Raiding the Books for Less Warehouse Sale

I usually don’t get the chance to go out of my way to check out warehouse sales, but the everything-for-ten-pesos Books for Less Warehouse Sale was simply too irresistible to miss. After all, my main target was to get books for the twins and as I saw from blog and instagram posts from Nanay’s Trip and The Binondo Mommy, there are plenty of children’s books available.

So Don and I checked it out Saturday morning. On the way over we decided we’d be willing to get as much as 50 books, but at the end of the excursion I can’t say that I’m not happy with the 23 books we got to take home. Aren’t they beautiful? 🙂

the day’s book harvest. thank you Books for Less!

Going in, my mental list of criteria were:

• Preferably board books so my 20 month-old twins won’t end up destroying them within 2 minutes
• To suit the twins’ age and attention span, books that provide short, snappy lines per page and teach useful concepts or vocabulary.
• And of course, books that are in good condition even if they’re already used

I would say around half of our purchases fit these criteria, but I also ended up with some that didn’t make the criteria at all but ended up in my book bag anyway.

These two activity books have some stickers missing, but there are still plenty remaining and for P10 and given the twins’ fondness for stickers, I’m not going to be that picky.

activity books. lots of stickers and Bible characters on one, and instructions for kids on setting up their own party in the other!

This elephant book from Jane Goodall’s Animal Series got my attention because 1) the twins already recognize elephants from drawings and plushies I thought it would be nice to show them a book with real elephant pictures, and 2) there are twin baby elephants featured!

Elephant Family, by Jane Goodall

This book is really too flimsy for the twins to handle at this time, and the story is too long for them as well, but the idea of winged cats caught my fancy.

Catwings, by Ursula K. Le Guin

I didn’t even know there are Sesame Street babies! So cute! (Yeah, sorry; before I had kids the kid world was basically another planet to me, but I live in it now and I’m still getting my bearings.)

sesame street babies

This book is also not a board book, but it’s just so gorgeous so of course I had to get it.

The Golden Egg

The sparkly eggs had a lot to do with it, as I imagined the twins’ reaction.

It sparkles!

So all in all, not too bad, not too bad in all. When I got home, I wiped the books with a wash cloth dampened with water and alcohol, took photos, admired them, and classified them according to the sequence when the twins will probably be ready for them. And I idly wondered if another trip to the warehouse is feasible before the month-long sale ends.

Some tips:

• Bring your own bag to hold your purchases. Otherwise, the staff will tie your books up with straw (if they’re not too many) or box them. If you’re not buying a mini-warehouse of books, just bring an eco bag.
• Empty your bladder before you go, wear comfortable clothes and shoes, and perhaps bring a fan. It can get hot and cramped in the warehouse with all the other people browsing, and you want to be prepared to dig in for books for a long time to get worthy finds.
• Your hands will get dirty. Bring hand wash or bottled water to wash your hands with (there’s probably a rest room in the premises, of course, but we didn’t ask).
• Be considerate of other shoppers. Give way if needed and don’t unnecessarily get in the way. Also, under no circumstances should you grab a book that’s already in another shopper’s pile of selections.
• Manage your expectations. Quite a number of books are not in good condition, but with some patience you will also manage to find better ones.
• If you find a book that seems in particularly good condition, there’s a chance that it’s actually sold at regular price and was just accidentally put in the P10 pile. Darn.
• Don’t panic, like I did, if a warehouse staff arrives and empties a fresh box of books onto the table you’ve just finished going through. They apparently do this more or less throughout the day, so resist the temptation to rush to the new pile of books and start digging frantically. You can’t browse through the whole warehouse unless you’re prepared to risk heat stroke or exhaustion so might as well move on and let go or else you’ll never finish. In this case, I guess finding good books is as much luck as persistence. And of course, repeat trips. I wonder…

Lastly, don’t forget to have fun!

The Books for Less Warehouse Sale is until Aug. 31. Click here for the map to the warehouse or go to the Books for Less Facebook page for more info.