Lego® has been a top toy for both kids and adults forever. It’s well-known to encourage creativity, problem-solving and fine motor skills, teaching kids persistence and giving them the satisfaction of completing a project. And with an increasing range of sets designed specifically for adults such as the Lego Flowers range, it’s not just kids that are benefiting from its ability to focus, calm and relieve stress!
Of course, real Lego is not cheap. It’s a superior quality toy designed to last for generations and quality costs. But if you’re savvy, there’s plenty of places you can pick up Lego sets for free – whether for your kids, or for a few hours of blissful self care.
Tip 1: Enter Lego competitions and prize draws
The popularity of Lego means there are plenty of sets up for grabs across a range of websites, and some of the comps are completely free! We often run competitions for free Lego sets, with prizes ranging from small boxes to really decent-sized kits.
The Moneysaving Expert Standard Competitions forum is another top spot for free competitions and there’s a handy search box to track down Lego specifically. Here’s a few examples we found from a quick search:
- Win a £150 Lego giftcard when you sign up to The Goodybag Newsletter (ends 31st Dec)
- Win a Lego Star Wars advent Calendar when you register with Snizl (ends 25th November)
- Win a Lego Super Mario World: Mario & Yoshi Set (worth £114.99) or a £50 LEGO Gift Card to spend at The Minifigure Store (ends 13th October)
Loquax.co.uk is also a really good place to find free Lego set comps and currently has quite a few that aren’t on the MSE forum.
As you can see, there are some really excellent free Lego set prizes out there, and you don’t have to spend a penny to enter!
Tip 2: Join Lego’s loyalty scheme
If you’re a regular Lego buyer, make sure you join the Lego insider club. You’ll get points on every purchase which can be used to discount future sets – AND, you can also earn points for taking part in surveys or quizzes and by visiting Lego’s Facebook page. It’s also worth signing up to their newsletter as you’ll get notifications about double points offers. Of course, getting free sets this way does require a purchase, but it’s worth being part of the scheme if you’re already a regular buyer.
Tip 3: Maximise your BOOTS points
This is one of my favourite cheeky ways to get free Lego! First, make sure you have a Boots advantage card which awards 4 points for each pound spent (if you’ve got a child under 5, make sure you’re also a member of their parenting club, as you’ll get a higher rate of points – 8 per pound – on some products).
Next, see how much of your regular shop you can do in Boots, without costing yourself any more money. Boots do have some pretty incredible deals (especially multibuys) and they are often very competitive, compared to the big supermarkets.
Now this is where you can really boost the scheme. Before you visit the store or shop online, sign into the app/website and check your account for Advantage Card Offers. These are often set exclusively to you. Sometimes they’re product specific, but often they’re something like, ‘Get 500 points when you spend …’ (which is fine, if you’re going to spend that anyway). 500 points = £5.
Boots is incredibly generous with points and they really stack up quick. You can use them for just about anything that the retailer sells, including a very decent collection of Lego sets – currently about 155 online. Look out for any online discount codes too – they usually DO work to reduce the points you need to buy the sets. For example, their current BABY10 code reduced the points I needed for a couple of sets by 10%.
Tip 4: Boost your Nectar points
Did you know you can use Nectar points to pay for Argos purchases, which has more than 600 sets listed right now? Many people assume Nectar is just a Sainsbury’s reward, but that’s not the case.
Some places you can earn Nectar points directly – including Argos, British Airways, Eurostar, Caffè Nero, Esso, Expedia, Habitat, ICI Dulux Decorator Centres, Nectar Hotels, Sainsbury’s, Sainsbury’s Bank, Sainsbury’s Energy, Sky & Sky Store, The Mail, Viking-Direct, VUE Cinemas and Woodland Trust.
Others, including eBay, you have to click through to from the Nectar website. Nectar now has more than 500 partners, so it’s worth checking the website before you buy anything online.
There are a host of ideas for boosting your Nectar points here.
