If you head over to Home Bargains you'll be able to bag yourself a Thomas and Friends My First Trike for £24.99, rather than having to pay its full price of £34.99.

• Click HERE to take a look at the Thomas and Friends My First Trike*

Youngsters riding their trikes, for the first little while at least, can be a heart-stopping and scary experience. I remember when the Teenagers first took to the triking road - we didn't have these My First Trikes way back then and they seemed to lack the ability to pedal and look where they were going at the same time!

They were either stationary and looking up, or pedaling away like loons and careering towards unsuspecting pedestrians, trees, brick walls, in fact anything that happened to be in their less-than-straight oncoming path - it was terrifying.

And let's not even talk too much about how they turn round to look at you when you yell 'STOP!!!' whilst they're still going forward!

So HURRAH for trikes like this Thomas and Friends My First Trike - the kids get to have fun, trike, look at their feet as they pedal and us parents get to control the stop-start and steering element. This little trike is suitable for kids from two years onwards, it has a storage bucket on the back to put things in and the parent handle height is adjustable, marvellous.

You can arrange to pop into your local Home Bargains and collect your Thomas and Friends My First Trike, or you can lob them an extra few quid and they'll very kindly bring it to you instead.

Happy my first triking!

The Works are selling this Thomas the Tank Engine original book collection of the 26 original books for £39.99, rather than the list price of £150.

• Click HERE to take a look at the Thomas the Tank Engine book collection *

The 'official' name for these books is the Thomas the Tank Engine Centenary Library set - I'm not sure where the centenary bit comes into play because Thomas isn't 100 years old (yet) and there aren't 100 books in the collection...most confusing!

The Thomas stories were actually first published in 1946 (if there's anything Thomas you want to know, you can just call on me - I am the font of all Thomas knowledge!) and the books in this Thomas the Tank Engine are copies of those original versions.

I don't know anyone who doesn't love the little blue engine - he's cheeky, he's funny, the other characters are all so identifiable and everyone has their favourites and their 'baddies'. Whilst I loved Thomas, Percy was always my most favourite - he was just a little less 'perfect' than Thomas.

As your order is over £25, standard delivery is free so there's nothing extra to pay on top of your £39.99.

Thanks to Charli at HUKD

If you pop over to Toys R Us you'll be able to pick up either a Take Along Thomas or Take Along Percy die cast train models for half price - £2.99 instead of £5.99.

• Click HERE for Take Along Thomas *
• Click HERE for Take Along Percy *

My youngest son was such a big fan of Thomas - he has most of the books and a few DVDs, and even though he's 'far too grown up for Thomas now' he still likes to dip in and out of the books every now and again.

He didn't have many Thomas the Tank Engine engines though, the main reason being their price - anything Thomas is generally a bit expensive so we had to make a decision to buy Thomas books or Thomas engine models; we choose the books.

If you're dealing with the same choices, you'll also be keeping an eye out for Thomas the Tank Engine engine deal like we did - they don't come up very often though and when they do, the offer doesn't always apply to the engine you really want; we had to wait for ages for a decent deal on Percy so I'm rather excited to see him up for grabs here, even though I don't need a Percy any more!

Click and collect for free is available as an option; so is home delivery for £4.95 but, really, that's just daft for something that costs £2.99.

Thanks to chesterdraws at HUKD

There are two Thomas the Tank Engine bags available at Tesco Direct: A Thomas shaped Backpack selling for a bargainous £1.87 instead of £7.50 and a swimming bag selling for £1.25 instead of £5.00.

• Get wet with the Thomas Swimbag
• Go to town with the Thomas Backpack

These are fun themed bags, perfect for little ones who tend to lose things.

The Swimbag is a blue bag with a print of the lovable children’s character. The bag is made of PVC and has a 1.5L capacity – plenty for keeping a brush, comb, shampoo and some sun lotion for some fun time in the water.

The Swimbag has a strap with a snap free feature for extra safety around little hands and necks!

The Backpack is somewhat bigger with an 8L capacity and a fun and friendly design. It’s perfectly sized for aeroplane hand luggage or to keep full of travel activities while travelling.  The backpack is made of polyester and has snap free straps  too.

Click and collect is free, while standard delivery is available from £3.

Thanks to sophie211 at HUKD

Argos have reduced the price of this Thomas Junior Point and Learn down to £3.99 from £6.99.

