Crayola Friendship Bracelets > Reviews (4)

My daughter loves any kind of toy she can make things with - she's a natural crafter, and likes to be creative . Recently we purchased the Crayola Friendship Bracelet set, as we thought it would be quite nice for her to make something that she could wear, and to make bracelets to give to her friends at school.

I paid £4.79 for this on amazon.co.uk. The box contains instructions, 80 beads in a mix of designs and colours, and plenty of ribbon and thread for braiding . These were all laid out nicely in the box in a plastic tray, which I felt was quite handy for keeping materials separate when in use, although I did feel the packaging was a little large for the relatively small amount of beads included.

The instructions, while simple enough for me to understand, were a little wordy for my daughter, who doesn't have much patience for reading . Luckily it was easy enough for me to relay the information vocally, and there were simple diagrams illustrating the various designs that could be made.

The ribbons and beads were all pastel coloured - light blues, pinks, and yellows. Whilst this was fine for my daughter, I did find that this made this most definitely a girls product rather than something that could be easily enjoyed by both sexes. I do think it a shame that there were no darker, more masculine colours, as my daughter does have male friends she would have liked to have given bracelets to, not one of whom would deign to wear a pink creation decorated with hearts, flowers, and stars.

The ribbon is good quality - I have had similar kits in the past where it has frayed easily at the ends, but this isn't an issue with this pack. The beads however do have some sharp edges, and I do think the quality could have been improved there .

My daughter enjoyed making these bracelets very much . Unfortunately she found it a little tricky at first, which did result in some wasted ribbon, but once she got the hang of it she at quietly making bracelets for her friends, and managed to make a variety of different styles - some by following the instructions, and some purely her own design . I believe we got about six bracelets out of the kit before running out of beads, but we still have plenty of ribbon left over . I do think the reason we ran out of beads so quickly is simply that my daughter was very generous with them on her bracelets - being a little more economical with the beads I think we could have made at least another four or five bracelets .

Overall, for less than a fiver this is a nice little craft kit to keep my daughters hands busy . I do think the beads are a little sharp around the edges, and that some darker and brighter colours might have livened the kit up a little, but my daughter seemed to like this, and that's what counts!

4*