Feedback/information on Lego Club Meetings

[atmail35]

Today was the LEGO Friends Club Meeting! There were about 15 girls and 1 boy (who I think was a sibling of one of the girls) in attendance.

It was a lot of fun, probably the best meeting my daughter has attended yet (could it be the theme? ). They had TONs of pink, teal, purple, magenta, lime green, and light blue bricks! I was nearly drooling over the bins with the beautiful colors. I should have taken a picture!

The girls were told they could build a beach house or even a tree house. There were a lot of creative items built!

The t-shirt:

2012-08-25 Friends Club Meeting 002.JPG

Goody Bag:
Sept. calendar, Friend booklet, ice cream stand build(from a few months ago), sticker, $5 off $35 coupon, Friends Friendship bracelet set, Mia's Skateboard polybag. They were also allowed to keep one Friends minidoll.

2012-08-25 Friends Club Meeting 001.JPG

[meyerc13]

I took my daughter to the LEGO 'Friends' Club Meeting in Milwaukee this morning. I took my son to the last two meetings (Lord of the Rings, City Mining), but this was my daughter's first meeting. This is a fairly new LEGO store, so it's been interesting to see these meetings get better and better each month. I think this was only their fifth meeting since they opened at the end of April.

The first thing I noticed was the age ranges for the girls attending. My daughter was among the youngest at four and a half. Some of the oldest must have been in their early teens or nearly so. I saw two families that I've seen at prior meetings, but many new faces today.

Check-in went very smoothly. Last month they had the check-in at a folding table they use for the kids to build, but for the two meetings this month they had check-in at the counter and had both their tables ready to go for building, which worked much better.

One thing that puzzles me is the shirt sizes that LEGO sends the stores. Last month, my son ended up with a small even though a medium would have been better (the small just fits, but as my checkbook will attest, kids just keep growing). Today my daughter ended up with a Medium, but it goes past her knees. Oh well, she'll grow into it eventually. I wonder how they decide what to send? Maybe they should ask shirt size when the kids sign-up to try to get kids close to their correct size.

My daughter was happy to get the bracelets, which apparently had only been available previously in Europe/Asia. She was slightly disappointed in the polybag, since we already had all of the polybags that have been released in the US. I was hoping for the as yet unreleased 30100 Beach set, but I'm sure it will show up eventually (hopefully I can use it as a stocking stuffer).

The cups full of pastel bricks were a sight to behold, too bad some of those pieces haven't found their way to the pick-a-brick wall. They had lots of bricks, but I didn't see any doors/windows, so that made it challenging for my daughter to build a house for her Friends figure. One of the older girls did a fantastic job building what looked like a store front, especially considering the limited piece selection.

They had LEGO Friends Trivia, and gave away Series 7 minifigures for correct answers. My daughter got a Bride. The store manager later gave away additional Series 7 minifigures to everyone who attended, which was a brilliant cross-promotion, since for some of these girls LEGO Friends may have been their first exposure to LEGO.

Once again, it seemed like all of the kids present had fun. It's great to see kids jumping right in and building. Interestingly, at the meetings with more boys, the boys tended to build together. However, today most of the girls seemed to be building independently. You'd almost think the opposite would happen since girls tend to be more social. I mentioned this to my wife (who has a degree in early childhood education) and she thinks it is because the girls may have been less experienced building/interacting with LEGO. I bet someone could do an interesting psychology or sociology paper on this.

Overall, another great experience and while we can't do next month due to scheduling conflicts, I'm sure we'll continue to make the long drive down (100 miles each way) in the future, at least until they open a store closer to home.

[Legobrandon]

Wow I wish I was younger and could attend these fun meetings. :( But those Friends Bracelets showed up at my local TRU for a brief time before selling out. They were like $3.99 each.

[atmail35]

meyer13, was your goody bag the same? I'm always curious if they are consistent.

I really think you have to get there early to get the right t-shirt size. The smalls seem to go quickly. We did get the right size (small) this time, but have been faced with larger sizes before.

We had the same experience, girls from 5 to maybe 13. And they also worked pretty independently. At our meeting the kids build on the floor. What was interesting was that when they brought out the "specialty" parts the girls didn't grab at them like the boys do at the other meetings. It is like a feeding frenzy at the Star Wars meetings! I think perhaps the girls don't know what the "prime" parts are or they are more polite!

