Nostalgia Cotton Candy Machine - Retro Cotton Candy Machine for Kids with 2 Reusable Cones, 1 Sugar Scoop, and 1 Extractor Head – White

We purchased this cotton candy maker to use and have fun with this summer. I wanted to try it out because it uses candy that you probably already have around the house and you don't need to order anything special to use it. I also liked the fact that you can make it using sugar-free candies as well, that way I can enjoy the treat with my children.It's ready right out of the box with just a couple pieces to assemble. You must put the extractor head, bowl and rim on top of the main unit and you're ready to roll. It also comes with two plastic cones so you can get started right away. It does not come with any candy or sugar so you need to have those.I read several reviews and watched some videos that I found on the web so I would make sure that I knew how to use it.After assembling, turn the unit on and let it heat up for 5 minutes. Turn the unit off and add your candy, sugar or sprinkles. Turn the unit back on and just shortly the floss starts appearing. Take your cones and start circling the inside the bowl to get it started on the cone. Now you can just hold over the unit and twist the cone over and over again to wrap the floss around the cone. It was actually pretty easy and it worked perfectly.We made a couple of different batches and we turned the machine off in between each batch because the extractor head spins when the machine is on. We would insert our candy while the machine was off and then turn the machine back on to make cotton candy.We used lifesavers the first few times and then we used blue raspberry flavored and colored decorating decors from Cake Mate (just the standard cookie/cupcake sugar sprinkles that come in the cake baking section of the grocery store). They each turned out terrific and had amazing flavor. The smell of the blue raspberry cotton candy making was fantastic. The sprinkles did seem to take a little longer to start making than the life savers did.It makes the same texture as carnival cotton candy but honestly, the taste is much better. Cotton candy just has a ... well, a cotton candy flavor but when you taste it and it tastes like yummy tropical flavors, etc, you will be amazed. This is cotton candy on a whole other level. Yum!You can order sugar and cones for it right here on Amazon but you probably already have candy around the house that you can use and you can even make your own cones with just rolled up paper if the 2 plastic ones included are not enough.

After reading the reviews about this cotton candy machine I was a bit worried. I read reviews but I also take them with a grain of salt. Face it, many people don't read what a product really does let alone the instructions. So I thought that if it wasn't what I wanted, I would just return it. I looked at the Waring brand too. But a little research showed that this unit gets hotter and since the sugar needs to get melted by the maker I thought hotter would be better.Once the machine arrived I opened the box, wiped all the parts clean and started in.First off let me say that this machine does work as advertised. Period. I did not have any issues or unrealistic expectations.Though I agree with the other reviews that the instructions are a little short, they are accurate. How much information do you need to heat a machine, shut it off, put in a scoop of cotton candy floss sugar, turn it back on and roll a paper tube around for a few minutes? It was that easy.It produced a light and very fluffy product with Mary Mack's Cotton Candy Express brand sugar floss that I also bought from Amazon (which I find a bit expensive).As per all the reviews I wasn't expecting it to make much in one go. But I was pleasantly surprised at the size of the cotton candy ball. It is cotton candy after all and it is supposed to be fluffy. But it got to a size where I didn't put in another scoop of sugar for fear of not being able to continue to efficiently turn it without worry of hitting the center heating element. Was it a lot of cotton candy? No, as other reviewers stated... but it was very fluffy which made it look large. Again, like cotton candy should be. Plus I also purchased it for not only my sweet tooth but for my grandchildren as well. I actually find a single amount useful because there is no need to give that much sugar to the kids at once. It is an ideal amount for smaller children though teens and adults may want to make a double or triple batch.Being a new unit, I know that somethings require a breaking in period. The instructions said to heat the unit 3-5 minutes. I let it heat for 10. Once I poured the sugar in it began emitting cotton candy as soon as I turned the unit back on.I did not have sugar fly out of the unit as several people have mentioned. Though wisps of light cotton candy did float up it was pretty easy to catch that on the cone as well. I highly suspect that the people who had that issue must not have read the instructions and put in more than one scoop or a super huge scoop of floss. I fill the scoop to the top. Not heaping.There are plenty of videos on the net that show how to roll cotton candy on a tube. Start vertical until caught then turn the tube horizontally and don't touch the heating element. That's it. It's not rocket science. It is not difficult. The only thing is that it was coming out so fast I had roll the tube fast enough to catch it!The unit comes with two plastic cones to catch the cotton candy. For paper cones, I have been making some out of a single sheet of paper. Works great.Summery, it worked as advertised, surpassed my expectations. For less than 40 bucks it does the job considering the high output units cost over $200. To save over $200 I find it worth it to simply make 2-3 batches per adult serving. This is for the home, not a carnival!If I have any criticism at all it is that it would be nice if the unit had a smaller footprint to take up less storage space.