Do I think these are cute? DUH. Do I think the price gets criminal really quick? 100% What adds up the most are the chunky letters beads! I have 4 kids and needed to be able to repeat letters to spell all their names & well, that required buying multiple packs of things. I also have tons of beads for bracelet making, but none of them had holes big enough to fit the rip cords, which required buying some more. I think you can cut costs by just doing just letter beads & pony beads. You could also invite some friends to do it with you & split the costs! I will say though, from a chaos standpoint, it was low mess & kept my kids happy. My 2 & 4 year old string beads for a while. I’m going to use my leftover beads to have my girls make a keychain for any upcoming friend birthdays Comment “PONY” (in honor of pony Beads)you want to see some of the materials I used! *if you don’t want to put names, you can easily do a fun word or an activity your kids liked “soccer”, “dance”, “football”, etc. You could also make them for YOUR keychain! It would be kind of fun!