Before you buy a new project, here are some ways to tell if a craft kit is good and worth your money!
If you’re here, you’re probably thinking of buying a craft kit but you’re not sure how you tell if a craft kit is good? Will it be nice quality? Will it work? Will it be worth the money? There are lots of reasons that craft kits are great:
Why should you buy craft kits?
- They’re easy to buy
- They usually cost less than purchasing all the supplies separately
- It’s a great way to try something new
- They make fantastic gifts
- They’re easy to use (usually)
- Crafts are fun!
But there are also SO many craft kits out there that it can be kind of overwhelming and hard to know which craft kits are good and which craft kits are terrible. So, that’s what we’re going to chat about today!
Where should I look for information about a craft kit?
Be sure to check for information about the craft kit on the:
- craft kit box itself
- online listing
- online reviews
- online photos
Ways to tell if a craft kit is good!
- Read the reviews – Yes, by now hopefully we all know to read the reviews before purchasing something. Even if you buy it in a store, you can usually look up reviews online first and it’s almost always worth it. Look for reviews that are both good and bad to help you decide, even better if there are photos included. Pay attention to reviews that mention how well the kit worked or didn’t work rather than critiques of subjective things like whether a person liked the colors or smell etc.
- Look at the photos carefully – Whether you’re look at photos on the package, online, or in the review section, look at the photos carefully. You want to be on the lookout for photos that show you people’s finished projects, the scale of the kit and the scale of the finished craft. AND you want to look for any photos that show you the actual contents of the kit.
There are lots of craft kits that only show pretty photos of finished crafts, but if you don’t find a photo showing the actual contents of the craft kit you might miss some important information in terms of amounts of supplies or tools that are or are not included. - Investigate the instructions – Look at the photo, reviews, box and description and see if you can find any information about the quality of the instructions. Instructions are 100% make or break for craft kits. If they are detailed and include photos, that’s great! But if you read reviews and people are saying the instructions are missing, confusing, poorly translated, or don’t contain any pictures, you should probably think again.
- Look at the price – Dollar store craft kits have a time and a place. They’re awesome for kids’ parties or quick rainy day activities, they’re not great for gifts or craft projects you want to keep around for a while. Look for a price that’s reasonable but not either way too expensive (in that case you could just buy the supplies yourself) or way too good to be true. I was looking at silk painting kits as a gift once and found that the kits actually cost a lot more than buying the supplies separately. I assume that was because the kit contained detailed instructions, but in that case, I could easily find good instructions and even classes online and then buy the supplies separately.
- Look for measurements – Don’t forget this one! You don’t want to buy a kit for a cute wall hanging only to find out it’s 6 inches wide instead of the 18 inches wide it looked like in the closeup picture.
- Pay attention to what’s included – Craft kits are no good if you purchase it, open it, and THEN discover a necessary tool is missing. I have no patience for that. No one wants to buy a craft kit for a painted wood sign and find out there’s no paintbrush inside. The only tool or supply that should be missing from a craft kit is something that everyone definitely has at home like a pencil.
- Quantity – A make or break craft kit quality for me is quantity. Does the craft kit provide enough supplies to make more than one of the craft? Or enough supplies in case something goes wrong? If I buy a soap making craft kit, I don’t want to end up with only one little bar at the end. Make sure you check this out, the reviews are a good place to investigate quantity if it’s not explained on the box. (The exception is something like an embroidery kit where you clearly are only going to make one. In that case pay attention to quantity of the individual supplies)
- Difficulty Level – Some craft kits give you an idea about difficulty level right on the box and that’s awesome. If it doesn’t say, that’s not a deal-breaker. You can google the type of craft + “tutorial” and get an idea yourself of how difficult it is. No one wants to open a craft kit only to find out it’s REALLY hard to do. I’m looking at you screenprinting.
- Creative Freedom – This one is personal preference. Pay attention to whether or not the craft kit allows you any creative freedom. Can you change up colors or patterns or details to suit your preference etc.? If yes, that’s awesome. Even better if there is enough in the kit to make more than one item each in different ways!
That being said, some people prefer a craft kit that doesn’t have a lot of creative freedom and where the end result will turn out exactly like the photos. And that’s totally ok!!! Embroidery kits are again a pretty good example of this. If you follow the instructions, it will look just like the picture. There is nothing wrong with that at all. Just pay attention to what kind of craft kit it is and what kind of craft kit you want!
So those are my tips and tricks for figuring out if a craft kit is good. To recap:
Signs of a good craft kit
- Good reviews with pictures of finished projects, photos of kit contents and reviews of kit quality
- Well-written and thorough instructions with photos
- Reasonable price that’s not too cheap but also not more expensive that purchasing the supplies separately.
- Enough quantity of supplies to complete the project, make more than one if appropriate, and to cover any mistakes or problems.
- Everything is included. No missing supplies or tools that you need to supply yourself (beyond things you definitely have at home like a pencil)
If you liked this, you may also like some of my other posts…
Craft and Knitwear Designer at Little Red Window Design
Welcome to Little Red Window! I’m Cassie, a professional craft and knitwear designer working in the field for more than 10 years. I have a degree in Art History from Northwestern University and a Master's Degree in Architecture and Design from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. I've designed more than 300 separate knitting patterns, hundreds of craft projects, and I love to bring joy to your crafts and knitting with well-designed, easy to understand tutorials and patterns.
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