• Click HERE to take a look at this Thomas Junior Point and Learn

I think Thomas the Tank Engine will live forever, don't you?  I really can't see him losing childhood appeal causing all of his books, toys and other hundred-weight of merchandise vanishing from our lives.

There are lots of Thomas the Tank Engine bits and pieces you can buy for youngsters, I think this Thomas Junior Point and Learn looks quite fun for little ones just getting to grips with life, the Universe and Thomas the Tank Engine.

The Thomas Junior Point and Learn tank engine has a wheel on the side divided into sections and decorated with a picture, with an arrow in the middle pointing upwards.  Your little one must turn the dial and press the button to hear the Thomas sound, character saying or melody associated with the pictures.

Thomas Junior Point and Learn will help teach cause and effect, along with fine motor skills, and is suitable for little ones aged 18 months or more.

The batteries you need are included and you can either have your Thomas Junior Point and Learn delivered to your home (for an OTT £5.95) or you can collect it in-store for free.

Thanks to wishihadadonkey at HUKD 

This Thomas the Tank Engine original books box set is up for grabs for £49.99 at Choicesuk.com - it's rrp is £150 and the average online price with the other usual suspects is around the £100 mark.

• Click HERE to take a look at these Thomas the Tank Engine books

WOW Thomas is looking young and sparky for an old 'guy' - first published in 1946 the books in this Thomas the Tank Engine are copies of those original versions.  A friend of mine had some of these original stories when we were little and they were quite small size wise, the books in this Thomas the Tank Engine original box set are larger so will be much easier to read; hurrah!

The 'official' name for these books is the Thomas the Tank Engine Centenary Library set - I'm not sure where the centenary bit comes into play because Thomas isn't 100 years old (yet) and there aren't 100 books in the collection...most confusing!

What's not confusing is why children (boys and girls) love the little blue engine so much - he's cheeky, he's funny, the other characters are all so identifiable and everyone has their favourites and their 'baddies'.

Delivery is free when you order from Choicesuk.com so £49.99 is all you're going to spend when you buy your Thomas the Tank Engine original books box set.

Thanks to Jas10 at HUKD

You may need to be quick if you want one of these Hornby R9271 Thomas and Friends electric train sets because it's RRP is £150 and Debenhams are letting them go for just £45.

• Click HERE to steam over to Debenhams

It's funny you know, I like playing with wooden train sets that require you to push the engines and carriages around the track but I have NO interest in, or desire to play with something like this Hornby R9271 Thomas and Friends electric train set.

You're going to need a fair bit of space to set it up  - around two square meters (I can hear dads rejoicing across the land already) - and it comes with a whole host of bits and pieces along with carriages including Annie and Clarabel and, of course, a Thomas engine.

A track mat is included along with all the power supply things you need to make sure your Hornby R9271 Thomas and Friends electric train runs on time.

None of this is suitable for youngsters under three years old due to the choking hazard of small parts and you can either collect your Hornby R9271 Thomas and Friends electric train set for free from your local Debenhams or arrange to have it delivered - standard home delivery is free too.

Thanks to redhotdealfinder at HUKD

Tesco have reduced this Thomas and Friends 'Cranky at Brendam Docks' playset from £40 down to a rather wallet-friendly £10; awesome.

• Click HERE to puff over to Tesco

Ahhh, Thomas the Tank Engine - he's becoming an increasingly distant memory for me now as my youngest grows up, my 17 year relationship with the little blue engine is coming to an end as my eldest really isn't a fan anymore either.

I know that anything Thomas the Tank Engine is expensive, but if you keep an eye out for deals on this Thomas and Friends 'Cranky at Brendam Docks' playset  then you can save yourself lots of money and earn yourself lots of parental brownie points at the same time.

Your young Thomas fan will be able to help Thomas, Percy and Cranky the Crane load and unload loads of coal at Brendam Docks as long as they're over three years old - purely because of the small pieces included in the set I'm sure.

People who've already bought this Thomas and Friends 'Cranky at Brendam Docks' playset have plenty of good things to say about it...

"This was brought as a Christmas present and was the ONLY thing he played with all of Christmas Day. He loved it. Will buy more Mega Blocks to add to this."

"Excellent product with lots of different ways to build. My little boy loves to make up the cranky crane and uses it to lift the tucks and Thomas.Great imaginative play with easy to hold pieces. Has played with it every day and is able to create a new story every day. great interchangeable pieces too."

