I am a father of 12 and bought my children a £115 toy mystery box for the summer holidays
A father of 12 has revealed he had a “10 out of 10” mystery box delivered for his children, which kept them entertained all day.
Ben Sullivan, 49, his wife Zoe, 45, and their 12 children make up one of the largest families in the country.
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The couple have Elisabeth (19), Olivia (17), Noah (14), Evangeline (12), Tobias (11), Agnes (7), Joseph (5), Florence (2) and two sets of twins: Charlotte and Isabelle (16) and Leah and Erin (8).
The large group live in a six-bedroom house in Burghead, Moray, where they regularly document their hectic lives. their YouTube channel.
And they’ve been enjoying extra family time since summer vacation started last week.
Zoe admits that they spent the first week ‘relaxing’ because of the bad weather.
She added: “I always find that at the start of the festive season it takes at least a week for everyone to wind down and recover from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. I think we’ve reached that point now, thankfully!”
And because there are so many children to entertain themselves in the summer, they have to think outside the box.
Dad Ben said this week they had received a surprise box worth £116 ($150) filled with toys to keep the whole family entertained.
He said: “We received two boxes full of toys in the mail from a company called Yagee.
“They make things like home furnishings, they make toys, especially remote controlled toys and things like that.
“We looked it up online and they sent us these two boxes.
“They are mystery boxes, so we don’t know what’s inside. They are all toys.
“All I know is that it’s all toys. It works well with the whole summer vacation thing.”
The box was packed with 11 remote controlled toys, all with rechargeable batteries.
It was so full that son Toby admitted: “Everything is a bit squashed because there’s so much in this box.”
The family received a remote-controlled shark, a mini drone, three remote-controlled UFO flying saucers, three remote-controlled waterproof speedboats and three remote-controlled fighter jets as gifts.
Ben looked at the children playing with it in the yard and said, “They’re clearly a bit crazy.
“[The toys] worked, they were very nice.
“When you look at the price of these things, how fun was that? That was a lot of fun.”
And they also received the seal of approval from the children: they called the mystery box “super fun” and gave it a “10 out of 10”.
The online toy store’s bosses say: “Give us the recipient’s gender, age and specific preferences and we’ll put together a box that perfectly matches their preferences.
“Each box contains a minimum of 6 surprise toys and is a carefully curated collection that, based on the information you provide, will surprise, delight and entertain.”
And social media users are loving seeing how the Sullivan kids enjoy their surprises.
One of them said enthusiastically, “This is what it’s like to have fun with your kids.”
A second wrote: “For the price they work really well, it gave the kids a great time. Great to see their enthusiasm!”
A third added: “All kids love opening a package, but when it’s full of toys it’s even more exciting.”
Meanwhile, a fourth said: “What a great toy, think the kids will love it and have lots of fun with it this festive season.”
Where can you find mystery boxes?
MYSTERY boxes are becoming increasingly popular, people like to take a chance by buying one. But where can you get one?
Charity shops
Many charity shops have started putting together mystery boxes to get rid of stock they otherwise couldn’t sell. Although you can never guarantee what you’ll get, these boxes are usually cheaper than those bought elsewhere.
eBay
Many retailers use eBay to sell their inventory, with options on the auction site including unclaimed luggage or parcel returns, all bundled together in a mystery box. It’s not like a normal ‘auction’ though – there will usually be a buy-it-now price, so it’s just like any other internet transaction.
Online retailers
As mystery boxes have become more popular, other retailers have started selling them in the hopes that they will be a hit with customers. Check out sites like Amazon, Etsy, and Wowcher, and you’ll often see mystery boxes listed by genre as well.
If you are looking for a specific niche mystery box, it is always worth searching. There are so many websites selling mystery boxes, you will undoubtedly find what you are looking for.
As with all other online purchases, make sure you buy from a reputable seller and on a secure website.
We previously shared that Sullivan matriarch Zoe only sleeps four hours a night, but we still wouldn’t say never to baby No. 13.
The super mom gets up at 4:45 a.m. every morning, after not going to bed until around midnight the night before.
She said: “I like to do a few chores before the kids go to school so I can do two loads of laundry and things like that. It lets me get more done.
“I don’t go to bed until around midnight, so I average four or five hours of sleep a night – on a good night.”
But she would still “never say no” to another child, adding: “I think the more children we had, the more we realised how much we love having a big family.
“And honestly, the more you have, the easier it gets, in a weird way.”