Tip 5: Watch out for Lego gift with purchase promotions
These promotions are a simple way to score free Lego sets when you make a qualifying purchase – and if you were going to buy something anyway, you might as well land the freebie. These limited-time offers typically include exclusive or special edition sets that you can’t buy separately, making them highly sought after by collectors and fans.
In the UK, LEGO frequently runs these GWP promotions through their official stores and online site. Some GWP sets are only available for a few days or until stock runs out, so keeping a close eye on the site and newsletters is key.
Tip 6: If there’s a survey, take it…
On the back of Lego’s building instructions, you’ll find a survey which asks a few questions about your set. When you take the survey, you’ll be entered into a draw to win another set. You’ll be asked a few basic questions about your experience, so it’s a very quick and easy task. Winners are picked each month and notified privately via email.
NB. surveys might move from paper instructions to online in the future – there was one in the Insiders Rewards Center in September which was asking about the possibility of Lego sets switching to digital-only instructions.
Tip 7: Join a Lego building contest
There are a range of Lego contests you can enter in the UK – some of which are run by Lego themselves. Earlier this year for example, they ran the ‘Mini Master Builder’ competition with the prize including a £500 voucher to spend in the Legoland Discovery Centre Store (that’d buy a few sets!), a Gold Merlin Annual Pass for the whole family and the winner’s final build displayed in Miniland until the end of the year.
Also, check out the website Tips and Bricks (tipsandbricks.co.uk). Not only is it crammed with inspiration for builds, but they also have a building competitions section with prizes for the winners.
Tip 8: Check the paid Lego competition sites
Prize-Draw.com is not alone in giving away free Lego sets! I’ve just visited a few of the pay-to-enter Lego competition websites and most of them are running competitions for free sets, alongside the paid draws (right now we’re on the run up to Christmas so there’s plenty of Lego advent calendar giveaways!). The benefit to the website of offering something free is that they get to market their paid prize draws to you forever, but that’s not so bad if you pick up a tasty Lego set for zilch (and maybe you won’t mind the odd cheeky flutter anyway)! So do bookmark and browse those paid sites, even if you have no plan to buy any tickets.
Of course, all Lego competition websites must offer a free route to entry so there’s always a way to grab a ticket for the price of a second-class stamp, although you’ll notice that tickets for most of our Lego draws are actually cheaper than that anyway!
Tip 9: Check out places to trade
So these aren’t free exactly – you’ll need a Lego set to offer up – but several stores like Brick Traders (bricktraders.co.uk) will take quality sets from you for cash which of course, you can use to buy more sets. If you’ve scored a super cheap set that you weren’t too bothered about (see below), this could be a good way to level up and get something better that you actually want.
Also, search for ‘trade Lego’ on Facebook and you’ll see multiple groups that allow trades. Just read the rules carefully before you post something up to swap.
Bonus: Not free but cheap…
These bonus tips are not free and often the boxes aren’t perfect but if you want to seriously boost your brick collection, these are the cheapest ways to do it.
I just had a quick search on Facebook Marketplace near me, and I found about 20 or so quality sets for a fiver each, including Lego set 60078 (utility shuttle) worth about £36, Lego set 41315 (Heartlake Surf Shop) worth about £18, Lego set 41316 (Andrea’s speedboat) worth about £35 and plenty more.
Also, hello eBay! Use the Advanced Search to look for Lego auctions that have sold and just look how cheap some of the sets go for! Just today I can see set #75160 went for £1.75, set 76140 went for £1.04 and set 10777 went for £1.99 – these are ridiculous prices!
The real auctions – John Pye for example – do sometimes have Lego sets but they often specify ‘delivery only’. Delivery is around £10 for the 1st item and £1 for each additional item so it only really works out if you’ve found a few sets or a large set for cheap.
Finally, I have picked up Lego in charity shops and at car boot sales before, so keep your eyes open. Just take care that what you’re buying is the real deal as loosely fitting fake bricks are disappointing and a waste of money.