Thanks to goonertillidie at HUKD

This is your last chance to grab this Thomas the Tank Engine book collection before Christmas; the list price is an enormous £195 but you can get your own set for £35.

• Click HERE to get your Thomas the Tank Engine book collection

I've written about this Thomas the Tank Engine book collection more times than I can remember now, so forgive me if I start repeating myself.

Sixty five books come presented in their own special storage box and feature all the books written about Thomas and his gang of friends - my youngest son was a huge Thomas fan before he got 'too grown up' and moved on to things like the Roald Dahl stories, although he has recently gone back to a couple of his favourite Thomas stories and is having a go at reading them himself.

If you've never ordered from The Book People before then you'll be in for a treat, I've never had anything but fabulous service from them - I ordered a couple of Gruffalo calendars from them last week, only one arrived.  A quick phone call to customer services and another one was duly shipped out in the post and arrived within a couple of days - there was no fuss, no drama just an apology and everything sorted out.

Delivery for this Thomas the Tank Engine book collection is free; I've just spoken with The Book People and TODAY is the last day to make sure it's delivered in time for Christmas.

Thanks to peterma at HUKD

Home Bargains have a great offer on this Thomas and Friends first bike for little boys about to step into the brave new world of wheeled transport that isn't a push chair, pram or stroller. It was originally a whopping £69.99 (really?!) but is now a much more respectable £28.99.

• Click HERE to ride on over to Home Bargains

Christmas is fast approaching; a mere 46 days away, in fact and bikes have always been a popular main Christmas pressie to give and receive; a nightmare to wrap up the night before, but always goes down well with the kids.

If you have a little Thomas the Tank Engine fan then this Thomas and Friends bike could be just the thing to bring a huge smile to thier face on Christmas morning - I know I keep mentioning Christmas, but if you plan ahead and get things well in advance then you can safe yourself a fair bit of money and a whole lot of stress.

The Thomas and Friends first bike is suitable for little chaps aged two years and over and boasts puncture proof tyres and rubber handlebar grips.  The steel frame is sturdy and is covered in plenty of bright  and colourful Thomas the Tank Engine graphics.

The 10 inch wheels have stabilizers on them to inspire confidence whilst getting to grips with all the pedal pushing and handlebar steering; talking of which, the saddle and handlebar height are adjustable too.

Happy first biking!

If you've missed out on previous deals for this Complete Thomas the Tank Engine Book Collection, here's another chance for you.  You can pick up a complete set of Thomas the Tank Engine books, presented in a special box, for £29.75 - the list price is a whopping £195!

• Click HERE to go over to The Book People

If you're a regular visitor to PlayPennies the you'll know that my youngest son was a huge Thomas the Tank Engine fan and, since he was born, me and his dad have bought him pretty much all of the Thomas books one or two at a time.

Those Thomas the Tank Engine books were the bedtime books of choice for a good few years until he decided he was 'too grown-up for Thomas' and any suggestions of reading his favourites were met with derision and disgust.

However, it seems that Thomas hasn't been totally abandoned; the other day he asked to be read 'Alfie', apparently it's okay to go back to Thomas now and again - hurrah!

Sixty five books make up this Complete Thomas the Tank Engine book collection and you'll notice that the price on the Book People website is £35 - to drop it down to the price I quoted, and get free delivery, you'll need to enter FESTIVE15 into the promotion code box in your basket.

Thanks to shazar at HUKD

Play are selling this Thomas the Tank Engine dinner set for £2.99 instead of £6.99; from experience, I know this will put a smile on the face of any young Thomas fan.

• Click HERE to steam over to Play

Both my sons were great fans of Thomas the Tank Engine.  My youngest has just grown out of him now - apparently Thomas isn't for 'big boys', he's all of five and a half! - and so Thomas is now forever consigned, for me, to the place where happy memories live.

Both boys had Thomas the Tank Engine dinner sets and both of them, on occasion, would get MOST upset if their favourite plates happened to be getting a soaking in the dishwasher when it was time for them to have something to eat; very bad planning on my part!

The bowl and plate with this Thomas the Tank Engine dinner set are made of melamine, and the beaker from hard plastic.  I can't find any information as to whether or not everything can go in the dishwasher - I imagine the plate and bowl can, probably the beaker too but you can never be sure with those sometimes.

There's no delivery to pay with Play if you live on the UK mainland, so £2.99 is your total outlay.

Thanks to melissab32 at HUKD

Play are selling these three inflatable moon chairs - Peppa Pig George, Thomas or Disney Princess - for £5 each.

