The Candery Cotton Candy Machine - Bright & Colorful Candy Floss Maker for Hard Candy, Sugar-Free Treats, Homemade Sweets - Includes 10 Cones & Scooper - Perfect for Birthday Parties, Carnival Events & Home Dessert Making

My 8 year old wanted a cotton candy maker for Christmas, that's all she cared about - well, I always get nervous buying something when I see negative reviews in the mix, but I though "what the heck, lets try it". Let me tell you, I couldn't be happier with this purchase! This machine works BEAUTIFULLY! It's not that noisy (as others mentioned) I've had industrial sized machines, they ALL make some sort of noise, that's just par for the course - but compared to other cotton candy machines of this size, this one is actually quieter than most. Another gripe I see people making is that it doesn't work well or "takes too long" - you have to read the instructions, it clearly states you HAVE to let it heat up for 5 minutes first, this makes ALL the difference in the world! (Just like industrial machines, it's got to get up to the heat level - like preheating your oven before cooking) and if you turn off the machine for a couple minutes to restock your supplies, let it preheat again for another 2-4 minutes. It produced the fluffiest, prettiest cotton candy and it was absolutely easy to roll onto the cones. The trick there is to not stick the cone into the machine to gather the cotton candy, lay it parallel to the top of the machine on the SIDE of the opening (not over the heating element or it will melt the candy on the cone) and just twirl, it gathers BEAUTIFULLY and quickly! Also a HUGE selling point for me is the ease of cleaning! I thought it would be difficult as melted sugar solidifies when cooled and it will collect, all over, the inside of the heating unit and plastic collection rim - but it was actually VERY VERY easy to clean! A huge plus for the adults lol The heating center comes out by pulling it up (after it's cooled of course!) and everything comes clean with a rinse or light wiping with a sponge and hot water! Simple! I LOVE that you can use flossing sugar, regular sugar: we dye & flavor our own with food coloring & extract, then let it "dry" for a little while. Even used it when it was still a little moist with NO problems! We made orange, lemon, root beer, and rum flavored ones (for the adults lol) using regular extracts you buy in the stores! AND it takes hard candies! We didn't have any sugar on Christmas morning, thanks to our Christmas coffee lol so we used the candy canes off the tree - some of the best cotton candy I've ever had! So far we have used: candy canes, peppermints, jolly ranchers, butterscotches, and hard root beer candies, and they've all worked perfectly! (You can't use anything tacky or gummy like taffy, gummy bears, starbursts etc obviously) Also love that you can use the sugar free candies as we have a few ppl with dietary restrictions in the family - so sugar free cotton candy it is for them, and it comes out perfectly & cant tell the difference in taste! Sorry for the long review but I'm just EXTREMELY happy with this purchase and product! It does come with a handful of cones (although I prefer the bigger ones since the cotton candy doesn't really stick to the skinny ones that well) and doesn't come with any flossing sugar, but the price is worth just the machine alone and since you can use anything you already have, or just buy a cheap bag of $2 candies - totally worth it! Thank you for bringing smiles to all 3 of my kids faces (as well as the adults) this will definitely be in rotation on a regular basis and will DEFINTELY be used for their birthday parties! No more store bought cotton candy with questionable additives that doesn't taste that great to begin with. The way my kids eat cotton candy, it paid for itself already! ?