Smurfen!

I have no idea if this is news at home, but 2008 is the year of the Smurfs' 50th birthday. They are from Belgium, so it's kind of a big deal around here. For example, at the start of the year, Brussels had a huge public celebration with a gigantic Smurfberry cake. The photo above was taken in the Comic Strip Museum in Brussels.

Albert Heijn (the Safeway of Holland) has a Smurf promotion. For every €15 you spend in the store, you get a little plastic toy Smurf. They come in sealed yellow plastic, so you can't pick and choose, you just get what you get. I wasn't really paying too much attention to it until Ross brought this home the other day:


And now I'm obsessed. This marketing scheme is shamelessly working on me. We've since added this guy to the collection:


And here they are together:


Here's all of the 15 collectibles:


And the one I most want is (obviously) Smurfette, or as she's known around here, Smurfin. I'd also like a Papa Smurf (Grote Smurf), and a Brainy Smurf (Brilsmurf). I'll keep you posted as the collection grows, cause I know you're all as excited about this as I am.