Lucky bags or fukubukuro (福袋) is a New Years tradition in Japan. It’s a grab bag businesses will put out for a huge discount. It’s a way for businesses to clear out their shelves for new inventory and for customers to get great deals. You’re not supposed to look in the bags, but I saw a lot of people (both US and Japanese) peaking in or digging around.

I remember seeing these bags at Sanrio stores in Hawaii, but it wasn’t a thing. We got up late on New Years and were super lazy, but we decided to wander over to the Aeon in American Village to see if we could find any good lucky bags.

When we first walked in, I was tempted to snatch every bag I saw. But then I saw a Starbucks and I had been wanting to try the limited edition Black Sesame Frappuccino so Cass and I got one to share. I really liked it! Cass didn’t care for it.

Cass and I did a lap of the first floor and I decided to go with a range of bags. First I got one of the bags from the beauty/skincare section. To be honest, I chose it based on the cuteness of the bag. I didn’t look into the brand…I probably should have, but it’s too late now.

I haven’t tested any of it out yet. I’m making my way through some Tatcha products for the first time so I want to finish those out before trying something new.

Next, we got a bag from a section that looked like household cleaners and such. We kind of blindly chose that one. I didn’t realize until after we paid that the back of the bag was see through. But that’s okay, we specifically wanted bags that were a true blind grab bag.

I tried out the detergent on our sheets and I liked it! The scent was on the floral side, but not overly done. I don’t think Cass even noticed a difference.

The last bag we got from Village Vanguard. I had seen some of the unbagging pictures on some Facebook groups so I knew it was really hit or miss. They were color coded by category, but there were no descriptions in English. Some people said the Rycom Aeon had English signs and some people said they just asked at the checkout counter. I left Cass to pick while I walked through Daiso.

We put the pillow on the couch and the dogs use it every once in awhile as a head rest. We put the towel on the front door so we can wipe their paws after rainy walks. Everything else is going to our nieces and nephews.

Our strategy next year will to go more practical. As fun as the Village Vanguard bag was to open, the other bags had things we’d actually use. If we do go with something more fun next year, it’ll be from the Studio Ghibli store or Sanrio. Maybe we’ll go to Rycom Aeon or to Naha for more of a variety. Or maybe we’ll skip it altogether and save the money on something we know what we’re getting.