Mint Museum of Toys

#FunFriday

I have been wanting to bring the girls to the Mint Museum of Toys for the longest time. It is located near the Raffles Hotel and the Bras Brasah Complex. My only gripe is that parking in that area is really tricky as there are never enough lots.

I used to think that the next best place to park would be the very expensive Raffles Hotel. (I cannot park there because CFO would be nagging at me non-stop if he ever found out!)

This trip, we decided to park at the basement carpark at the Bras Basah Complex, as we wanted to check out the huge Popular branch there after the trip to the Toy Museum. It was the week leading to Mother’s Day, so the cafe at the Museum was having a promotion for Mother’s Day.

Outside the small museum entrance was a cut-out standee in the form of Batman, Betty Boop and a Teddy Bear. It was just nice for my three girls to take a photo together without them fighting (much).

As we made our way towards the ticketing counter, my eyes were drawn to the many knick-knacks hanging on the wall – collar-pins about the Singaporean way of life, Slam Dunk toys, etc. Some toys that were so familiar to me, yet so unfamiliar to my children. Toys that put the sparkles in my eyes, as I gazed longingly into display cases when I was a child myself. Toys that were cheap and some even came free with the snacks and tidbits that we sank our teeth into, when I was a little girl.

I had bought over tickets from a friend and I was happy to share with my girls what I used to play with as a child.

As we entered the lift, the wall reads, ‘He who has the most toys when he dies wins’. Initially I had no idea what it meant, until I saw my friend using the quote on FB describing the number of tools she was using as a paramedic in Canada. It became my ‘A-ha!’ moment.

The museum is dimly lit, so it took a bit of time for our eyes to adjust to the lighting around us. We decided to start from the top most floor and walk our way down, as we noticed that there were floor-to-ceiling glass display cases at the stairwell.

When I was a little girl, round about Princess Pink’s age, my youngest maternal uncle introduced us to the Star Wars Trilogy. Yar, the ones that started with young Luke Skywalk. My favourite characters were the Ewoks and R2-D2. It was amazing to see the Star Wars merchandise that were released in my era, now displayed in clear glass cabinets and still in their original packaging!

We went down a level but were disappointed to see the signage stating that the hall was closed. As we made our way down further, our eyes were drawn to a wall full of teddy bears.

At Level 3, the girls saw how Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse looked before they evolved to look the way they do now. I also saw the plush of The Three Golliwogs, which I vaguely remember reading when I was younger. I also saw the poster of the Disney’s “The Three Little Pigs”. I hummed the tune and I recalled hours watching the cartoon on VHS tape with my sister, while my late mum was busy tackling the chores at home.

Tucked in the corner of Level 3 hall was a very well-restored peddle car.I saw many of these tiny cars on TV programmes, and I sort of remember playing in one that belonged to a friend (or close relative). These were rather expensive and my family could never afford one.

At Level 2, the History buff in me got really excited to see all the newspapers about WWII and even coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. They even had a copy about the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

Unfortunately the trip kind of backfired on me. The girls were not really interested about the toys and games I used to play, so we went to Popular at Bras Brasah Complex and they were hounding me for new books to read instead. We even visited Tecman, a Christian bookshop where I used to work in my early teens. So instead of getting the girls new copies of the Geronimo / Thea Stilton series, I bought 2 devotionals that would encourage us to discover God’s Word together.

And the best way to end a very long day was to just have dinner and go home.