Star Jarz Review

Reviewed by Amanda Hayes

My 7 year old son was very excited to be sent a StarJarz keepsake jar from John Adams to review and when the postman arrived he ran off to his bedroom to open the packaging and see what was inside. The cardboard packaging is brightly coloured and enticing for children, especially as the top of the jar pokes out of the top. Inside the box there was the jar itself, a Moroccan type shape, with a hook at the top very much like a lantern, a pack of stickers, activity booklet, 40 tokens and a wrap to cover the jar in. Its fair to say that once my son saw that the jar lit up when he pushed a token or memory through the slot at the top, he was hooked. The first thing he did was decorate the wrap, with a combination of colouring pens and the stickers that came in the pack. It doesn’t cover the whole jar, just the middle section. Then he laid out all 40 tokens to look at, some are coloured in already such as “my best friend is” and some are black and white to be coloured in yourself. These have slogans printed on such as “I feel great today because.. and I believe in..”

When he pushed his first token in, the jar lit up at the top and the bottom where it wasn’t covered by the wrap, lighting up the stars, the light then started to change colour which it did for around 30 seconds. This created much excitement so he couldn’t wait to look through the activity book to see what else he could do. The activity book is the place to write down your secrets and dreams before you put them in the StarJarz. The book has lots of little items to complete, from a list of things I like best, to a list of thoughts. It also contains pages to complete and cut out and fold like little mini letters, these can be popped in the jar. The StarJarz has been a real hit with my son, and has kept him busy for ages, completing all the dreams and secrets in the book followed by hiding in the downstairs cupboard to see the jar light up! He takes it to bed with him to put a dream and a wish in before bedtime, and pops a wish in during the day if he thinks of one. It really has given him a lot of fun and also has helped his writing, without realising when filling in the booklet and tokens. I like the fact that you date each one so that when the jar is full we can put it away for a few years and take it back out to see what he wanted to be when he grew up for example.

Highly recommended for both boys and girls, StarJarz would make a fantastic present as my son said it was brilliant! I was impressed just how long it kept him interested and thought it was good value for money as you can keep making your own tokens and letters to put in long after the 40 have run out. I’m sure you could fit in at least 200 tokens/notes depending on size, so we have plenty more to add yet.

Rating: 5/5

RRP: £12.99

This product can be purchased from most good toy shops.
For more information please visit the John Adams website here.