Who is crazy enough to queue at 4am for a toy carrot?

That’s exactly what customers at Aldi have been doing.

Aldi customers waited at 4am outside stores while 77,000 people were held in a queue online as shoppers tried to get their hands on the store’s festive character Kevin the Carrot today.

Customers swapped snippets on social media with one tweeting: ‘It’s carrot day first in line been here since half 6 one hour to go.’

Another shared an image of their carrot troy collection and commented: ‘Worth the six hours outside Aldi.’

One of the things I don’t miss about having young children is the frenzy surrounding Christmas toys. And it’s not the kids who end up frothing at the mouth.

Some adults would sell their own grandmothers to get their hands on a certain toy if their child wanted it. I remember, in the late 1990s, one parent at my daughters’ nursery travelling from North Yorkshire to Newcastle to get hold of a Furby

The Furby was a 'must have' Christmas toy. Picture: Pixabay

The fluffy, owl-like Furby was all the rage back then, with people fighting for them in shops once deliveries arrived. Thankfully, I didn’t have a child pestering me for one of the hideous things.

Every year, for reasons unknown to me, certain toys spring up from nowhere to become the ‘must haves’ of Christmas. Back in 1992 Tracy Island, from Thunderbirds, was the toy that usually sensible people would cross molten lava for. People clamoured for it. Then, to put it all in context, Blue Peter made a pretty good replica from tin foil and empty crisp packets.

In 1996, after the release of the film Toy Story, Buzz Lightyear toys hit the shops. They old out so quickly in the weeks before Christmas that emergency stock was shipped from America, arriving at selected UK stores on Christmas Eve. Many stores sold out within 20 minutes of opening.

Buzz Lightyear was once in high demand. Picture: Pixabay

It’s all well and good encouraging children to write Christmas lists, but when a ‘must have’ toy sits at the top of it, it does pile on the pressure. It’s all right telling yourself not to give in to children’s demands, but when every other child already has said toy, it’s difficult.

When my youngest daughter was about eight I resisted her calls for a Nintendo DS, but when helping on a school trip I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her as almost every other child on the bus spent the journey tapping away on one. That Christmas I relented. It wasn’t hard to find one, but the colour she wanted was sold out across every continent. She never accepted my argument that lime green was similar to pink.

Christmas is a tough time for parents, especially in times of austerity. In one way it’s good to know that Colin the Carrot sits high on kids’ wish lists - the Aldi price tag won’t hurt as much as some toys. Just pray your kids don’t ask for Harry Potter Hogwarts Chamber of Secrets Lego set - in this year’s bestsellers list - you won’t get much change from £130.

Many ‘must haves’ quickly lose their appeal once owned. In the early 1970s I nagged and nagged my parents for a Mousetrap game after seeing it advertised on TV. “It’s plastic rubbish,” my dad said. I hated having to play boring board games when all my friends were excitedly trapping mice in cages. But when my friend got one it didn’t look half as good as it did on the telly. After playing it for an hour I had to agree with my dad.