Oliver's Garden 2015 Fall SWS order

About two weeks ago, I received my box containing toys purchased from Oliver's Garden during the Fall 2015 Sidewalk Sale. Uncharacteristically, I kept the box closed up until tonight - I guess we can blame the addition of a new kitten to the family, as well as things picking up at work giving me things to think about.

This wasn't a particularly large order, and it was mostly of items that are favorites around here. I stocked up on Chunky Monkeys (in medium size) and got a couple of Rainbow Trouts.

These items are meant for the smaller Pois and should keep them busy for a while.

It's Sidewalk Sale time over at Avian Avenue

This week-end, Avian Avenue is having it's (annual) Sidewalk Sale (SWS). The sale started yesterday and will end on Sunday evening.

To see which vendors are participating and what the discounts are, just go over to Avian Avenue!

Thing for Wings 2015 SWS order

My second of two Sidewalk Sale (SWS) orders arrived this week (on Tuesday I think?)

I took many pictures the day the box showed up, but because there were many pictures, it took me a while to go through processing them (mostly brightening and cropping, depending on how each picture came out originally) and I did a few each day. After I had started taking a few pictures, and realizing the volume of toys I had, I did start grouping some of the toys in one shot, when they were small enough to allow it, but I started that too late and was left with bigger toys soon enough, that needed their own picture.

There were two aspects to Thing for Wings (T4W) SWS; a percentage off the order, which varied with how much the order amounted to, and the Red light specials (RLS). I didn't partake in the first part of the sale (having ordered the toys I wanted a few weeks prior to the sale), but did partake in the RLS. Specific deals would be posted, up for a certain (disclosed) amount of time or until they ran out. I've gotten pretty good at "sniping" deals, although there might have been one or two that I've missed.

In any case, in no particular order, here are the toys that I did get.

SWS 2013, Delivery #3 - Things for Wings

As I pointed out in an earlier post, the box from my Sidewalk Sale Things for Wings order arrived sometime last week. But, life being in the way, I really only got to take pictures yesterday and process them this morning. Lots and lots of pictures...

This order, when I initially submitted it, was very reasonable. I had told myself I wouldn't look at the "daily deals" (more like hourly deals), and keep my order simple. But I didn't listen to myself and got roped into the daily deal fun, although I think I did show restraint on some items and wasn't glued as much as I could have been on the Things for Wings website - the order could have easily gone out of control.

Oh and one last note, for the first time in a long time, I only ordered one copy of each individual toy - something that goes against how I normally order, ensuring birds have similar toys (if they have similar likings).

So here is what I ordered.

The "original" order (i.e. no daily deal items)

"Tahiti Chipper" - most likely will go to Joey, as he's the biggest fan of the shreddable material and is going through pine like crazy lately.



"Fall Shenanigans" - could go to just about any of the Littles.



"Big Juicy Strawberries" - I'm thinking will probably go to Léa given the chunky branch pieces and hardwood shapes.



"Pirate Boy" - another toy that could go to any of the Littles, but I'll probably give it to Petey as it's an adorable toy and it has a better chance to last a little longer with Petey.



"Léa's Toy" - the toy's name does say who this will be destined to.



"Hardwood Teddy Trio" - will go to one of the Littles, thinking Shade.



"Teddy Crunch" - will go to Piper.



That was it for the "toy" aspect of the original order. But since T4W has recently expanded to include perches, cleaning supplies and food, well I got a little of each in this order.

Rope perches - because I never have enough on hand it seems.



AviClean - does work rather well on my cages (this is the concentrated stuff, will need to be diluted).



10lbs worth of TOPs (the pellets).



Now we get to the extra items I didn't originally plan for...

"Daily Deals"

"Bag of drilled pine scraps" - first thing I purchased, it was cheap, plentiful (I was expecting less wood) and it will make for great skewer fillers.



"Very nice wood coin toy" - I think, before it went up, Danita had personally told me that it would be one right up my "alley". She was right and in the basket it went...



"Vault - Willow, Hardwood shape, 3/8" pine" - one of Danita's "vault" toys (either discontinued or some T4W designs that never really were put up for sale as far as I can gather) and something that I think Shade will love!



"Yucca and pine" - looked neat on the screen, was even nicer (and bigger) in person. Will be going in one of the Littles' cage.



