Blume Dolls Review
Reviewed by Louise Totton
It’s the same every year – as parents, we are presented with a list of ‘hot’ and ‘must have’ Christmas presents for the upcoming Christmas season. They are the gifts and toys that the kids want, mostly because their friends are talking about them in the playground at school, and we (at least I) feel like I should probably try to source something from the list for my kids. The big lists are the Argos and Amazon ones, probably because they’re the go-to places for most parents to get a lot of the Christmas shopping done. I had a look at both lists (they’re usually pretty similar), and fortunately for my purse, the toys that I think my two would be most likely to go scatty for are some of the cheapest in the lists – Blume Dolls.
Blume Dolls are another take on the current blind bag trend that kids have been mad on for the last few years. They have been getting steadily more sophisticated, and I have to say that even I liked the look of these ones! The Blume Dolls are contained in little plant pots, that you open up and water with the enclosed watering can. The dolls then literally bloom from the ‘soil’ in the plant pot before your eyes. Once your doll has sprouted from the plant pot, you can remove her before cracking open the pot open to reveal a few more little surprises – a costume and a little pet for your doll.
The kids were really keen to try these out – the packaging clearly appealed to them a lot as they couldn’t wait to dig in! The first step is to remove the plastic wrap from around the plant pots – this will reveal which colour pot you have, and there are several different colours to collect. You can then remove the little plastic watering can and Blume Doll checklist and instructions from the top and peel the pink seal from the top of the pot and pop your little sticker sheet to the side for later. The kids then filled the little squishy pink watering cans with water and evenly sprinkled water over the soil – the watering cans are actually pretty small, so this isn’t the messy activity that you might imagine!
Within a couple of seconds, the Blume Dolls started to sprout from within the pots, as if by magic! The first bit that popped up was the hair, which is made from a fabulously squishy foam, and really is the statement piece of the doll! Once the hair has popped up, the whole doll can be lifted from the pot, ready for you to admire and check off your list. Both of my girls thought that the dolls were gorgeous and very trendy – the come in a number of different skin tones and some of them have some very funky, statement makeup! They all have fabulously big and tall hair styles, and these are the big WOW factors for the dolls. My two were over the moon with their dolls – the youngest had Poppy, who has fantastic Neapolitan ice-cream hair, and my eldest won Celine, a gem themed doll with amazing diamond-style hair.
But your doll is only half of the fun – they come dressed only in little painted on bikinis, so after removing your doll from the top of the pot, you then open the pot from the side to reveal even more surprises. The pot opens on a hinge, and forms a little house for your doll to live in. We decorated our house with the stickers too, so the dolls would each have a unique place to call home! Contained in the plant pots are little cubby holes, each holding further surprises. Each pot contains a pair of shoes, an outfit and an accessory, plus a little themed friend for your doll too! Poppy, our ice cream themed doll came with Freezy the popsicle, and Celine, who was gemstone themed came with Ruby, the precious stone. The clothes can be popped on and off easily, and if you are lucky enough to have several of these dolls, can also be swapped between dolls too – as can the hair, which is also removable and swappable!
There are 22 of the dolls to collect, and as you would expect, the kids are now desperate to collect more of the range. They are actually sweet little dolls and are fantastic fun, so these are toys that I really don’t mind them putting on their Christmas list. We had great fun opening them, matching them to the checklist sheet and most excitingly, watching them grow and bloom! The quality of the dolls is actually pretty good too, and because they are on the larger side (especially with the hair) when compared to other blind bag type toys, I don’t think they’ll get lost anything like as easily.
The kids thought these were great, and we all loved squishing the dolls’ hair too – it’s strangely satisfying! I actually think they are pretty reasonable value for money too – as well as being much cheaper than lots of toys on the ‘must have’ list tend to be, they are also a good price point for kids to spend that tenner in the card from an auntie or uncle too. As I said, both of the kids have really enjoyed trying these out and have asked for some more for Christmas, which is about the best recommendation you can get!
Rating: 5/5
RRP: £10
Available to buy from Argos here.
