We don't floss everyday (Princess Candy Floss Maker)

Member Name: sandra101

Product:	Princess Candy Floss Maker
Date:	10/11/08 (378 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: It does make decent candyfloss

Disadvantages: You get very little per serving, really big machine to put away

For once this gadget arriving had nothing to do with me. My two sons spotted this on holidays for £11.99 and asked if they could buy it with some of their holiday money, obviously I love silly gadgets so after a pretend moment of hmming I said yes as long as you clean it. They both immediately agreed and our newest toy was unceremoniously dumped in the boot awaiting the long journey home.

The night after arriving home the boys excitedly emptied out the box to find a silver main body for the machine, a rotating disk and an enormous silver coloured plastic bowl with the centre missing, a measuring spoon, and some wooden candyfloss sticks. When I say enormous I mean its about 14 inches in diameter and about 4 inches high (wider than my sink) and that was when the realization set in that I had absolutely no room in any cupboard to hide it away in when it was not in use.

- - How did it look - -

The boys (13 + 11) were easily able to put the pieces of kit together and although the silver base looked well the silver plastic bowl on top looked a little cheap. There are suction feet which gives it a more stable and safe effect especially when children are using it.

- - How to Use It - -

After putting the machine together which was very quick you switch it on and let it heat up for about five minutes. In the centre of the body of the machine was a little hole for the sugar. When the machine has heated you switch it off and you simply fill the measuring spoon with sugar white or coloured, I wouldn't be much of a baker so I don't know where to buy coloured sugar or why anyone does or what its for, so we stuck with plain white sugar. Empty the sugar into the hole which has turned red and turn the machine back on again. The disk begins to rotate and the sugar gets warmed through . Once the sugar reaches a high enough temperature, probably three to four minutes and has melted little webs of sugar begin to form inside the large dish.

Now comes the fun part, rolling your own candy floss. You need to start by winding your wooden stick around against the edge of the dish, once a base has been established you can wind the stick around more towards were the sugar web is frothing out from the hole. This is by far the most enjoyable part of the
experience.

- - Does it work - -

The candy floss on the stick certainly looked as good as anything you will find at the fairground and tasted equally good the only problem was how little candy floss was achieved by the maximum one scoop of sugar at a time. I would estimate it at about a 5th of what you would receive on a shop bought one. You then either start eating it or add another scoop of sugar to try and get a larger candy floss. When you have a line up of kids awaiting their turn, they are not going to be pleased if the first person takes 15 minutes or more to try and get a decent sized candy floss while they wait.

I had thought this would be fun for parties or the kids friends coming round but it is not suitable for more than one or two kids due to the long wait and kids well known impatience for goodies.

- - Clean up - -

As I only allowed it to be purchased on condition that the boys cleaned it up themselves I can't go into too much detail on this but I did have a nosey the first night it was out and it seemed to be done quite quickly and without any complaints, which from
two boys washing up is unusual.

- - Would I buy it again - -

On the downside we came home from holidays in July and this machine has only been used twice in four months. The amount of candyfloss achieved is small and it also takes up an awful lot of room and is presently split between two cupboards.

It was good fun and winding your own candy floss is great but I don't even think it was worth the small amount of £11.99 which the boys paid and would not purchase it again even at a much lower price.

Summary: Just buy it at the fair like everyone else