Here are a few pics I finally loaded from my phone:

My daughter's tree house, she "borrowed" the ladder pieces from the PAB wall. She started making something else and then started running short on time and went with this.

2012-08-25 Friends Club Meeting tree house.jpg

All the creations:

8-25-12 LEGO Friends Meeting.jpg

[melsig]

The cups full of pastel bricks were a sight to behold, too bad some of those pieces haven't found their way to the pick-a-brick wall.

Just FYI - we just happened to be at our local LEGO store the day after the Friends Club Meeting - and an employee, who knew we were looking for more pink and purple bricks, brought out the leftover bricks from meeting and let us fill PAB cups with them. It might be worth asking next time what your store does with the leftovers!

[meyerc13]

meyer13, was your goody bag the same? I'm always curious if they are consistent.

At our store they don't really make up a bag, more like hand you the stuff after you sign in (lucky I have big pockets!). We had the Mia's Skateboard set, a sticker, a coupon, and the bracelets. We didn't get the Ice Cream Stand or the booklet. I wonder if your store had them left over, but since the Milwaukee area store is so new they weren't open yet when that promo ran so wouldn't have had them.

For the Lord of the Rings meeting, they gave out a sticker sheet, the Frodo polybag, coupon... I think that was about it.

For the City Mining meeting, it was the 4x4 polybag, a sticker, and a coupon.

These meetings are a ton of fun, and even though we have to get up by 6am to hit the road by 7am to make the 9am meeting, it's worth the trip.

[atmail35]

February 2013 - LEGO Friends Club Meeting

Just a quick recap for anyone else still following this thread.

In February, the LEGO Store held two meetings, a Friends one and a City one. At our store only 6 girls signed up for the Friends meeting.

The store had a huge bin full of pink, blue, purple bricks! They also had mini doll parts from some of the 2013 sets (karate, swim suit, soccer outfits). The girls were asked to build something that represented their favorite hobby.

Giant Tote Full of Bricks:

LEGO Friends Club Meeting 2-2013 Bricks2 (2).jpg

My daughter made two items inspired by her gymnastics classes. A balance beam and the "foam pit". They practice vaulting into the "foam pit". She felt the brightly colored 1x1s were a good representation of the foam blocks.

LEGO Friends Club Meeting 2-2013 Model.jpg

T-shirt:

LEGO Friends Club Meeting 2-2013 T-Shirt.jpg

Goody Bag: The goody bag incuded the recent Club magazine and calendar (not pictured), sticker, $5 off $35 coupon and the set Mia's Magic Tricks 41001 (msrp $9.99). Each participant also was able to take home one mini doll which they made from new parts.

LEGO Friends Club Meeting 2-2013.jpg

Overall my daughter had a blast! It was nice that it was a small meeting as it was easier to find/get the pieces you needed. Imagine 20 kids diving into the pile!

We did not attend the Chima meeting in January. After my daughter saw the two episodes on the Cartoon Network, she wanted to go, but it had filled up already.

I still highly recommend these meetings for the kids. You really get back your money in "goodies". Between the t-shirt, $5 coupon and any sets or polys you receive, it really is worth the $20. Not to mention they spend an hour in the store and while they build, you can browse around.

[FenrisAkashi]

Neat to see these reports.

Great to have all the pics of the goodies and the events!

[garpike]

Did anyone attend the Lego Club meeting today?

Was wondering what goodies were given out for the Iron Man meeting?

[atmail35]

We did attend the meeting today. the set given out was 76008 Iron Man vs. the Mandarin: Ultimate Showdown. msrp $12.99. I can take a picture of the other items tomorrow and post more details.

Can anyone else report on the following meetings?

January - Chima
Feb. - City
March - Star Wars
April - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

[garpike]

Interesting stuff...I am actually considering signing up my 11 year old for the Superman meeting in June.
I mean...gotta go there and spend some $ to get the Jor-El figure anyways right? LOL!

[atmail35]

Interesting stuff...I am actually considering signing up my 11 year old for the Superman meeting in June.
I mean...gotta go there and spend some $ to get the Jor-El figure anyways right? LOL!

I have not had time to take a pic and upload it, sorry!

BTW, I have had luck with the store applying the $20 club meeting fee towards the minimum purchase for freebies. It can't hurt to ask.

