The Grossery Gang Mushy Slushie Machine review

What are little girls made of? Sugar and spice and all things nice, that's what little girls are made of. What are little boys made of? Slugs and snails and puppy dog tails, that's what little boys are made of. Well, in my experience as a mum of both girls and a boy, kids of both genders absolutely love anything that is decidedly icky and squeal-inducing. This half term, I know we are going to have to make the obligatory horrible Halloween bakes, and the Madhouse kids have already bookmarked disgusting-sounding maggot brownies, chocolate graveyards, bogey tarts and eyeball cocktails. Hmmm lovely ! It was therefore a very safe bet that they'd love the Grossery Gang Mushy Slushie Machine that we were sent to review.

I'd vaguely heard of the Grossery Gang brand without knowing much about them. They are being promoted as "the craziest, zaniest new collectibles with attitude" and they are based on rotten groceries that have been left behind in an abandoned supermarket. The official website says : "This crusty crew of putrid products have hit their expiration dates and festered to life to create their own brand of filthy fun! There’s over 150 to find at the Yucky Mart including Putrid Pizza, Dodgey Donut, Shoccoli, Rotten Egg and more!" My initial thought was that the idea behind them was a bit of a rip-off of Shopkins, but both brands are made by the same company (Moose Toys) - Shopkins are cute, appealing and girlie (sold in pink packaging) whereas The Grossery Gang are nasty, repulsive and ... hilarious ! I don't go in for gender stereotyping but they are undoubtedly designed as a boys' version of Shopkins, although I know kids of both sexes will love them. They are also a spin-off of the Trash Pack range, also by Moose Toys, which has been discontinued. 

The Mushy Slushie Machine comes with two exclusive Slushie Grosseries that you will only be able to add to your collection if you buy this playset : Rotten Raspberry and Grimey Lime. They are both cute and appealing with translucent, glittery bodies and crazy eyes. Their names are written in bold print at the top of the Slushie Machine.

The Mushy Slushie Machine is part playset and part handy storage unit. In terms of interactive opportunities, you have a pull down switch under the Rotten Raspberry sign, which allows you to launch your grosseries and try to get them in the slushy cup. It's very hit-and-miss but that just made it even more fun and there were cheers every time one landed in the cup ! Once there are a few Grosseries in the cup on the top, you pull down the lever and they will fall though the machine and plop out at the bottom.

You get two little plastic cups which can be attached under the Grimey Lime sign to store your Grosseries in. The fridge door underneath also opens, giving you extra storage space, and if you still have homeless Grosseries, you can stash them in the big slushie cup at the top.

There are already over 150 characters to collect in the Grossery Gang and I'm sure there will be many more to come. There is also a Grossery Gang Yucky Mart playset which Galina reviewed over at Chez Maximka. You can build up your collection with Foil Bags and different sized containers that start at £2.50. Look out for special edition stocky sweets and ultra-rare mouldy veg too. I wonder how many hundreds of these will be making their way into Christmas stockings this year !

RRP : £14.99

for more information : www.flairplc.co.uk

Disclosure : We received the product in order to write an honest review.