… I have entered beanie Hell.

Back when Beanie babies were all the craze, I swore I wouldn't buy one. It drove me crazy that people would spend hundreds of dollars for a stuffed toy that a kid couldn't even think about playing with. Mind you, I have my collections of stuff that I don't let the kids play with, but most aren't kid things.

I understood the fascination with wanting to have the rare ones and make sure they stayed in mint condition. That's natural with any kind of collectable. I understood how people spent a lot of money on Cabbage Patch dolls back in the day and Tickle Me Elmo when he came along. Parents were spending big bucks so their kid could have the toy they really wanted; purchased with the knowledge that it was going to get played with. But beanie babies were stuffed toys that adults spent buku bucks on - that kids didn't get to play with. I just didn't get it or the madness surrounding it.

When I had children, I insisted we not purchase beanies for them. I insisted that other people not purchase beanies for them. I was dead set on never having them in our home. I just didn't like what they stood for.

Then my daughter had an appointment at Children's Hospital in Los Angeles. It was their practice to give each child a welcome gift on their first visit. Yeah, bribe them into thinking they'll enjoy the visit. She was given a white beanie kitty cat. I'll admit it, it was nice to see how happy that cat made her. She loved it so much that it was difficult to smuggle it away long enough to wash it.

So one day, on a trip to Frank & Sons, when I saw another white kitten, I… I can't believe I'm admitting this… I told DH we had to get it. Frank & Sons is a warehouse in the City of Industry, CA that was used twice per week as a giant collector show and we went there fairly often while living in the LA area. By the time my daughter received her beanie cat, they were no longer a hot collectable and vendors were dumping them at whatever price they could get. I decided that the price justified purchasing a backup for her so I would not have to stress out to clean the original. DH says everyone has a price for which anything becomes an option – apparently dirt cheap is my breaking point with respect to beanies.

We picked up a few additional white kittens on subsequent trips to Frank & Sons. Later, we purchased an entire basket of beanies during the neighborhood yard sale. When DH found some mini ones for a dime each at a yard sale, I said "Go ahead and get them, it's only a dime." Our girls' eyes gleamed whenever we added to their stockpile. There were plenty to go around, duplicates of some and a ton of variety. Tags are missing from all of them now. They are well loved. They are toys and it's perfect.

Fast forward to naptime today. The girls were fighting over whose dog this one was; both crying when I tried to act as mediator. I finally had to say "Miss M, you had it at bedtime last night so Miss K gets it for nap. You can have it back at bedtime." Both were in agreement. Whew. Crisis averted for now.

Now I'm trying to figure out if we have one too few beanies or one too many. If only I hadn't caved and bought that backup kitten, we wouldn't be in this mess.