Being Frugal with Fukubukuro

    The Fukukuro, or lucky grab bags, have long been one of my favorite things about Japan at New Year's. The opportunity to get a bunch for a little is enticing and if done right, the lucky grab bag experience can be really rewarding.

    Unfortunately, between a surprise visit from a friend from high school (her first trip to Japan) and a passport-renewal-turned-Disney-trip with my husband and little one, the end of 2018 hit me really hard right in the pocket book, leaving little for New Year's fun.

Village Vanguard's signs, saying things like "Idiots like this" and "a-holes like this" made it easier to avoid dropping 3,000 yen on random nonsense.

    One fukubukuro I bought anyway and always do is from Mister Donut, where each bag comes with an equal value donut card, meaning 1,000 yen gets you a card good for 10 donuts (priced less than 172 yen each) and the 2,000 yen bag doubles the number to 20. You do have to use the card within a few months. This is a really good deal if you frequent Mister Donut anyway, as it's cheaper than usual for something you would already be buying, but in addition you get a calendar and a few other goods. This year, the 1,000-yen bag contained a small fleece lap blanket and a file folder in addition to the 10 donut card and calendar. The 2,000 yen bag also included a very small tote bag, but the location nearest my home was sold out of the larger option on the first day of bag sales.

   Since having to go through everything in our storage area to bring out the kotatsu and store the coffee table, I have spent this winter being far more aware of the amount of clutter in my home. This means even the bags I could afford held little value for me comparing to previous years, so further fukubukuro went un-purchased, despite some from craft shops being terribly desirable.
    
    The Craft Heart Tokai nearest my home offered 2000 and 3000 yen selections of yarn, cloth and other craft goods, complete with coupons for future purchases.

The larger craft and cloth store Marubuchi in Sendai offered even more beautiful cloth assortments in their fukubukuro.

    That is until I was in Sendai a week into the new year and noticed 1) many fukubukuro were still out and waiting to be sold and 2) many of these had been discounted from their original grab bag price to an even better deal, leading me to spend 1,800 yen on this 2,000-yen fukubukuro from Doutor, a national coffee shop chain. 25 drip coffee packets for 1,800 yen? Don't mind if I do.


To further explain two things I could have said better in the video:


This is what I meant about the emblem on the bag referencing New Year's Mochi, with the little (in this case fake) orange on top.
  
This is what was in the box. This times 25.

I'm calling it a win.