Building, Building, Building. Build a little house for me! (Lego 6161: Brick Box)

Member Name: lolly23

Product:	Lego 6161: Brick Box
Date:	04/11/09 (23 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lego is always fun!

Disadvantages: Not great value for money.

I bought this set for my sons 5th birthday. We previously had a huge Lego Duplo set which he loved, although was maybe starting to grow out of.

I ordered from Amazon so did not see the box beforehand - if I did, I would have been a little disappointed upon opening it!

You get a decent sized box (around 10" x 7" x 7") but when you open it up and take out all of the packaging you are only left with a light covering of the base of the box. There are actually around 220 pieces, which sounds a lot but because they are so small, there is really not much there.
Yes, there is potential for starting a collection, but I would have rather sacrificed the box for a little more Lego.

You do get a wide range of bricks, including:
A door and window with frames
2 levers
2 fence pieces
A base plate
A head and body (of a huge monster sized person! Huge compared to most Lego figures, anyway!)

You also get lots of tiny pieces which are great for children (or adults!) who like to create things in more detail. You will also receive a booklet with ideas for building houses and animals

It cost me around £12 with free postage although they are now around £10. They are also available from Wilkos and Argos.

If I am honest, I wish I'd have bought the larger set that was available (at around £25) rather than this one.
With this set you are spending a good proportion of your money simply on the box so if you do upgrade to a larger set (as we are planning on doing) you will be left with a box that you have paid for but don't need so overall it is not great value for money.

If you are buying this as a gift, obviously this is not an issue for you so go for it - it would make a great present.

It would also make a nice little starter set for a child who hasn't played with Lego before (if there are any?!?) as you wouldn't be wasting a lot of money if it turns out that they don't like Lego after all!

You can also buy this set in pink, which is nice as I always loved Lego as a child but never really got to play with it as it was always labelled as 'Boy's stuff' - I would have appreciated a break from Barbie every once in a while!

Summary: A nice gift, but if you are buying for your own child you may be better going for a larger set.