Build-A-Bear will have its Pay-Your-Age promotion again this year, but will award 200,000 tickets for entry in hopes of avoiding the long lines and disappointed families that went home without a bear last year.
You must enter by midnight Sunday for a chance to get one of the tickets, which entitles each winner to bring two kids for the bargain bears. Winner will be announced on June 21 and will get a time to go to a store the week of June 24 to 28.
Last year's Pay-Your-Age event was so popular that many stores had long lines and either ran out of bears or shut down the lines to control the crowds.
With 200,000 winners, the stores may still get crowded, but Build-A-Bear says it expects to have sufficient inventory, although some styles of bear might sell out.
You must be a Bonus Club member to enter, but it's free. Winning tickets are transferrable to other Bonus Club members.
Build-A-Bear will also give away 10 birthday parties, valued at $250 each, that can be scheduled anytime in the next 12 months.
All-in-all, this sounds like things will go more smoothly this year, although you will have to pay a dollar more per kid since they are another year older. But that is, literally, a small price to pay to not stand in line for hours and go away no-bear handed.