"Willow coins" - the last item I purchased. She had the coins up for a very short period of time and, when I saw them up, I freaked out a little and ordered 20, since I didn't know if there was a limit and it seemed reasonable. But then, before the time was up, I made a second order for another 20. In retrospect, I should have just put a larger number from the get-go, but what can you do...



I'm very pleased with everything and even more surprised that Danita managed to make everything fit in the box it came in. There was no way I would have been capable of putting it all back in there neatly.

Thanks Danita!

SWS 2013, Delivery #2 - Oliver's Garden

My box arrived yesterday.

It was left on the porch - ironically, I happened to be home on Friday, but the post employee didn't bother knocking so I only got notice of it when the Boy came back home from work.

Out of the three orders I made during the Sidewalk Sale (SWS), this happened to be the "smallest" one. I mostly stocked up on Chunky Monkeys, one of Shade's favourite toys, as well as getting a few other flock favourites.

Here they are -

6 "Chunky Monkeys" - for just about any bird, except maybe Piper who would find the wood a bit too thick.





2 "Mackerel Snackers" - will probably be hung in common areas, where I expect a number of the Littles to partake in their destruction.



2 "Rainbow Trout Jr." - which will probably have a similar fate as the above Mackerel Snacker toys and meet their "demise" at the same beaks...



1 (modified) "Big Daddy" - this one was purchased with Léa in mind. I said "modified", as it came with plastic beads which I removed, since I don't really give hard plastics to Léa given she can snap them really easily and create sharp edges. I quite like this look!



Finally, a little freebie included in my order. A little foot toy fish!



Thanks Susan!

SWS 2013, Delivery #1 - Crystal's Bird Toys

Because I was gone for quite some time, I had indicated to the three vendors with whom I made purchases during the Sidewalk Sale on Avian Avenue earlier this month that my orders could be shipped later, as I wasn't interested in boxes arriving during my absence.

But since Crystal from Crystal's Bird Toys is local, I had three bags waiting for me upon my arrival.



Let's say I took advantage of the sale and took the opportunity to re-stock my dwindling collection of CBT toys. And because I really love the look of "natural" toys, most of them are not dyed.

The hanging toys

4 "Mario Blocks" - for some of the Littles.



5 "Snappy Stars" - again, for the Littles.



5 "Make it snappy" - mostly for the Littles, although given Piper and Petey don't chew much, one might end up in Léa's cage.



2 "Pine's up" - I bought these for Shade and Joey, the biggest wood chewers amongst the Littles.



1 "Fiji" - for Léa.



1 "Hidden Gems" - for Léa.



Everything above was what went in my first order. Yes, you read right, first order. On the last day of the Sidewalk Sale, Crystal added to her sale - buy two skewer toys, get one free AND the existing discount from the previous (if complete) or existing order would apply as well. There was no way to resist getting a few of them to try out!

Skewer refill toys

"Just a Nibble"



"Just Balsa"



"Pressed Palm"



"Cork Popper"



"Star Struck"



I also got some balsa spacers (simply some balsa blocks) as well as one called "Slatipede". I didn't take a picture of the former because they are just balsa blocks and it seems that I totally overlooked taking pictures of the latter and was too lazy to do so once I noticed (which is as I'm writing the blog entry). If anyone is curious about what they look like, here is a link to the Skewer refill toys page on the CBT website:

CBT - Skewer refill Toys

Finally, it seems that Crystal added a freebie to my order!



Thank you Crystal!

The Sidewalk Sale is fast approaching!

Yes, that wonderful time where vendors (and members) of Avian Avenue offer sales simultaneously for three consecutive days is just around the corner!

This year, the sale will be held from September 6th to the 8th. Participating vendors have started to be announced and you can see the list (so far) here:

The Official Sidewalk Sale Fall 2013 Thread

Some sales have also started to appear. This year, "Guest Vendors" (Business for whom one of the organizers can vouch for but aren't necessarily members of the forum) have made an appearance.

In the past, I've been known to indulge (I can never really resist a good sale), but I'll try to be a bit more reasonable this year and will most likely only shop with 3 vendors, all of them Canadian (easier for shipping costs and they are toys that my birds all love).

Technically, the sale is for forum members so, if you haven't already done so, come and sign up!