Italian charm bracelets.....

[DizBelle]

Can anyone give me an idea of the cost of the base italian charm bracelet and the average cost of the charms to add to it?

Thanks!

 

[Karibeth19]

I don't know how much they are at WDW, but the base bracelets are usually $10-$20. The charms are where they get you. You can find some as cheap as $5-$10, but most of the nice ones, including the Disney ones, are $18-$30 a piece. I wound up spending $75 on the base and 4 charms (and I think I got one as a buy one, get one free!).

 

[goofy4tink]

I got my dd a stainless steel base bracelet last Dec. and paid $18.00 for it. The charms were about $15 and up. I got her's in MK.

 

[AZKathy]

You can get the ones with the Disney characters in a lot of the gift shops like where the costume jewelry hangs. They are stainless steel and run around $3.00 per charm. They have the starter bracelets there, but I don't remember how much they were. I guess they were around $10.00 each. I had a bracelet already, so I did not look at them.

Now, if you want the really Zoppini type charms, you can find them in ItalyPavillion in the World Showcase and they run around $27.00/charm.

I just bought the cheaper ones and they look just fine. I could not resist and got most all of the charms with the characters on them. The ones with Mickey with the little crystals...if you get one, watch out, the crystals do fall out.

 

[mazzarafe]

I got mine from a website online and it's the base bracelet with the Mickey icon etched on it. Only cost me about $5 because I had bought 2 charms with it.

While we were in Disney my DH and 2 DD's bought me 3 new charms for Christmas at World of Disney. Spent about $80 which wasn't too bad. I do have the more expensive charms on mine.

I wanted to get DD a base bracelet and a few of the cheaper charms for Christmas. I did get the ones that hang with the costume jewelry, the base bracelet had the Mickey head in the crystal and picked out 3 character charms to put on it. I had to do this without her seeing me, so that night at the hotel I peeked at the bracelet and NOWHERE on it did it state that it was stainless steel. So I opted to buy here the same one as mine and it was $18 with tax at the Poly gift shop.

But beware with the cheaper charms. When I got home the day before Christmas and put the bracelet together one of the charms did not slide the correct way to attach it to the bracelet. Boy am I glad that it was only $3, but bummed that she only has 2 charms on her bracelet. I think for her birthday I'm gonna get her a good charm, and I think my mom is gonna do the same. She is nuts about having the same bracelet as me.

They also started selling this on Disneystore.com for the same prices I've seen elsewhere.

Have fun starting your bracelet!

 

[mazzarafe]

Oops. I posted without giving you the website that I got my bracelet from.

www.swmse.com

Check them out, they have some very good deals and they kept in touch with me thru the whole process by email.

 

[Tiger926]

As one of the previous posters said, the cheaper charms don't necessarily fit the Disney bracelets. Check the link from the previous poster and you will see that the only official Disney charms are created by Bracciale - but charms by Casa D'Oro, Zoppini or Ganzo will also work as they are made specifically to fit, or, you can buy base bracelets from these companies, and attach the charms to them. This is what our local boutique is doing - they have trouble getting in the Disney base bracelets, so they sell the Casa D'Oro base bracelets, and attach the Disney charms to them as they have an easier time of receiving the Disney charms then the bracelets. The Disney base bracelets can be ordered, but the wait is very long, and the bracelet is exactly the same, except it's stamped with the official Walt Disney World seal on the back. The owner believes that they are made at the same factory as this is what the charm rep told him. The seal is located on the back of the charms, so once charms are on bracelet, it's the same thing! The good thing about it is that all of these companies sell licensed products such as sports teams, cartoon characters, Precious Moments, so the quality is very good! Here are 2 excellent links:

http://www.italiangoldcharms.com

http://www.bracciale.com

I do know of some relatives who made the cheaper charms fit (they had to bend and twist, which in my opinion compromises the integrity of the bracelet) onto their more expensive Ganzo bracelets, but we aren't taking any chances with our bracelets. We only buy the official Disney charms or the other 3 brands mentioned and that way we won't have to worry about losing any, plus the quality of these charms is exceptional. We find that the cheaper charms don't look as nice, plus they are selling non-licensed Disney characters that don't look very good - sure they are cheaper, but we would pay extra for the real thing! Unfortunately, the prices are high, so we will add to our bracelets over the years! This is something that DH and I are looking forward to with my bracelet, but most especially our baby daughter's bracelet as we take her to Disney World for the first time in May. We think these charms are the perfect souvenirs!

Tiger

 

[DizBelle]

Ok - so it looks like you can go either "high-dollar" or "low-dollar" on the italian charm bracelet.

high dollar - you can get the more expensive, marked as stainless steel bracelet for about $18 and then buy charms for about $25 and up (ouch!)

low dollar - you can get the cheaper, costume, starter bracelet for about $6 and then you can get charms for about $3

I suppose you could combine and get the more expensive bracelet and get the cheaper charms. Would there be any problems with the cheaper charms fitting on the more expensive bracelet?

What I think I'd like to do is get the more expensive bracelet and load it with mostly cheap charms and then get only "special" charms in the more expensive variety. Anybody have an opinion on this approach?

Has anyone seen any charms for Mary Poppins (the best film of all time!!!)?

 

[mazzarafe]

lfontaine,

That's exactly what I did for my DD. I got her the good bracelet with etched Mickey icon on each link and bought her the $3 charms to go on it. I had bought 3 but one of the ones I got was defective and I couldn't put it on the bracelet.

