We received a set of Faber-Castell’s Creativity For Kids Designed By You Special Occasion Fashions here at PlayPennies HQ to help us celebrate the Royal Wedding, what now feels like years ago. We passed it on to mum to a four year old, Heyejung, and asked her to give us her best critical appraisal of the set, because, well, it’s not a budget buy.
The Designed By You set is just over £40, and if it’s going to be worth it, it would have to be quite a kit, which according to Heyejung, it is.

“This kit is really rather awesome and something pretty special. The high price does demand that the kit offer you something extraordinary and so far I am happy to say that it has proven to be worth the price.”

The kit comes with over 60 different pieces including a dressmaker dummy in miniature, measuring tape, glitter glue, scissors – which our tester-mum says aren’t great, and you’ll do well to just use your own -  a lot of fabric in different colours, thread, embellishments like lace and flowers and frills, fabric charts and more.

“Opening the kit reveals a limited amount of packaging, which is nice, as well as some things that were secreted from view. It really is rather amazing to use as the items just keep coming - it's like a magic box with tons of stuff in it. I mean, there is even a thimble, needles, pins on a pin wheel, a pin cushion, fabric swatches, a sketch book for your designs, satin roses and bows and a storage bag to keep everything neatly packed away once the packaging has been done for.”

There is also a ready-made satin dress for you to use as a base.

“I love the fact,” says Heyejung, “that this has given my child so much creative freedom in making things by hand as I am a big fan of this. The set is for kids aged 9-99 apparently and I can see why. I had as much fun as my daughter and she proved to be that little bit more creative with design than I could ever be. On top of that the items in the kit were of a good enough quality to be used in my sewing kit on a daily basis so I have now got some bits and bobs that I had lost or run out of like pins and a thimble. Really good.”

Heyejung even liked the material they provide along with it.

“The fabric quality is good too. There is tulle, lace, satin, patterned lace, coloured fabric and more. Even I got all excited about using this to create some lovely items with the dress and dummy and provided instructions. To start with you can use the provided pencils to sketch your designs in the provided sketch book. They have a page of different designs included with the kit so you can get some ideas and the sketch book has pages and pages of already drawn outlines. You don't need to be an artist at all. You can select the style you like from the provided outlines in the book, then you add in the dress details with the pencil (it means you can erase old designs and start again as often as you like so this set has long lasting value).”

The set also comes with a handy instruction book, filled with ideas if your young designer is stuck on where to start.

“The instructions teach kids about draping, loose stitching, basting and applique. You can also reuse the fabric following their instructions and use fabric cut offs from fabric stores to make more designs when the provided things are finished”

So, overall, Heyejung seems really thrilled with this set, and although it’s recommended age is 5 years older than her daughter, she too seemed to absolutely love it.

What are her final thoughts on the set?

“Essentially this starter kit offers you everything you need to create about 10-15 dresses or items plus things that will last for years and years of designing using cheap cut offs. I think this makes it good value for money and worth buying for anyone who likes to design, even a mum! And if your eyes are as bad as mine the needle threader will be a bonus too.”
And on the prices, Heyejung says this: “For £40 it is a big present, yes. But it is something that will just keep on going for ages and ages making it an excellent investment for hours of fun. This is no toy that will expire after a period of time and the options for creativity mean that it is unlikely to get boring anytime soon.”

Available from Hobbycraft and Amazon.

For the young entrepreneur this chocolate medal or coin maker from Amazon could be the start of a golden future (pun intended!). At less than half price, 56% off to be precise, it's the ideal gift to turn your young person in to a made-at-home giver.

• Click here to tuck in to this great offer at Amazon

Golden coins are a great Christmas stocking filler, but why not have them for any time of year? Chocolate never goes out of fashion, especially in this house, and finding a fun way to make, shape and eat it can only add to the enjoyment.

