Father Christmas has now authorised us to announce the top stocking fillers he’s ordered from us for this Christmas – and all under £7. He’s ordered 100s of each of these from us so we are pleased to recommend them to you. Fortunately, despite his orders, we have stock left, but we don’t know when he’s going to want more so get your order in soon! Here’s his Top Ten so far. Pirate Skittles Astro Projection Torch Batwing Gyro Flyer…
In this article we look at the wooden train set sold by Ikea and check to see whether it fits with Bigjigs railway, Brio or any of the other leading brands. Firstly we have to say it is fantastic value. Sold under the name of Lillabo, Ikea offer a basic 20 piece set for £7.99 and a pack of 10 track pieces for just £4.99. The track pieces seem to be made of beech, which isn’t cheap. As the old…
Some of my best memories of childhood are of the adventurous things I did, many of them as a Boy Scout. Some of them were daft, and some of them were definitely dangerous. Climbing the chalk scarp slope at Boxhill in plimsolls and no rope. Fighting a major fire on Headley Heath armed only with tree branches, until the fire brigade arrived. And cycling 50 miles to Brighton (and back again) on a whim, without a map, just half a…
As we know, Bigjigs Rail and Brio wooden railway track and trains are compatible. (For full details see our article about these two brands). What about extra track from the John Crane Branching Out (now Tidlo) range? Will this fit with either or both? Mulberry Bush has a large selection of track pieces of various lengths and shapes from various brands. The photo below shows pieces of John Crane track connected to a section of Bigjigs Rail track connected in…
In this short article, we demonstrate that Bigjigs Railway track and accessories are fully compatible with Brio. Brio, from Sweden, is generally used as the yardstick for compatibility as the company was the first manufacturer of the wooden railway in Europe, introducing their first sets in 1957. The name Brio has come to be synonymous with wooden railways, but now, of course, there are numerous manufacturers. Bigjigs Rail and Brio track pieces fit perfectly, and one brand is virtually indistinguishable…
Mulberry Bush sell loads of Bigjigs Rail wooden trains, train sets and accessories – and other brands too – but one question we are often asked is “Is it compatible with Brio?”. The simple answer is yes, and indeed so much has Bigjigs rail grown over the last few years – to the extent that they may well now be the market leader – that the question now ought to be “Is it compatible with Bigjigs Rail?” Another conversation we…
Are children’s toys and Christmas presents about to become more expensive ? Last week The Times carried an article suggesting that manufacturing costs in China were climbing as workers look for ever higher wages, and materials costs are rising too. It seems certain that those costs will be passed on to Western consumers, and here at Mulberry Bush we’ve already seen a number of proposed price increases from importers. Needless to say we’re negotiating hard to keep increases to a…
What are our best selling toys this Christmas? Some of the wooden toys we offer are best sellers year after year. In pride of place has to be the fantastic Mini Cakes and Stand which has been immensely popular for a couple of years now, and not surprisingly. The detail is incredible and with 12 mouth-watering wooden cakes plus wooden stand at £11.99 it’s incredible value too. Another best seller this year and a consistent favourite for 2 or 3…
There’s going to be a shortage of toys this Christmas – so says BBC Breakfast today. Well for the must-have, toy-of-the-year Barbie Roller Girl or Transformers Movie Leader type of toy that may very well be true. The big distributors have to place their orders in the Far East many months before Christmas, and at the beginning of this year with all the doom and gloom there was it was not surprising that many importers were cautious. Bear in mind…
The opportunity for our customers to add their own reviews of their purchases was a recent enhancement to our website just a few weeks ago. Opening up this service was not without some trepidation on our part it has to be said. Most of the conversations we have with you our customers take place before the toy has been bought and whilst we’ve had many, many compliments over the years we never really know what people really think about their…