If you go to the Disney Store website you can look at pictures of a few of the charms and the good Mickey bracelet. The charms link together by sliding the top section to the left and you hook it on to the previous link. My defective link slid to the right so I did not have anything to link it onto seeing how it was going in the opposite direction.

The cheaper starter bracelet that is on the racks with the cheaper charms does not say that it is stainless steel on the back nor does it have the Disney stamp on it and it cost me $8. That's what I get for being in a rush. I was trying to get her bracelet while DH had 2 dd's getting my links for my Christmas present.

I know what you mean about the better ones being alittle steep. I only had gotten 2 charms on mine when I started it. But now DH and DD's have something that they can now buy me for my birthday, Mothersday and Christmas. The hutch and my curio cabinets are too full, so we needed something else for them to get me.

So, yes you can put the cheaper charms on the nicer bracelet just be careful when you pick them out to look at them in the package and be sure that they will slide the correct way. I know this sounds strange, but once you look at a bracelet and stretch it out you will know what I mean.

I'm sorry, but I do not recall seeing Mary Poppins for one of the choices for either the cheap or the expensive charms.

 

[Brier Rose]

Also be aware that depending on the size you may need, you may have to buy 2 starter bracelets.
My dd's wrist is not big at all, but the starter bracelet was a few links shy of fitting properly.
What we did was get one with the etched Mickey, one plain silver, and mixed them together. That plus one charm was $50.00 at the Contemporary.

 

[DizBelle]

Could I buy one starter bracelet and 4 - 5 charms and add them to the bracelet or do the charms "replace" links on the bracelet?

 

[hammertime]

My advice is that you don't spend alot on the starter braclet. Outside of WDW you can buy 2 or 3 charms and get the braclet for free. You'll start to get obsessed with them and as you get more and more charms you'll have to start taking off some of the starter braclet links.

I currently have two charm braclets(my mom got me started on the braclets two years ago). One is completely full and the other has a watch on it. Both braclets have all different price ranges of charms on them. I bought 2 cheap $3 charms and Three expensive ones at the disney Store at WDW. They all fit together nice.

Beware that even when you buy the more expensive charms there is still a chance that the enamel will come off of them. I refuse to buy any more Zoppini brand charms because the enamel is always coming off of that brand.

If you shop around you can find expensive charms for as cheap as $8. You really have to shop around though.

Happy braclet hunting!

 

[wdwgrannyb]

I bought all the characters I liked, plus birthstone(my family) icons at the World of DS in DTD and didn't need a starter bracelet. try "disney Italian charms" on ebay for Mary Poppins, I saw her there. our local Hallmark store carries charms and watches, plus I saw disney watches on "Italian charms" on ebay. I've started a second bracelet now, too. I love them.

 

[Sarahsmom85]

My dd gave me one for my birthday she paid the mall prices. I got a few on my trip to Las Vegas for $3. I have had trouble with all of the ones my dd got me and none with the cheaper ones. Becareful with any charm that has a edge. They can get caught on things and pull off. I wear mine all the time and I have pulled the dog off one and the birthstone came out of the other. The cruise ship spring can poping out when trying to add aother charm. I did have that one replaced. Now I try to pick out flatter styles. I'm ruff with everything.

 

[Sinderella]

I recently bought the cheaper bracelet from e-bay and it came with a disney charm. The bracelet and charm and shipping came to $10.00. I then bought a couple more charms off of ebay. i am happy with them all. I planned on getting a bracelet for my 17 yo DD when we get to WDW but sounds like I'm better off going thru e-bay from a price standpoint. Each charm can either replace a blank or add to the length of the bracelet until it fits properly.

 

[PattiPB]

Are there are charms that are WDW exclusives??? I just got one for Christmas, and I am hoping to add to my charm collection at DL and WDW.

Also, what villains have you seen? I've seen Queen of Hearts, Old Hag, Cruella and Hook's hook.

Patti

 

[DizBelle]

Originally posted by wdwgrannyb
I bought all the characters I liked, plus birthstone(my family) icons at the World of DS in DTD and didn't need a starter bracelet. try "disney Italian charms" on ebay for Mary Poppins, I saw her there. our local Hallmark store carries charms and watches, plus I saw disney watches on "Italian charms" on ebay. I've started a second bracelet now, too. I love them.

Oh! So can I forget the starter bracelet, just buy 18 charms and link them all together for my bracelet?

Now, the barrage of questions:
- Are the cheaper ones really only $3?
- Are there some that are less than that or more than that?
- Do they sell "blank" charms for really, really cheap?
- Are there italian charms with a dangle (of the cheaper variety) and how much are they? If so, what sorts of dangles have you seen?
- If I go to the World of Disney store at DTD when I get there (see countdown below) should I be able to find every charm I could ever want?
- At the World of Disney store, are they located in the jewelry room?
- Do they have charms for the attractions? Like my pin collection, I'd like to get a charm for each of my favorite attractions.

Can you tell I'm eager to get my bracelet?

 

[DizBelle]

One more question - do they have the disney alphabet letter charms in the cheaper version?

 

[DizBelle]

bumping to hopefully get answers to the myriad of questions in my last two posts.

Thanks!

 

[goofy4tink]

Is there some trick to getting these blasted things onto the starter bracelet??? I can't seem to make it work. Help!!!!! I really don't want to have to take the thing to my jeweler and have him laugh at me.