[atmail35]

I'm sorry, I have not been good about posting pictures!

May was an Iron Man themed meeting.

2013-07-21 2013 May-July Club Meetings 005.JPG

Goody Bag: City/TMNJ Poster, Set # 76008 Iron Man vs The Mandarin Ultimate Showdown (msrp $12.99), Club Magazine, Yoda Chronicles Comic Book, Calendar, $5 off $35 coupon, Club sticker, Mr. Gold Sticker, Lone Ranger Sticker.

2013-07-21 2013 May-July Club Meetings 002.JPG

[atmail35]

2013-07-21 2013 May-July Club Meetings 003.JPG

Goody Bag:
Set # 76002 Superman Metropolis Showdown (msrp: $12.99), Club Magazine, Catalog, Calendar, Superman Poster, $5 off $35 coupon, and Club sticker.

2013-07-21 2013 May-July Club Meetings 004.JPG

[atmail35]

Sorry I didn't photograph the shirt separately, but you get the idea.

Goody Bag:
Polybag: 30260 Lone Ranger Pump Car
Lone Ranger Poster, Club Magazine, Chima Flyer, Calendar, $5 off $35 coupon, and Club sticker

I was surprised they did not give out 79106 Cavalry Builder Set, based on prior giveaways. But I was actually was happy she got this poly so I don't have to search for it.

I think it is odd that they did not provide Lone Ranger stickers like pictured above, just seems to tie in better.

The kids were asked to build a hideout. I forgot to take pictures of the builds, sorry.

2013-07-21 2013 May-July Club Meetings 001.JPG

[atmail35]

So is anyone else attending these meetings? I was curious as in the past our store has received special elements to use in the build. I swear they have not brought them out or they are not getting them. The past 3 meetings there were no specialty parts or minifigures. Has anyone else experienced the same thing? I understand that there are now more kids at the meetings and perhaps not enough minifigures to go around, but to have to build a hideout with no minifigures to put inside is kind of lame.

Also every meeting they are building a lair, hideout or some sort of building...at least it feels that way. My daughter still enjoys the meetings, but perhaps they need to refresh them a bit.

[meyerc13]

I've taken one or both of my kids to most of the meetings this year. The Milwaukee store definitely had specialty parts and parts to build Lone Ranger minifigs. I would suggest emailing or talking to the manager. You've clearly been to quite a few of these, and if the quality of the meetings has slipped it's worth giving that opinion. I know that based on constructive criticism I've given that the quality of the meetings has greatly improved at the store we visit.

As for this meeting, it was the most disappointing meeting in a long while, no fault of the store staff. The trivia questions had nothing to do with the sets, but instead were based on general Lone Ranger trivia that most kids wouldn't know. The polybag was very disappointing. For any kid who is collecting this theme, the Rangers are certainly no longer 'Lone.' I was expecting the Cavalry Builder set too, at least that would give the kids a horse, some parts, and some additional minifigs. Instead we get a tiny mine cart and a useless duplicate minifig.

Oh well, hopefully the August meeting is better.

[atmail35]

The only thing of note in this goody bag was Set 70700, Space Swarmer (msrp $11.99). We did get a $5 off $35 coupon for this meeting.

8-2013 LEGO GS Club Meeting.jpg

[atmail35]

For this meeting the main "goody" was Polybag 30225, Seaplane. That was disappointing since TRU has these for $3.99.

Also at this meeting she got 10% of ONE ITEM coupon, instead of the $5 off $35 purchase. The "exclusives" are excluded from this coupon as well.

9-21-13LEGOCity Club Meeting.jpg

I don't really understand how the previous Club Meeting included a $12 set and this one had a $4 polybag (they have been flipping back and forth, see Lone Ranger).

I used to feel this was a really good value for $20. But my daughter doesn't really wear the t-shirts, the gifts have gone downhill and I feel the coupon is sort of less valuable as they are available on catalogs anyway.

The meetings are crammed with kids and my daughter enjoys it, but it has sort of lost the appeal. I'll report back after the Friends Meeting. I'm on the fence if we should bother with Star Wars.

[scatmanjack]

Posted my thoughts on the 9/28 Friends meeting in another thread but I can say they echo Atmail35's. The value of this event has faded fast. Hope they make some changes for 2014.