Do you Know a Thomas the Train Fan??

I cannot believe I have not told you about this sooner....my fault, sorry. If you have a Thomas the Tank Engine Fan in your life you already know just how expensive the wooden train and track can be.My son first got hooked onto Thomas after he received a boat load of tracks, trains, and building's for his 1st birthday (Thanks Chris!!). At about age 2 we unloaded all the trains and such out of their boxes and onto a train table which he received for his 2ND birthday. This is when the fun began...lol

You see, in every train package comes a nice three-fold paper with about 100 or so trains, collections, buildings, etc. on it. SO what does my son decide to do...keep all the papers in the top draw of his train table for later on. At about age 2.5 he started recognizing which trains he has and does not have. He would circle with a crayon the trains and such he has...then when friends and family would ask him what he would like for birthday/holiday gifts he would say one of the trains off of that wonderful paper!! So, after a while I started to feel bad about how much the trains cost....So I decided to do some searching!

I found out that Michael's Craft store, AC Moore, and Boscov's all carry Thomas and Friends wooden trains and accessories. The trick to Michael's' and AC Moore is to buy the trains when they are NOT on sale (probably the 1st and only time I will ever say that...lol) and use the 40% off coupon in the AC Moore/Michael's Ad that comes out every Friday in your mailbox. You can also join AC Moore's website and then you can print a coupon each week as well!! Bosco's sometimes has Thomas and Friends on sale for 30% off. You have too look in the weekly ad that comes out in the Sunady paper.

I know the trains are very pricey....but I do also know that the Thomas train collection my son has, has made his imagination so wonderful! He watched the movies...then uses his memory to recreate the scenes he saw. Or sometimes I hear him over the monitor making up his own stories with them too!! I can also see that the Thomas and Friends have expanded his vocabulary a bit too......Especially when he tell me "Mom, are you cross at Me?" or "He's busting my buffers".

Though expensive, the coupons make them a bit more affordable and in my eyes well worth it!! Just my thoughts.....