This year was my best MCM sale yet. I have only one regret. More on that later.
This year's sale started with Nethilia from
American Girl Outsider.
She had tickets with an early start time, and she was generous enough to share one with me.
It was so great. We arrived, we looked at the silent auction tent, and then it was time to go in the warehouse to get our dolls.
CYOS
I went straight to the CYO table when I got in.
It was a tiny little table in the far corner. When I got there, there was not a line. There was one later!
For the CYOs, they posted an online album of the dolls, and you had to write down the numbers of the ones you wanted, because there is no Internet inside the warehouse.
There were about four CYOs on display, and the rest were in boxes. You had to ask for their code from the online album.
They had my first choice CYO still available!
I then asked to look at a few of my runners up. The ones I asked for were still available. I carried one around with me for a while, but eventually decided it was a pretty doll but too far from my ideal, and I might not bond with it.
I bet this process went really badly later in the day, but for me it went great.
I am sure this is due to my early ticket time, and I am so grateful to Neth for sharing with me.
There were some real bargains at the sale this year, and I bought, I think, eight dolls for other people.
I had two of the giant purple bags.
Selection
I was really impressed with the selection this year. Some of the stand outs, in my opinion, were Logan, the Costco Molly sets, and the $5 three books with a mini doll sets.
The newest Truly Me that they had was #80.
They did not have any Truly Me boy dolls.
Pick Up Service
I had snagged a good parking space, I am really strong, and I thought I could manage with all the items I bought.
Reader, I could not.
I quickly realized that I could barely carry the bags from the warehouse to the street, let alone to my car.
And the purple bags rip easily. I was terrified they would break open and I would lose my goodies.
A very, very sweet teenage volunteer found me and offered to help. She was with the pick up service, which I had not used before.
You put your dolls in a grocery cart, you get a receipt and leave the dolls with a volunteer. You then get your car, drive it up close, and they bring your dolls to you and help you load the cart.
I was so grateful for this service. It was a life saver.
The volunteer I had was so sweet, and she had to explain it to me three times because I couldn't hear her.
I thanked her profusely.
I told her that her parents should be proud of her, and she laughed.
Volunteers
That brings me to another topic. I always make a point of thanking the youngest volunteers, who lead you to the check out.
To me, they provide a really important service, because if they told me orally to go to whichever checkout number, I would not be able to hear and I would hold up the whole line.
This year, I made a big point of thanking every volunteer I came into contact with for volunteering, and their faces lit up.
Do this. It was a very hot day, there was even an excessive heat warning. These volunteers are amazing. I am so grateful for them.
Donating Unused Tickets
Since Neth shared her ticket with me, my original ticket was left over. I had managed to get everything I wanted in one trip, so I handed in my unused ticket at the Information stand for them to re-sell.
T-Shirts
Oh! And they had T-shirts this year, for humans and for dolls! I got a doll sized one.
You picked them up at the Information stand.
Thunderstorm
Apparently, there was a huge thunderstorm after I left, which cooled things down.
I am glad I missed the storm, but I might have stayed longer in my car or in a store if I had known it would cool down.
Then again, I needed aspirin, a shower and a nap before I felt human again.
I did see the storm, it rolled through my town after already hitting Middleton.
Regrets
Reader, I have one regret.
I had a nice visit with Nethilia and her mom. We had a good chance to chat, and it was really nice.
I also got to meet Elsa from
American Girl Collectors. She is so sweet and I really enjoyed meeting her.
I also really, really wanted to meet up with Georgie from
Northbound Dolls. I met her last year and was really looking forward to seeing her again. She is a fun person to know.
Sadly, it was just too hot and I could't take the heat any longer. Also, I had gotten up way earlier than I usually do.
I had to leave without meeting Georgie, because I knew I would get sick if I stayed any longer and be of no use to anyone.
I did get a headache when I was already in the car on the way home.
So I did what I had to do, but I hope that I get to see her next year.
You can read her account of the MCM sale
here. Amazingly, one of the pictures I took in the Silent Auction tent showed her CYO! Isn't that fun?
Phone Issues
Another problem was the reception for cell phones was so bad that texts were delayed, and it was so sunny that I could barely see my phone screen to read or send messages, even if I was in the shade.
Because of this, I was sending terrible texts to people with messages like "Amwearing prurpleshirt. Whitehat."
I know there must be a way to make the screen brighter, but it's a new phone and I haven't figured it out yet.
Previous Years
Here are my descriptions of previous experiences at MCM: 2016, 2017, and 2018.
Photos
Inside the Warehouse
I only got this one picture inside the warehouse. It was super hot and I had a lot of decisions to make.
Silent Auction Tent
The Silent Auction Tent was cool because they had CYOs out there that you could buy for the same price as inside the warehouse.
If you saw one out there that you liked, it could possible save you a lot of hassle inside the warehouse.
Outside Vendors
It's fun to look at the outside vendors.
I am not sure it's a really good event for them, though. Everyone is there to spend money, but they probably have a long list of things they have already planned to buy inside the warehouse.
I had a really good MCM experience, and I hope that everyone else who went did too.
I am sorry if I didn't see you!
