The New Disney Jewelry Obsession Chamilia vs. Pandora
My name Jill Laperle. My first trip to Disney was way back in 1978. I still remember the first glimpse of the Magic Kingdom with my parents. I even still have some of those unused original tickets buried in a box. I met and married my Prince Charming (Jeff) and we have 2 Princes (Riley and Aidan). Mickey and Minnie were kind enough to pop in at our wedding (thanks to our parents) and we had an amazing Disney honeymoon. Both of the boys had their first haircuts at the Main Street Barber Shop when they were a year old. In 2009 we became proud DVC owners at Baylake Tower. I have graduated from the College of Disney Knowledge and keep up with that training just to help people plan trips. I made it to the second round for Moms Panel after years of applying. I will keep trying knowing one of these years it will be my turn. I was a beta tester for Disney InsidEARS. I may have a small obsession with Disney Dooney and Harvey Seatbelt bags. I also love collecting Disney iPhone cases, Chamilia beads and other jewelry finds. I am always showing a Disney Side in a small way. Anything else you would like to know just ask. NDM #117
A few years ago, I started collecting the Disney Chamilia beads. They were mostly silver and fit in well with the rage of these new style charm bracelets. Then the company came out with a Minnie Mouse bow set with a necklace and earrings.
I was pretty happy with my collection. I didn’t have them all, but I had a good amount. I wore the bracelets a lot and the charms started to feel heavy and get a little banged up. Like I said, I wore these a lot. Now I was wearing them occasionally and unless I bought another bracelet I was pretty much out of room.
Fast forward to earlier in 2014 when Disney announced Pandora will be taking over the design and production of these charms. I will admit I was curious how different the designs would be and started following the news for this closely. The side effect of this announcement was now my charms are considered hard to find and much sought after and have started showing up on the secondary market selling for insane prices. This made my curiosity spike up a bit more. Now I am thinking do I sell my current collection to support the new habit or do I mix the 2 brands and make it work?
So far I have decided I need to give up my completest personality and not get charms that look almost identical to ones I already have and only get charms I truly love. I have one charm as of right now and got a really nice inexpensive chain from Pandora to wear it on. I have not started down building the bracelet again yet. I have seen some posting of receipts totaling over $1200 to get what has been released so far. This is one of the main reasons that I am accepting all the charms will not be mine. Plus, I like my Chamilia charms, so I am thinking I will mix my favorites from both brands for a new fun bracelet. I never really thought about placement before, but the more I follow posts in my Facebook group on the subject, the more I realize I need to step up my game and build a cool looking bracelet.
What do you think? Do you have a Chamilia set and will now start down the Pandora road?
