Last week, Smiggle opened in Birmingham Bullring and I was invited to see the showcase of their Christmas range. I have to be honest and say that I had not heard of Smiggle until two months ago and even while I was in Singapore for holiday.
Smiggle started in Australia 11 years ago and now there are over 160 stores across Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. Smiggle are now opening stores in the UK. To date, they have opened 12 stores with a further 6 stores due to open before Christmas. Smiggle is dedicated to fuelling the creative spirit by delivering original, fun and affordable stationery. Their products are about great design and innovation, bold colours, quirky graphics, good value and most of all fun!
The Birmingham Bull Ring store is located in the lower ground floor, next to Pizza Hut/Costa Coffee, just behind Pandora and not far from Selfridges. The store is very vibrant and bright – I am sure you won’t miss it! We were overwhelmed when we arrived as there was a horde of people all eager to look around the new store. Ms C was very excited when she saw the stationery especially the Optical Mega Light and a whole shelf full of pens! We had a quick look around the store. Given the prime location, it is not massive but there is a huge range. They have lovely bags for older children and very fanciful stationery. Not all of them are girly pink, they do have colours suitable for boys. I love their bold, colourful range of items. As you walk around the aisles, the colours will brighten anyone’s day! They are definitely kawai (in Japanese – cute)!
We were given a free goody bag to try them out and Ms C was thrilled to see the box of 30 gel pens and also the Advent Calendar! She couldn’t wait to tell her brother that the box of gel pens are hers. When we arrived back home, she quickly started to try out the pens. They are very nicely organised in a box with a multitude of colours and they do smell of a sweet scent!
The next day, without much prompting, they both started to open up the doors of the advent calendar. There are so many types of traditional advent calendars from chocolates to candles and now we have stationery! I am a great fan of ‘kawai’ stationery! I followed the children’s lead and helped tear open the remaining doors! The advent calendar costs £20 RRP with 25 windows. If you buy the advent calendar, you might be one of the five lucky Smiggle winners to win £250! We didn’t have such luck but there is still a chance to win the unclaimed prize! If you don’t want to see what you get from the advent calendar, then quickly skip the photo below!
These are the 25 mini gifts from the calendar. There are a mixture of pens to stocking fillers. Both my children love the spy marker that you have to shine the torch to reveal the word. That is particularly fab!
Both my children and I love them and I would definitely buy them for gifts or Christmas stocking fillers for friends.
Disclosure: We have received the goody bag to attend the event for the purposes of writing this review, however, all thoughts and opinions remain our own. Image used with permission.
I had never heard of them either but their products look great. I love the look of the shop – it is so bright and inviting
I can’t believe you opened up your advent calendar! You’re meant to wait until the 1st December!
Looks like lots of fun stationery in that shop, hope they open one near here soon!
I hadn’t heard of this shop but love the look of the gifts perfect for stocking fillers as my son is pen mad!