Smitten with Smiggle

I love stationery.

No I really, really love stationery.  I always have.  Even as a child, I loved having nice notebooks, perfect pencil cases, pretty pens and fabulous folders.  Many years later and the obsession is bigger and better and I love all things stationery; often spending many happy hours browsing new stationery items to add to my collection.

Smiggle is my new favourite brand crush.  A new company to hit the UK this year from Australia, Smiggle is a stationery shop that calls you in with it’s bright colours and almost retro feel; everywhere you look there is colour and an endless supply of appealing and pretty things.

Depsite being in the UK since February of this year, Smiggle is a new brand on my radar and this week I was invited to visit the new store in Solihull to see what I thought. “Where a smile meets a giggle” is the brilliant origin of the name and we certainly did plenty of smiling.

It is very  impressive.  Not only is it one of the most visually appealing shops that I have been in for a long time, but the product range is fantastic.  There is everything from pens, notebooks, erasers, pencil cases, key rings and so much more.  Everything is laid out in such a way that it is easy to find and they actively encourage you and your children to try things out before you buy which is a real positive when you are shopping with children in tow.

They firmly believe that a visit to a Smiggle shop should be an interactive experience for children and there is a big colouring station for the children to let their creative juices flow; with huge sheets of paper to colour, doodle on challenge themselves with a word search.  This of course also gives kids a great opportunity to try out some of the pens that Smiggle have to offer.

Many of the Smiggle products are surprising and this is a speciality of their designs; they like everything to be fun and inspiring but also multifunctional.  There are pens that contain a ball bearing maze, stackable markers that are scented, colour change pencils, pens that look like pencils, umbrellas that change colour when they get wet or alarm clocks that project the time on to the ceiling.  All such original ideas that make the shopping experience more interesting and there is a really sensory feel to the whole shop.

Alongside the wonderful stationery products, Smiggle also sell a range of gift ideas and these were the things that the children loved.  Many of the gifts have a retro feel to them; pin art which my children loved; snake puzzles, jump elastics, cats cradles, rainbow twirling ribbons, water lamps all things that I recognise from my own childhood but have been created with the Smiggle colour and flair. For parents there are boredom buster cards with ideas to keep bored children happy and a favourite of mine; a dice story game which is a great way to get children to make up stories at the roll of a dice.

Another obsession of mine is bags and boy do Smiggle have an amazing range of bags.  From sturdy, good sized rucksacks with bright designs to the dainty and beautiful satchels, there are lots to choose from.  The satchels certainly caught my eye and even though they are probably designed for children, I may have to go back and get one for myself.

There were so many amazing things in Smiggle that I could mention but you really do need to go and see for yourselves.  There are currently eleven shops in the UK; Bath, Brighton, Bristol, Crawley, Guildford, Kingston, Leicester, Reading, Richmond, Wandsworth, Westfield Stratford and Solihull with a new store opening before Christmas in the Bullring, Birmingham. There are also plans to open more stores in the UK over the next twelve months.

I will certainly be returning to Smiggle before Christmas as there are so many brilliant ideas for Christmas presents and stocking fillers.  I will also be enjoying December thanks to the Smiggle advent calendar which is just about the most exciting thing to buy a stationery addict and the children might think that it is for them, but that advent calendar is all mine.

We were invited to spend some time in the new Smiggle store in Solihull and we were given some gifts to take home.  All images and opinions are our own.