If you have got little girls, big girls or even a few accessory loving ladies in your life then you can’t go far wrong than a trip to your local Claire’s store. A few weeks ago I was asked if I would like to take my daughter and a friend along to our local Claire’s store for a shopping spree to see what we could find. Little Bean is a typical little girl, she loves jewellery, hair things, handbags and nail varnish so I knew that I had a chance of earning myself some serious brownie points if I said yes, it was a no brainer!
I asked Little Bean who she would like to take on her shopping spree and she chose her school friend Miss A since she had been unable to attend her birthday party the previous weekend and so one sunny (but chilly) Sunday morning she hopped into the car and went to our local Claire’s store at Springfields in Spalding. This isn’t your ordinary Claire’s store I might add, it is one of their Claire’s Outlet stores so there are big bargains to be had there all year round as the price on the ticket is not the price that you pay. We had been given £40 per little lady to spend so they wasted no time in grabbing a little shopping basket each and looking around the store. First destination for both unsurprisingly was the Hello Kitty stand.
The girls really took their time to see what they liked and surprised me by not just grabbing at anything and everything, they really thought about what they were choosing which was no easy task since there are soooo many things to choose from. The Store Manager kept popping by to see how the girls were doing and offered the odd suggestions here and there if there were things the girls hadn’t spotted. After about 30 minutes I had a quick tot-up of their baskets and thought we were nearly at £40 each when the Store Manager pointed out that there is a special offer on in the Claire’s Outlet Stores until 23rd December where everything in the store qualities for the 5 items for £10!! Suddenly it appeared the girls had only spent £20 of their budget each and still had a way to go so they began looking again. Even in the main high street stores you will often find some great offers, if you’re unsure you can check them out online too.
Little Bean insisted that she wanted to buy a necklace for me and Miss A wanted to buy a brush/mirror set for her younger sister which I thought was very thoughtful of both girls since neither of them had been prompted in any way.
If you’re looking for stocking fillers or even pocket money bits and pieces then Claire’s is the ideal shop as there is something for every budget and to suit every taste from the pinks and pastels, to the brights and blacks. I asked the Store Manager about Ear Piercing as that is available in every Claire’s Store. They don’t ‘recommend’ a best age for getting ears pierced, this is totally at the discretion of the parents/guardians. They do pierce both ears at the same time though to avoid added stress for the client and so as not to have a wave of young girls walking around with one ear pierced when they didn’t want to go through it a second time. I would like to get Little Bean’s ears pierced one day but I won’t do it until she asks me and until I think she is responsible enough to take care of them properly. It was nice to see however that the ear piercing station is very clean and professional looking.
Once the girls had finally made their selections I had two very smiley girls on my hands with bags packed with everything from handbags and purses, to necklaces and bracelets, eye make-up, nail varnish and nail decorations, hair bands and ear muffs, even tree decorations, keyrings and a Hello Kitty Stationery set each. The pile shown below is just Little Bean’s purchases.
Now who else can I pop to Claire’s for?
DISCLAIMER: We were sent £80 worth of gift vouchers for the purpose of this shopping trip and post. All words, opinions and images are my own and may not be copied without my permission. I was not instructed what to buy or what to write.