My daughter hadn't had a highchair for her dolls before and when she received this Cupcake complete collection set for her third birthday she loved it as it included a high chair!

----- Information -----

The Cupcake complete collection is made by Early Learning Centre and can be purchased in store or online and from Mothercare and Amazon also. The full price for this is £65 but as with most ELC items, can be found on sale quite often for half price or there are often money off codes floating around.

The recommended age for the complete collection is 3 years, I think this is a little high, the main items of the set couldn't pose any dangers and I would have given this to my daughter at a younger age.

----- Packaging and assembly -----

The Cupcake complete collection came inside a huge cardboard box, when I say huge, it wasn't as big as I expected considering three decent sized items were inside. I could carry it myself so it wasn't too big and bulky. The design of the packaging matched the rest of the Cupcake range being mainly pink with a girly design and a picture of the contents on the front.

Inside the packaging was three, sort of half made, items and a changing bag with a few accessories inside. The main items are a stroller, highchair and bouncer chair. The bouncer chair came already made, just clicked back so it was laid flat to fit in the packaging, to get it into position you simply click the back into place. The highchair was also already assembled and was just folded flat for transport, to get this into position you just pulled apart the bottom legs and voila! The only thing that needed any type of assembly was the stroller that just involved putting the wheels on, but these were easy, the back ones were simply put over the pole and a pink wheel cover was clicked on top. The front wheel was slightly trickier (but still easy), it had to be put onto a separate pole and then squeezed into place. I think the whole assembly process took less than five minutes, so there wasn't any time for my daughter to pester me to hurry up.

--- Bouncy chair ---
The bouncy chair is the smallest of the three items but is still plenty big enough to fit the majority of different dolls in it. It is made to a high quality with the main shape of it being made from pink metal poles and the seat made with a strong fabric. The bouncer can see tilted as far back or forward as you want as if you pull it, it will simply click into place wherever you want it. The seat has a lovely cupcake design to it with pink polka dot sides. The overall look is girly and cute. There are two carry handles so that it can be carried around with a doll in it without any problems, the handles prove easier to carry it rather than picking up the whole chair.

--- Highchair ---
The highchair is of the same colour scheme as the bouncer of pink and blue. It has pink poles that travel up to the main seat which is made from pink fabric covered in polka dots then the tray is made from a pale blue plastic. The highchair is foldable so it doesn't take up much space when it isn't in use, to do this you simply pull up the tray and the poles will fold inwards so it is pretty much flat. The highchair also has a blue fabric tie to keep dolls in place when they are sitting in it. The seat is of a nice size and the majority of my daughters dolls can fit in without any problems.

--- Stroller ---
The stroller is my favourite item from the Cupcake collection. It fits in with the other two main items with the pink and blue colour scheme. The stroller has three wheels, a foot rest, shopping basket and a hood that pulls over the top; it's almost identical to 'proper' three wheeler pushchairs. It's a nice size, my daughter received a Silver Cross pram and that is huge in comparison to this one. The stroller doesn't fold flat but as it isn't that big, it doesn't take up that much room anywhere and if we go out for the day, this is the pushchair that normally goes with us as it can fit in the car without taking up too much room. Another good thing about the design of the stroller is the weight of it, as it is quite small it is very lightweight and when my three year old takes it out for a walk she can get up and down curbs without any problems.

--- Accessories ---
I didn't realise that this set come with some accessories, from the picture on the box you couldn't tell that anything came with it. The accessories include a feeding set and changing bag. The changing bag is a little bit of a disappointment as its very flimsy, it's made from the same fabric as the bouncy chair with the cupcakes on it, it isn't very thick material so unless it is full of bits and bobs it tends to just fold in and then doesn't resemble much of a bag. That being said, my daughter does use it and always has various bits and pieces in there. The feeding set compromises of a feeding bowl, spoon, fork and a bottle, these pieces are all made from the high quality plastic you would expect from an Early Learning Centre product.

----- Overall ------

This set has been a hit ever since my daughter got it for her third birthday. She loves the whole role play thing with dolls and this set really helps her play. She has already had a pushchair and pram but they were more suited for younger toddlers being quite chunky so now she has her older pushchair more suited to her age. My daughter also received a Cupcake doll for her birthday and this doll fits perfectly inside the set. The set isn't just suitable for the dolls from the range; most can fit inside without any problems. My daughter only has one doll that doesn't fit in anything but that's only because she is toddler sized.

The stroller often comes out if we go to town or just for a walk and every time the stroller is out, so is the changing bag. My daughter puts all the toys she might need into her changing bag and then drapes it over the handle of the stroller, just like I used to do with the 'proper' stroller. If we do take it to town the shopping basket underneath always gets used and if my daughter gets a new book or sweetie it stays in the shopping basket without falling out. The handle is of a nice height and seems to be perfect for my three year old, I think it should last her a good couple of years before being too small (if she doesn't grow out of it herself!).

At home, the highchair is the item that gets used the most, my daughter loves kitchen role play and is often cooking food for her dolls, she never used to have anywhere to feed them but now she can place them in the highchair one by one so they get their meals in comfort! The straps on all of the items are easy for my daughter to do herself so I don't have to intervene to do them for her. The bouncer seems to be the less favoured item out of the three, some dolls do get put inside and when my daughter is watching the television she seems to rock the bouncer at the same time almost therapeutically.

With the full price of £65, I do think this is quite expensive for what it is. Flicking through the Argos book I can see similar sets for half the price but, of course, being an Early Learning Centre collection, the quality is of the highest standard. I don't think I would have personally paid this for the set but as it is often on sale for half price, I'd definitely snap it up for around £30 as it would be a bargain. Each piece is realistic and my daughter loves playing with the set, she prefers some items over others but they all get played with.