How to bag a LEGO bargain this Christmas

Looking to score some LEGO bargains this Christmas, but don’t know where to begin? Here’s a foolproof guide to grabbing some great holiday deals.

Has a loved one asked you very nicely for some LEGO under the tree this year? If so, you’ve come to the right place. At Brick Fanatics, we’re all about finding our readers the best LEGO deals, helping your budget go as far as possible in an increasingly perilous economic climate.

That’s just as important in the run-up to Christmas, particularly given we’re in prime LEGO bargain season: between LEGO VIP Weekend, Black Friday and Cyber Monday, now’s the time to start stocking up on stocking stuffers (and beyond). If you don’t know where to begin looking, though, here’s a crash course to finding the best LEGO deals around…

Do your research

If you want to make your money go furthest when buying a LEGO gift for a family member, friend or loved one, you’ll need to do just a little bit of research. Once you know exactly which sets and themes they’re interested in, and have whittled down to a shortlist of LEGO sets you’re confident they’ll like – or even if you already have a particular set in mind, or they’ve asked for something specific – take a look at the set’s regular retail price at LEGO.com.

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This will give you a solid starting point for knowing whether you’ve found a good deal later on, or only a minor discount. Generally speaking, a discount of 20% is pretty good, while 33% is basically instant-buy territory. Anything more than that, and you’re laughing – but the exact level of discount across particular sets does vary, so not every model will enjoy a third off. Discounts on sets sold exclusively through LEGO.com are pretty rare, for instance.

Figure out what your recipient wants

Would the person you’re shopping for prefer more LEGO, or exclusive LEGO? If you’re willing to pay slightly higher prices, and therefore not get quite as much brick for your buck, you’ll be able to take advantage of the LEGO Group’s gifts-with-purchase across LEGO VIP Weekend and Black Friday. These usually come in the form of exclusive buildable sets, added free to all orders above a qualifying spend threshold.

If they’re more interested in quantity over rarity, however, you’re better off looking at third-party retailers to find the best discounts on widely-available sets. Chances are, you’ll be able to get two or three sets from other retailers for the price of one from LEGO.com.

Shop around for deals

If you take one thing away from this list, it should be that you absolutely need to shop around to find the best deals. And that means knowing where to shop: secondary marketplaces like eBay and Facebook Marketplace can be fruitful, but they’re also full of chancers hoping to score big on shoppers who don’t know any better. Don’t let that be you.

For the best deals, check out third-party retailers like Zavvi, John Lewis, Smyths, Argos, The Entertainer, shopDisney and even Amazon. (Just watch out for sets sold by third parties through Amazon: these are typically highly inflated in price, too.) Generally speaking, you’re going to get the best value for money buying from the currently-available portfolio, rather than chasing down retired sets. Our page dedicated to the best LEGO deals is the place to be for all the latest and greatest LEGO sales and offers.

When you see a bargain, grab it

LEGO deals never last long, so if you see a price you’re happy with, snap it up while you can. If you miss out, don’t worry too much: most sets are discounted more than once, and typically come in and out of stock. We can at least take the effort out of finding and tracking those deals, anyway, with our dedicated LEGO Black Friday page and our LEGO Sales & Deals page.

Across those pages, you’ll find the very best LEGO Black Friday deals for 2022, along with the deepest LEGO discounts even beyond this shopping period. Bookmark them both and check back regularly for the latest updates.

You’ll probably never time it just right

Those of us who have been bagging LEGO bargains for longer than we care to admit know that there’s no skill in timing the discount market: half the time, it’s basically sheer luck. We’ve all snapped up a set at a great price, only to find it even more deeply discounted a week or two later. It’s the inevitable consequence of playing the LEGO deals game, and it stings – but it doesn’t have to.

The best advice we can offer is to do your research – as outlined above – and settle on a price you’re happy to pay for any particular set. When it reaches that threshold and you hit ‘buy’, you can do so safe in the knowledge that you’re not overspending. If the same set gets discounted further a day, week or month later, it won’t matter: you already snagged a bargain.

Stay up to date on all the best LEGO deals using our dedicated page, and consider supporting the work that Brick Fanatics does – including bringing you all these bargains – by purchasing your LEGO gifts using our affiliate links. Thank you!  

Author Profile

Chris Wharfe
I like to think of myself as a journalist first, LEGO fan second, but we all know that’s not really the case. Journalism does run through my veins, though, like some kind of weird literary blood – the sort that will no doubt one day lead to a stress-induced heart malfunction. It’s like smoking, only worse. Thankfully, I get to write about LEGO until then.

Chris Wharfe

I like to think of myself as a journalist first, LEGO fan second, but we all know that’s not really the case. Journalism does run through my veins, though, like some kind of weird literary blood – the sort that will no doubt one day lead to a stress-induced heart malfunction. It’s like smoking, only worse. Thankfully, I get to write about LEGO until then.

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