Christmas time has come around once again. People have pulled their decorations out of storage and thrown them up all around the house. Some shining tinsel here. A glistening bauble there. The perfect excuse to be a little bit festive and joyful. Some people have a specific theme in mind, like me. The theme? Super duper nerdy! When I saw the Block Tech Christmas Carnival series 1 sets on sale in the Special Buys section at my local Aldi, I knew they would fit quite nicely into that previously mentioned theme. And my goodness, aren’t they adorable?
Retailing at just under £7, they come in 4 flavours. Ginger Bread House, Steam Train, Nutcracker, and Wreath. Resisting the temptation to buy all 4, I figured that the Ginger Bread House and the Steam Train were the best bets. I’m not really a fan of nutcrackers, and the wreath looked a little too fragile for my liking.
Once I got them home and cracked them open, I found that the boxes holding everything were deceptively large. Although they were well designed, the boxes had plenty of empty, excess space inside. Whilst it wasn’t exactly false advertising, the size of the boxes somehow make me feel like the finished builds would be much bigger than they actually were.
Easy and enjoyable
Snapping the pieces together was easy enough. As they fit together with the big-name brands, this is to be expected. There was no included tool like is sometimes included with more intricate builds, though. I did, on occasion, have to pull pieces apart to correct my mistake, something that would be more inconvenient without a helpful tool.
The step-by-step instructions were printed on good paper, with bright and colourful diagrams. They were clear, and made building easy. I did notice that some of the colours were slightly off. The biggest issue was figuring out the difference among the black, brown, and red bricks. I’m not sure if it was the light I was under, but those colours didn’t all look right on paper.
Charming and cost-effect
Each build took me about an hour of slow and methodical construction. I like to take my time when building. The 350-450 brick amount is pretty substantial for the price, though I thought maybe some bricks could have been swapped out for larger ones. Why have two 2×1 pieces when you could have one 2×2 brick? That kind of thing. When fully built, each offered a “cool movement” as advertised on the box. The Steam Train had spinable wheels, and the Gingerbread house had a chimney that could be swung back and forth. The spinning wheels I understand, but the moving chimney? A little odd.
Regardless, I think these Block Tech Christmas Carnival sets are ridiculously charming. They do retail for slightly more when not found in the Aldi Special Buys section, but they are still a decent value for money. Block Tech is undoubtedly a more cost-effective alternative to some leading brands. I hope that there is a series 2 next Christmas, as I would love to see a lovely big snowman added to my collection.