• Click HERE to go over to Play

Kids love their own furniture and, somehow, inflatable furniture like these moon chairs are much more fun than 'solid' ones.

Luckily most little girls love anything pink and Disney Princess (I think) so that one covers the girls.

Not all boys love Thomas the Tank Engine though - my cousin's son was a massive Bob the Builder fan and had no love, or time, for Thomas at all.  My eldest son, on the other hand, was the opposite - he couldn't stand Bob but adored Thomas.

So for the Thomas fans there's a Thomas the Tank engine inflatable chair and for those who aren't, there's a Peppa Pig George version.

Each chair has been reduced from £7.99 down to £5 and the Thomas the Tank Engine inflatable moon chair is available for pre-order, with a release date of 2 September.

Thanks to andywedge at HUKD

*ALERT!  ALERT!* Potential early Christmas present deal!

Argos are selling this Mega Bloks Thomas at Misty Island for LESS THAN HALF PRICE - £17.99 instead of £59.99

• Click HERE to steam on over to Argos

If you have a young Thomas the Tank Engine fan in your household, or extended family, buying presents for them is dead easy.

Anything Thomas - whether it's branded as Thomas the Tank Engine or Thomas and Friends, is always expensive and is always guaranteed to make a bit of dent in your bank balance.

Such is the way of it, always has been and always will be so it pays to keep your eyes peeled for, and take advantage of, deals like this Mega Bloks Thomas at Misty Island set as and when they pop up.

There are 101 pieces to build and rebuild Thomas and James’ travel route through the mountains to Misty Island, using accessories like a lake, tunnels, break-through barricades and rock slides.

Mega Bloks Thomas At Misty Island comes with Thomas and James, well it would be a bit of a poor show without them, and is suitable for little Thomas fanatics aged three and over.

You can reserve and collect for free in-store, if your local store has stock, or you can arrange for home delivery within two working days and will cost you an additional £5.95.

Thanks to muzhaque at HUKD

I'm getting rather fond of Bargain Crazy - they're throwing some really good deals out there for you guys!

This Thomas the Tank Engine ball pit is guaranteed to be a hit with any young Thomas fan.

• Click HERE to go over to Bargain Crazy

My days of buying anything Thomas the Tank Engine are over, unless a friend or family member has a baby boy, as both my boys are now too old for Thomas.

But back in their Thomas days I KNOW they would have lived in this Thomas the Tank Engine ball pit; they would have wanted to eat in it and, probably, sleep in it.

The original price for this Thomas ball pit was £42.99 which, to my mind, is h u g e l y expensive.  But £9.99?  Well THAT'S more like it!

It doesn't come with any balls (but they're not hard to find and we often have deals on ball pit ball packs) and the official blurb does say you can fill Thomas with water and use him as a paddling pool too.

Either way, the Thomas the Tank Engine ball pit can be used both indoors and outside, if the Great British summer isn't letting everyone down (I'm out of the country at the moment, so I have NO clue what the weather's like back in Blighty - here's hoping it's sunny for you guys!).

Happy Splashing or 'Ball Pitting'!

Calling all Chuggington and Thomas the Tank Engine fans!!!

The Toy Shop/The Entertainer have taken 50% off  Chuggington and Thomas toys, there are some rather lovely bargains to be had on large sets or single items.

• Click HERE to steam over to The Toy Shop for CHUGGINGTON
• And HERE if you want THOMAS THE TANK ENGINE

Ahhh long gone are the days of Thomas and Chuggington for me, so you can have these deals all to yourself.

My eldest son - now almost 17 - used to love Thomas as did my youngest son, but both of them are a bit old for him now.

Chuggington has gone the same way too; my youngest gave everyone in the family Chuggington names - he was Wilson, my eldest was Brewster and my daughter was KoKo, it really was far too cute.

To list all the items included in the Chuggington and Thomas the Tank Engine 50% off sale would take forever but I will tell you that the big Chuggington Interactive All Round Chuggington set is now £30 instead of £59.99, and the Thomas 'Racing Down the Rails' wooden set is £35 instead of £75.

Thomas and Chuggington toys always tend to sell out fast, I just thought I'd warn you, and delivery is free if you spend over £30.

Thanks to goonertillidie at HUKD

You're either going to love me or hate me for bringing this Thomas and Friends 'Songs from Sodor' DVD to your attention.

