NOTE: This article was updated after publication once the LEGO® Group confirmed the Insiders weekend 2024 gifts-with-purchase (GWPs).

The LEGO® Group announced that Insiders weekend 2024 is just a few days away. As per usual, it is the weekend that precedes Black Friday. In other words, this coming weekend (November 23-24, 2024). They have confirmed that all purchases qualify for double Insiders points and that there will be some GWPs. However, there is no official word on what those GWPs are yet… some pretty solid rumours are easy to find online. But I’ll wait until I hear something official before I report on them. As of yet, none of the GWPs I’ve seen in leaks have been confirmed for Canada.

In terms of what to expect concerning freebies, there will be three. As usual, they come at varying price points and with some conditions. The first is a Retro Record Player. It has a $40 CAD value, but you have to spend over $325 CAD to get one. Secondly, you can get the Winter Holiday Train that has a $25 CAD value with purchases over $220 CAD. Finally, a Holiday Crafting Set comes free with City, Friends, Duplo, Dreamzzz, and Ninjago purchases over $85 CAD. Of course, you have to be an Insiders member to get double points or any of these GWPs.

With that being said, I have been eagerly waiting for this double points event. I’ve held off on buying the Legend of Zelda Great Deku Tree until now. I did so on purpose so I could get double points on Insiders weekend. However, I visited the LEGO® Store at Yorkdale Mall in Toronto on my way home from Bricks in the Six this past weekend. Knowing full well that Insiders Weekend 2024 was probably coming, I bought the Great Deku Tree anyway. And I am happy I did.

I decided not to wait for Insiders weekend 2024 to make my big purchase.

I have not been a fan of the Yorkdale store since their renovation. My main interest in visiting the LEGO® Store is the Pick-and-Build (PAB) wall. Yorkdale seriously downgraded their PAB wall during the renovation. I’ve found visiting that wall very disappointing the last few times I’ve driven by. However, this time around, the store earned a few brownie points back. Tucked in the back corner of the store was a damaged box table. On the table was the Great Deku Tree.

In what some collectors consider a sacrilegious move, I recycle all my LEGO® boxes. Consequently, I don’t care at all about dents or creases in the packaging if the box is still factory sealed. The Yorkdale store was offering 5000 Insiders points along with the purchase of the damaged Deku Tree box. That is 5000 points on top of the usual points you already get for the set.

I recycle my LEGO® boxes, so I will gladly take extra Insiders points over a pristine box.

I also bought the Christmas collection of Build-A-Mini (BAM) parts. Interestingly, the Yorkdale store did not include the latest BAM parts in the BAM tower. They came pre-packaged at the cash. While this saves me time and fighting through hoards of children at the BAM tower, it also forced me into buying a stupid set of stumpy, unmoving legs I would NEVER normally buy. All the same, I am thrilled with the Christmas gift minifig. His costume is the 2×3 brick costume with a removable, printed tile on top similar to the Adidas minifig.

I have collected all the previous colour variations of the brick costume, and this one is a new shade of green. Series 20 included a bright green brick costume. This one is the standard LEGO® green. As such, the new Christmas present character is the eighth colour variant of the brick costume overall.

I think this was a way better deal than double points and some GWPs that I’m not really interested in.

In the end, I earned almost 7300 points for buying a damaged box. I would only get 3900 points during a double points event like Insiders weekend. Sure, I might get GWPs… but I’d rather have more points because more points means more free bricks that I can select myself and that I actually want on my next Pick-A-Brick order.

I’m happy that I got more than 3x the points on the Great Deku Tree for buying a damaged box. It was a lucky happenstance that I strolled into Yorkdale on the day they had one. I almost didn’t stop. Would you have done the same or would you have waited for Insiders weekend 2024? Let me know in the comments or reach out on social media.

Until next time,

-Tom

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