SpiceBox Tea Time Paint & Pretend Toy

Great gift for my 5 year old daughter. She still washes and repaints....we will probably never put them in the oven.

Great idea, but the tubes of paint are not such a good idea. My 8 yr old was trying to get the paint to flow and accidentally squirted a whole tube of paint in her eyes, nose and mouth...Pots of paint would have been a good idea

First words from daughter's mouth: “It’s adorable!” Four plates, four cups with saucers, sugar and creamer bowls, and of course, a tea pot, all ready to be custom-painted. The kit comes with a book that has instructions for how to paint and bake your set (adult help will be needed). It offers pictures of “ideas” that other people have done with their painting. Then it goes into how to have a tea party, including how to set the table. It also has some basic recipes for fun little finger foods to have with your tea party, easy for kids to follow. Oddly enough, it also has section for what to drink (You’d THINK this would be a TEA party, but see the “negatives” note below). The book also has game and party theme ideas. It also includes six invitations and four place cards (I’m guessing they’re planning on no-shows?). They’re one-time use only, so you could use them as template ideas for how to make their own.On to the tea set itself. The carrying case – which opens like an old-fashioned lunch box – is very cute. It’s made of a sturdy cardboard (like a well-made hat box). It seems like it will hold up well so long as it gets handled carefully. It’s got a pretty pink pattern. When you open it you will see a plastic cover protecting the tea set. I recommend you keep this – it holds the pieces in place so they won't bounce around and get chipped in transport.The paints appear to be basic water-based paints, and the kit comes with two brushes. Follow the instructions in the book and you’ll have your own custom-decorated tea set.NOW – the negatives.1) This is a PRETEND tea set. Even though it’s water safe, page 11 of the manual specifically says, “Use your tea set for pretend tea parties, but remember not to use it for real food or drinks!” What?2) If you lose the plastic insert, the pieces will fall out of their places when you’re carrying it and they might get chipped.3) The paints look like what one might find at the dollar store, and they’re rather thin. There’s also not enough paint to really do a decent job painting the whole set. You might want to shop at Hobby Lobby or some such for similar paint that can be used for baking art onto dishware.4) You’ll probably want to ditch the brushes that come with the kit and use something better. They’re extremely rudimentary and you won’t be able to do any fine details with your paint.Bottom line: So long as you use it as a PRETEND tea time toy (like the name clearly states), it's adorable.

My daughter loved it. Easy to color. Didn't know you have to put in the oven. But still nice activity.

Perfect. Great for small hands

This Spicebox Tea Set is a great gift for the child that loves to paint and do crafts. The box says not for children under three; I did it with my 5 year old granddaughter and though she loved it, she struggled with the actual painting. The set comes in a very cute suitcase carrying case that can be used to store the tea set once it has been painted. It s a very stiff cardboard, covered with a paper that can be wiped clean with a damp cloth. You get 10 pots of paint, which the directions say to cut apart so that they don’t tip over and spill. Note: these pots were extremely hard to open; each one too several tries for me to open. Despite this, all our paints were dried out and some could not be used at all . See photos below. If you make a mistake while painting or don’t like the finished project, a little soap and water washes the paint off and you can redo it. If a thin coat is applied, it dries relatively quickly, allowing you to paint over the top. Once you are happy with your design, you can bake the set in the oven and that will set the paint permanently. You get a very nice instruction book that not only gives instructions about the painting and setting, but it show examples of painting ideas, how to set the table for a tea party and even some punch out invitations to invite friends to a tea party. This set would provide hours of fun. NOTE: this is a pretend tea set and should NEVER Be used to drink or eat from.

Overall this is a nice set. The pieces are sturdy and a good size for preschool and early elementary age children to handle. The included case keeps everything nice and organized. The paints and baking portion of it works as expected although my kids did find the paints a bit runny. They separate a bit and need to be stirred up throughly prior to painting with them. The reason I'm giving the set four stars rather than five is because the included instructions and idea book sort of dangles ideas in front of your kids without any way for those ideas to be painted onto the items. Many of the ideas are really cute and my kids wanted to try them but there isn't enough paint for a full matching set of any one idea. They either have to do their own thing with what's included, paint something different on each piece or small group of pieces, or we would have to figure out what type of paint this is and try to get more in just a couple specific colors which is more than I want to deal with. So, it's a nice set but if your kids are like mine and they want to do an art project just the way they saw the sample done you might want to throw away the idea booklet before they start and just let them come up with something using what's available.

This is a very small tea set, but it's very nice and quite adorable. It's all porcelain (the glaze is a bit on the cheaper side, some white powder still on the bottom that rubbed off). Comes with tea pot, creamer, sugar w/ little lid, and then 4 tea cups with plates.My daughter (7) decided not to paint it, choosing to keep it white, and that's probably a good choice since I think with the brushes and paint provided, it probably won't turn out well. The case is pretty cute, the insets are just plastic, but it still holds it nicely.