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

I was super worried about this. I bought it on an impulse and then read a lot of reviews that basically made me expect to spend 15+ minutes to get a tiny amount of gritty, low-quality candy. The worst reviews said it broke, it was impossible to take apart, or it just straight up didn't work. I fired it up yesterday when it arrived and could not be more pleased with the results. I used a single Jolley Rancher, crushed up with a hammer in a ziplock bag and poured carefully into the provided tablespoon scoop. I then topped of the rest of the tablespoon with regular old white sugar. Let it heat and spin for 10 minutes, then turn it off for just long enough to add the sugar/candy without it spraying everywhere. Turn it back on immediately. Use the stick vertically only for long enough to attach the cotton candy to the cone. Then pull it out of the bowl and hold it horizontally above the center, rotating it and moving a bit as necessary to make sure you're pulling the candy out of the bowl. Worked fantastically for me. Taste was great, texture was great, after 1 or 2 tries I got the hang of it and it was really easy to use. Takes like 2 minutes or less to go through the 1 tbsp of sugar/candy, and made a reasonably good amount of cotton candy. Don't expect it to be a huge bag like you buy. I let it spin and heat for 5 minutes or so in between adding sugar to make another cone. Later I got a bit ambitious and decided to try about 1.5-2 tablespoons, despite the instructions saying not to use more than 1 at a time. Sure enough, it converted most of the sugar/candy into a ring of melted sugar flung around the edge of the bowl and actually made about 50% LESS cotton candy than just using a single tablespoon. So I guess stick to the directions. Cleanup was surprisingly easy. A little hot water on the bowl sections and the caked on sugar that I was sure would be a nightmare fell right off. I wiped it down with a soapy sponge and rinsed it. Total cleanup time was like 5 minutes. I'm fully expecting to gain 70 pounds in the next month making cotton candy every day. This thing works if you use it right. Don't worry about the bad reviews.

After reading negative reviews, I thought this would make bad quality cotton candy. It makes really good cotton candy, and it is overall an amazing machine, but it has some pros and cons. Pros:It is fun to make up fun flavors It is really, really easy to clean (in warm water) It is enjoyable to gather the webs of cotton candy and make cones Cons:It is so fun making cotton candy, it is hard to stop coming up with new flavors. Makes brittle, crunchy cotton candy if you don't let it heat up enough. (5-7 minutes works really well) The cotton candy is really good, but it makes small cones with 2 candies, but good sized cones with 4 candies. For best results, don't put hard candy in if it hasn't heated up for at least 5 minutes. If you are making multiple batches, make some cotton candy and put it on a plate, then leave the machine running while you get more candy ready. Whole hard candies work the best, so don't use flossing sugar or crushed hard candies, or you have to heat the machine up for 10-15 minutes. It still works well, but whole hard candies work better. I have been experimenting, and some really good recipes for cotton candy are: 1 raspberry lifesavers+1 pineapple life savers, 1 werther's+1 rootbeer barrel, and one red lifesavers/cherry candy (something red and fruity)+ 1 red hot candy. Don't listen to bad reviews, because they are just reviews from people that don't read the instructions. This is a really, really good product. I would definitely buy it again.

fun machine. Has been well used by my ten year old. It says you can crush up hard candy and you can but... the cotton candy does not fluff up as much. We found regular table sugar works great and tastes great. We have not tried buying special flavored sugars yet. She has made cotton candy for neighbor friends as free treats, for home parties, for yard sale to earn money and every time it works great. We do wish the cord was a bit longer for outside use, we just use an extension cord though so its fine. Clean up is fairly easy. Hard for her to do on her own because the middle metal part has to be pulled off once cooled and its really hard to do without the help of an adult. The rest of it cleans in hot water fast. Its a quiet machine. we love it and every time its used we think how much of a great buy it was for so much fun. *as far as time to make .. for large puffy cotton candy , it can take a good 30 min to make about 7 . remembering from the last time she made a bunch to deliver to friends. As long as you follow the instructions closely, allowing proper heat up time etc , and practice a lot (takes some getting used to on how to make it) it will be a lot of fun for you too!

I had this machine for years and it was a hit at every party we had! It’s easy to use and it’s not heavy. It’s a bit hard to clean but it worked great!

For the price this is a really a great little machine. If you want something that will make huge swirls of cotton candy quickly maybe spend more on a bigger machine but for a backyard treat with the neighborhood kids or our 4 year olds birthday party this will work great. It was much easier to clean then I expected after using it the first time, Hot water just melts all the candy off so don't be afraid of it when you see the mess. Also, I learned that stopping the machine before putting the sugar in and then restarting it really cuts down on the amount of sugar flying around the room. It may have said that in the instructions but I was excited and thought I knew what I was doing way before I actually did. But I figured it out and got the hang of it. Seriously though for under $30 this machine will get a lot of use and enjoyment and I am really pleased. It also matches our popcorn maker and snow cone machines which is a great bonus for me. Really cute retro looks and this brand has been great for our needs.

We had a home cotton-candy machine when I was little, and I feel like it worked much better and faster than this one does. EFFICIENCY/ SPEED: Prepare to spend at least a couple of minutes for each small cotton candy you wish to make. And it's recommended that you stop the machine from spinning before adding more sugar or hard candy, so that also slows down the process. SIZE OF COTTON CANDY: Don't expect to ever be able to make the super large ones that you can get commercially. In addition to how long it would take, once the cotton candy you're working on gets beyond the small size, you won't really be able to add to it, because the bowl of this machine is too small. You'll end up with a partially-melted sticky mess. So plan on small WHAT TO USE IN THE MACHINE: When I was little, we used plain old table sugar in the machine we had, and it worked great. So did Koolaid. With this machine, regular sugar works, but it makes and already slow process even slower. I had never known that you could use hard candy in a cotton candy machine, but it works great, all things considered. Hard candy turns into cotton candy much faster than table sugar does. Maybe because it already has crystalized the sugar - or, I don't know. But I love that I can use hard candy that's free from artificial colors, because my daughter can't have Red #40. That's in all of the flossing sugars that I found, but I have "all natural" hard candy without the artificial dyes and that's what I use. Starlite peppermints work great. Bottom Line: I think I wish I had purchased a more expensive version. And I might still do that and give this one away. The process is too slow. But if your choice is this or nothing because of cost or any other reason, then this is an acceptable choice for small amounts of cotton candy at home.

Honestly, I did not expect much from a $25 cotton candy maker. I used my kids as an excuse to buy this for Christmas, because I love cotton candy as much as they do, if not more. Our 8-year-old was really excited when he opened it Christmas morning. I couldn't wait to try it out! I read the instructions and I think that's what really helped make this a success for me. I have made cotton candy on 5 or 6 occasions now and I feel like I have a little system down. As the instructions state, I let it run for about 10 minutes before pouring in the floss sugar. I have found that letting it heat up/run between 10-15 minutes ensures that I will get a nice, fluffy product. Then I use paper cones and start turning it around vertically and then switch to horizontally once I've gone around a few times. I got the hang of it really fast. We get 2 small cones of cotton candy per 1 tablespoon of floss sugar. I thought clean up would be a nightmare, but it really is not. Once the water is warm enough to melt the sugar off, I clean the removable piece with some mild dish soap and make sure to dry it thoroughly. I also wipe down the outside of the machine. We love this so much that we haven't put it away since we got it! If you're looking to make candy for several people at a time, or big serving sizes like you get at a carnival, this is probably not the machine for you. If you're looking for a cost-effective way to have a bit of real cotton candy at home, it is worth every penny at under $25. As long as your expectations are reasonable, you're going to love this machine.

Exactly what I wanted