There are twenty stamps to choose from, or you can personalise your own, making it fit for any occasion: birthdays, special occasions, or every day. With the Golden Coin Maker you can emboss, wrap and store chocolate medals and coins made with any brand of chocolate buttons.

The set contains the medal and coin factory, a chocolate melting unit, moulds and rings, a spreading and scribing tool, ten double sided embossing discs, golden net bags and golden elastic and four golden foil sheets.

Suitable for ages six years and up.

Thanks to aliceashea from HUKD

We adore creative projects and creative products so when these wafted into the PlayPennies offices there was a bit of a scuffle over who got to review them. BrightMinds have some fab products that are perfect for kids of all ages and even more perfect for the upcoming Mother’s Day celebrations...

Giant Paper Flowers

These huge paper flower making kits are a stunner, just lovely ideasfor kids to make for their mums. The little tears and wibbly bits will make your heart melt when you realise how much effort they’ve put into making them. Each kit comes with lots of brightly coloured tissue paper, three patterns, 30 pipe cleaners in a variety of colours and easy instructions.

This is a gift better suited to little ones over the age of five – below that could mean more squishing and less making. We sent our pack of Giant Paper Flowers to Kelly in London. She has a seven year old boy and we thought that this would be a good test. Is this just a girly product?

“Maybe not the first craft pack you’d think of giving to a little boy, but my almost seven year old loved it!” said Kelly, “The size of the paper blooms kids can create, and the range of paper colours, somehow takes away girly connotations.”

So, these are a great kit for both boys and girls who want to make something magical for their mums. The adorable carry bag makes it easy to transport them around the house and store the extras and, for £9.99, the entire kit is a bargain.

“My son is desperate to perfect his technique for a Mother’s Day bouquet,” said Kelly, “This is a great product with really generous contents.”

Happy Handle Stamp Set

I managed to finagle this set for me and my three year old to play with at home. When it arrived I was impressed. The six stampers come in a solid wood purple box making it extremely convenient for mums that can’t get their kids to tidy up, and also limiting stamp damage to the sofa.

On that note I must add that the enthusiastic stamping of my offspring did result in my carpets, leather sofa and rather lush Issey Miyake coat getting splots of flower-shaped ink on them, but they wiped off, washed off and panic scrubbed off in an instant.

The six different stamps included have a smiley face, flowers, paw prints, hearts, butterflies and lips on them. They stamp really well and are actually not as smudgey as I’ve seen with other stamping kits. They are also the perfect size for little hands. My toddler was delighted.

The only negatives that I found were that the inks quickly dried out, but that was largely due to user error than anything else. Needless to say, the stamps were a huge success and she now has to stamp all letters and cards before I can post them. Made for an awkward moment when sending her school applications...

Also priced at £9.99 I think they are good value for money when you consider that they’re made from wood, come in a neat storage case and will last you forever.

And Finally

These are lovely products and the site is packed full of all sorts of options for you and your kids to enjoy. I am particularly in love with the idea of dads and kids making yummy gifts for mummy, they are the best gifts of all.

The Early Learning Centre has a fab sale on just now, with 20% of selected lines in their Art & Creativity range.

• Click here to check out the Art & Creativity range at ELC now

There's so much to choose from but I especially like the look of this Super Scribbler.

Suitable for children aged 3 and above, the Super Scribbler allows your child to create pictures and patterns, then simply swipe the screen and they're gone.

It comes with a pen, 3 in 1 pattern roller, four stamps and an automatic return eraser.

It's made from chunky durable plastic, making it ideal for little hands and it's apparently a useful means of helping children improve their fine motor skills.

It's usually £17.00 but it's reduced to £13.60 in this sale and I reckon it would be a brilliant buy for a little one with Christmas money to spend. A kid can have too many toys but I don't think they ever tire of getting arty and creative.

There are loads of other lovely creative bits and pieces in the sale so it's worth having a good nose around. I've already got my eye on a couple of birthday present bargains for later in the year.