My whole family is impressed with this toy! My daughter has been playing with it constantly since she opened it. I saw it on an Amazon ad and knew she would love it. I did want to share some details to hopefully help out some other parents out there: 1. The first time you use the cauldron, it should be charged. The toy doesn’t make a single sound, even when switched on, so we thought it needed to be charged, and only figured out the issue after: the sounds start once you pour the “potion” (jar of water) into the cauldron. The little receptors detect the water and begin the process. There’s no need to worry if you don’t hear a sound before that. 2. The “create” mode always has 7 cycles, starting with the potion/water. Add an ingredient, stir until you hear the tapping sound, then tap with the wand three times. That’s the cycle, and after 7 cycles, the mist begins and the magical reveal happens. 3. It doesn’t really matter if you add ingredients or not. Once the 7 cycles happen, the cauldron mists and reveals, regardless of whether you added the ingredients or not. The only thing required to start the cycling is the “potion” bottle of water, and you can just stir and tap without any other ingredients just the same. This is great! It means the toy has unlimited playability! 4. Once the little magical mixie is revealed after the first use, you can keep using the cauldron to reveal other things. We told my daughter that the special ingredients were mixed into the magical mixie, who now has the magic to help make anything she wants. There’s a little pink box (a little larger than a deck of cards) that snaps into the bottom of the cauldron, and that is how you can “create” anything you want! My daughter has conjured rings, small toys, and even cash for her brothers! Just put the item in the pink box, snap it into the bottom of the cauldron, turn the reset key, and add the potion/water. The magic happens over and over! 5. The “create” mode has a mist that helps hide the mechanics of the reveal, and the toy says the mist will work about 5 times. It comes with one mist refill, and you can buy more mist bundled with other spells. The cauldron is just a fog machine, and I am pretty sure regular fog liquid will work in it. I haven’t tried refilling yet, so I’m not sure how difficult the process will be without using their special refill bottle, but I’m going to try. If regular fog machine liquid works, there’s really no need to buy extra accessories at all. Simply refill with fog machine liquid and follow the 7 create modes using the potion/water bottle only. 6. The cauldron also has a “spell” mode which is just for adding potion, ingredients, stirring, and wand tapping. There’s no mist and no reveal, and the play continues as long as the child wants. That mode also won’t require any additional refills, though they do sell them and I bought one set. My daughter has not used that mode yet because the “create” mode is plenty long with 7 cycles of mixing and tapping, so she hasn’t felt the need to just do the stirring and tapping alone. She really loves the reveal! 7. Lastly, I want to give a shout out about the little mixie toy that comes in the cauldron on the first reveal. It us absolutely adorable! It makes cute sounds, is not too loud, and has several fun features! Using the wand, if you tap the gem on the mixie’s head once, that’s “spell mode” and the gem turns purple. Tap twice with the wand, and it’s in “wish mode” and you can ask for a wish and it will turn green if the wish is granted. If you hold the wand to the gem for a few seconds, the mixie will go into enchantment mode which helps/interacts with the cauldron and is adorable. All that magic uses the mixie’s magical energy, so it can be “refilled” by nurturing/petting, or letting the mixie rest. What an adorable toy! In all, my hat’s off to the creators of this toy. They hit every mark, from originality, to playability, to cuteness. My daughter loves this toy and we are very happy with it!
