
Welcome to Shari’s Top 5! This is a feature I have created to showcase my personal top 5 of various books, shows, toys, music, films, food, etc, whatever I fancy focusing on for each post really!
For today’s Shari’s Top 5 I have chosen blind bags / boxes / capsules! I just love opening these and never knowing what surprise you will get inside!
5. Squishville
These would be higher up on my list as they are adorable, but I have terrible luck with them! I usually end up getting the same ones over and over or ones that I am not that keen on! However, I was pleased to get Nebula who is pictured!
4. Mini Brands
These minis are so cute! You can get all kinds of mini grocery items as well as displays, a safe and fake money to name a few extras! They can be kind of pricey in stores but at the moment Tesco has them on clubcard deal for £3.75 so I have been stocking up!
3. Recyclings
Recylings are fun pencil toppers that are made of recycled plastic which is a really neat idea! I have really good luck opening these too! I rarely get duplicates and each character comes in two different faces for you to collect!
2. Disney Doorables
I just love these little mini figures from Disney. You can get a variety of Disney characters per series and the blind bags vary in the number of figures you can receive. In the smaller blind bags you can get 2-3 figures. You can weigh the packs in your hand to work out which ones hold 3 but I am so bad at doing it so I usually just grab some at random and hope for the best!
1. Polly Pocket Secret Sands
My current favourite blind boxes to open are the Polly Pocket Secret Sands. I had so many the original Polly Pockets as a child and these just bring back childhood nostalgia and they are so cute too! The sand base for each scene is like kinetic sand so you can place the figures in it without them falling over. I have open two so far and will definitely be buying more in the future!
5. Dressing up – I don’t do this much now I’m older but I used to love dressing up as my favourite spooky characters (or go traditional and be a witch or a cat!).
5. Rings – A young woman becomes worried about her boyfriend when he explores a dark subculture surrounding a mysterious videotape said to kill the watcher seven days after he has viewed it.
4. Sarah by Teri Polen – Seventeen-year-old horror fan Cain Shannon thought helping a ghost find her killers would be the supernatural adventure of a lifetime. Now, he just hopes to survive long enough to protect his family and friends from her.
5. Swizzels Double Lollies – I have loved these lollies from an early age. Every time I have one, they bring back so many childhood memories.
5. Black Cats – I’m not particularly superstitious when it comes to Black Cats as I have one, but it can be pretty spooky to run into one at night or in a graveyard. I love all cats, but black (and white) ones have a special place in my heart. Sadly, these are often the ones left in shelters for a long time due to the superstition around them 😦 so next time you are thinking of getting a cat do please consider a black one as they are beautiful and make very loving companions!
4. Chips (fries) – Another go-to for a quick snack. I like any sort really, but my favourite are the skinny fries and topped with cheese and garlic mayo!
5. Number 5 is actually a tie between squishvilles Misty the mouse and Gary the giraffe! I chose Gary as not only is he adorable, he is the first squishville I ever got! If you have read a recent Shari’s life post you will know the epic tale (tail!) of how I got Misty. Basically I was using the torch on my phone to peer through a tiny hole in the capsule to see if I could see anything that could identify her! I was told that method would not work, but it did and I got her on my first try!
4. Ronnie the flip-a-mallow. I must admit, when I first saw the flips, I was not that keen but Ronnie is adorable! He flips into Rosie the pig but I mostly keep him as Ronnie. Ronnie is one of my ISO’s (in search of’s) but you currently cannot buy him in the UK. He is coming to Smyths between 15th-22nd August so I am hoping to get him then but considering the craziness there has been to get fuzz-a-mallow Connor this month, I am not holding out much hope. This Ronnie is super cute though and I will be happy if he is the only Ronnie I end up having in my collection.
3. Cherie the sabre-toothed cat. I have loved sabres ever since I was a child (they also make me think of my favourite Power Ranger, Trini Kwan!) and I was so happy to get her! She’s 12 inch and currently sits on my bed with Gracia the Meerkat as my cubes I bought to store everyone are now full!
1. Maurice the Moose. Maurice is my favourite squishmallow ever! He was my first DISO (desperately in search of) that I got. I got him for a really great price on one of the facebook groups as he is currently not available in the UK. He often sits with me in the evenings when I am watching TV although Tash sometimes get annoyed if he is in ‘her spot’ and bats him out of the way!
5. Space – Our Final Frontier by John Gribbin
This is a very old edition that my parents used to read to me as a kid and my Mum gave it to me. I’ve read it so much that it is falling apart now, but I would never change it up for a newer edition as it has sentimental value. I remember this was one of the stories that first inspired me to become an author. And yes you guessed it, many of my childhood self’s stories involved bunnies!
I first read this book when I was 14 and there was something about Shari’s story that really drew me and stayed with me even when I had outgrown the teen-horror genre. I don’t know how many times I have read this book over the years and I think I probably know it off by heart! When I changed my name at 18 I decided upon Shari Ann as she is probably a character I relate to most out of all the novels I have ever read. Ann is also my Mum’s middle name and I wanted to keep the family connection through this too.
As you all know, I love dinosaurs and Jurassic Park is my all time favourite film! I was 8 or 9 I think when it first came out and I can recall watching the film and never being so scared in all my life (and I loved that!). When the film was released, Mum borrowed the book from our local library and when she had finished I asked to read it. I have always been a very fast reader, even as a child, and was already reading books that were aimed at children older than I was. I said I could read it in an afternoon and understand it. And I did! I’ve always been more life-smart than academic-smart so this remains one of my best moments academically!
1. The Silver Brumby by Elyne Mitchell