Every year around now I get the same message, usually from a grandparent, usually slightly apologetic: “I want to get them bubbles but I don’t know which one.”
So this year I’m just going to answer it properly. I’ve spent twenty years doing bubble shows, and I use this kit every single week, in school halls and care homes and muddy fields. Here’s what I’d actually buy, for which child, and why.
If they’re under five
Start small for the stocking. Little ones love a bubble they can hold. Louis Pearl’s Bubble Trumpet (£12.99) is the one I’d pick for a stocking – blow gently through it and you can catch the bubble on the end and pass it around. It’s a proper branded toy, made for ages 3 and up.
If you’d like a bigger present for a little one, Holly Pop’s Bubble Domes (below) works from age 3 too.
A giant wand makes a brilliant present for a little one too, as long as a grown-up makes the bubbles. You do the swishing, they do the chasing and popping, and you’ll get lots of laughter, big smiles and wide-eyed wow, all year round. Just use the right Fairy Liquid, and make your mix the night before, or a few days before, so it’s ready to go on the day. My free recipe is here: giant bubble mixture without glycerin.
If they’re five to ten and it’s going to rain all winter
This is Holly Pop’s Bubble Domes, my new and improved indoor kit. I built it out of the indoor workshops I run in school halls, because people kept asking me what I use. They blow giant bubble domes over a little toy on the tray, make wobbly bubble caterpillars and try shapes, all on a kitchen table rather than in the garden, and it comes with a play-along video of me showing them how. Back in stock very soon – keep an eye on the page.
It is also, honestly, the only thing in my shop that sells better in November and December than it does in June. Which tells you something about British winters.
If they want the big ones
The XL Tri Bubble Wand (£19.99) plus a pack of Giant Bubble Powder Pro (from £6.99) is the easiest route to a genuinely enormous bubble, and the wand will last years. Mine have.
If you want one present rather than two, the Junior Bubbleologist Kit (£14.99) has the wand and the mix together and is sized for smaller arms.
A present for the whole family
A giant wand isn’t only a present, it’s a family activity. When Christmas dinner’s been eaten and everyone needs some fresh air, take it out into the garden. Everyone joins in, from the little ones to the grandparents, and it brings the family together. Buying for the grandparents? A bubble wand is a lovely idea, so there’s something to do together when the grandchildren visit. And buy yourself a Christmas present too. Why not get a few?
If you want the thing people stop and stare at
The Kid Inside a Bubble Wand (£39.99 to £44.99). You stand a child in the middle and lift a bubble up over their head, and they are, briefly, inside it. I’ve done this at hundreds of events and I have never once seen a child not laugh.
It needs a bit of space and a grown-up helping, so it suits a family who’ll do it together rather than a child let loose in a bedroom.
If they already have everything
Powder. Nobody ever thinks to ask for more bubble powder and everybody runs out. A top-up pack of Giant Bubble Powder Pro costs less than a box of chocolates and gets used far more.
Or The Art of Blowing Bubbles book (£7.99) if you want something that sits under the tree and doesn’t need a bath afterwards.
If you’ve left it late
The Bubble Blow Activity Sheets (£6.99) are an instant download. Eleven printable sheets, no postage, no waiting. I added them for exactly this reason – every year somebody orders on the 22nd and I have to be honest with them about Royal Mail.
A word about posting
I post everything myself, from here, usually the same day or the next. But December is December, and Royal Mail gets what Royal Mail gets. I’ll put the last safe order date on the website and in my newsletter as soon as Royal Mail publishes theirs, and if you’re ordering for Christmas I’d rather you went a week earlier than you think you need to.
If you’re overseas: yes, I ship worldwide (not to EU countries). Put your address in at the checkout and it’ll work out the postage before you pay. I won’t pretend it’s cheap on the bulky kits – it isn’t, and I’m sorry about that. If the number at the checkout looks mad, email me and I’ll see what the real cost comes to for your address.
And if you’re buying for a grown-up
The Smoke Bubbles Kit (£90 to £95) is the one that makes adults go quiet. It’s a bubble with smoke inside it, and when it pops the smoke stays behind in the shape of the bubble for a second. It needs a vape device and vegetable glycerine, bought separately, and it is firmly not a children’s toy – but if you know someone who likes making things, this is the present.
What I’d actually do
If you asked me to pick one, for a family with children of mixed ages who want something they’ll all do together on Boxing Day when everyone’s had enough of screens: Holly Pop’s Bubble Domes, with a pack of powder alongside it so it doesn’t run out in a week.
Want more ideas for after Christmas? Here are 50+ ways to play with bubbles.
Any questions at all, just reply to this or drop me a message. I’d much rather spend five minutes helping you pick the right one than have you guess and get it wrong.
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