• Click HERE to go over to CDWOW

Listen, it could be worse!  It could be on a CD which would, of course, end up being played in the car over and over and over - at least this is on DVD and will remain confined to the house. Unless you have DVD players in your car, in which case...sorry.

My youngest will be five years old next month and he's well and truly done with Thomas now.

I asked him if he wanted me to read him 'Alfie' the other night and he said, "No thanks, Alfie and Thomas are for babies, I'm not a baby anymore - how about Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets?"

There are 18 songs on this Thomas and Friends 'Songs from Sodor' DVD and it'll cost you £2.99 (that's delivered too) if you buy it from CDWOW; Asda are selling it for £4.94 and Very have it on sale for £6 without delivery.

Thanks to jojogogo at HUKD

Calling all Thomas the Tank Engine fans - Tesco are selling this Thomas and Friends Take n Play Cranky at the Docks set for half price, £12.48 instead of £24.97.

• Click HERE to steam over to Tesco

I've been lamenting the 'loss' of Thomas to my youngest son lately, "I'm not really keen on Thomas any more, Star Wars and Ben 10 are much better."

There is an advantage; with Thomas well and truly dumped it does mean I don't have to write Thomas deals in secret!

You know how relentless the pester-power of an almost five-year-old is - if you don’t, and your little treasure isn’t that age yet…you’ll find out! - and when Thomas WAS flavour of the month he would have loved this Thomas and Friends Take n Play Cranky at the Docks set.

Cranes are still called Cranky in our family and even though he was a miserable crane, everyone had a bit of a soft spot for him.

Take n Play Cranky is a portable play set;  the sides fold down to create an oval track and Cranky the crane pops up with a working crank and magnetic hook.

Together Cranky and Salty work to unload the cargo from the boats using Cranky's extendable crane and then slowly and carefully help to transfer it to the docks.

The Thomas and Friends Take n Play Cranky can help to improve your child's fine motor skills, colour identification and hand-eye coordination - and you thought it was all play and nothing else.

Thanks to loubey at HUKD

Argos are currently selling this Thomas the Tank Engine luggage set for half price, £9.99 instead of £19.99.

• Click HERE to steam on over to Argos

When you’re  a boy of a certain age, any old bag or suitcase just won’t do!

I’ve lost count of the amount of times my boys got upset because they felt the bag I’d given them to pack their things in wasn’t ‘cool’ or ‘boy’ enough, “It’s girly! Everyone will laugh at me!” and no amount of, “No one’s going to be looking at your bags, “ would convince them otherwise.

This 4-piece Thomas the Tank Engine set from Argos will put an end to any tears and tantrums over luggage disappear in a puff of Thomas smoke as it really couldn't be more 'boy like' - unless you have a little lad who ISN'T a Thomas the Tank Engine fan, but show me one of those and I'll eat my virtual hat!

This luggage set has a wheeled bag, gym bag, backpack and a wallet all featuring that loveable little blue Engine.

The dimensions for each are as follows:

• Wheeled bag:   Size (H)46cm x (W)28cm x  (D)11.5cm
• Backpack:  Size (H)26cm x  (W)23 x (D)7.5cm
• Gym bag:  Size (H)38cm x (W)29cm
• Wallet:  Size (H)10cm x  (W)14cm x  (D)4cm

They're in stock for both free in-store collection or home delivery (which will cost you £5.95) and the 63 people who've taken the time to review them on the Argos site are more than happy with them.

Thanks to haylhoo at HUKD

The Littlewoods eBay Clearance Outlet are selling this Thomas the Tank Engine pool for £14.99; the catalogue price is £30 and the cheapest elsewhere, online, seems to be around the £25 mark.

• Click HERE for this splashing little deal

If you have a little Thomas fan then this Thomas the Tank Engine pool will bring a HUGE smile to their little faces, along with lots of harassment to go out and splash around in it in the garden even when it's raining (well if they're anything like mine used to be anyway!).

Failing that you could always bring it inside and use it as a ball pool instead of one that involves getting anything, and everything, within a 10-foot radius soaking wet.

It's brand new, it's approximately 126cms x 99cms and there's no delivery charges to pay either, so £14.99 is all you're going to pay.

The Thomas the Tank Engine pool is suitable for littlies aged three years or over and, unless you already have a pump for blowing things up, you're going to have to put your lungs to work to inflate it.

In my experience, things like this tend to sell out quite quickly...just a friendly word to the wise.

Thanks to Dboy27 at HUKD