July 31, 2006

Much to do about crayons

The 24 pack of Rose Art crayons are on sale at Target for $.10 each this week. They also have Crayola's 24 pack on sale, going for $.20 each. I decided to experiment and so I picked up a couple of the Rose Art packs (I already had gotten some Crayola packs two weeks ago when they were $.15 each at Office Depot). Let's face it, at a dime each even if they aren't as good as tried and true Crayola, I'm out a whopping twenty cents. I'm sure I can shake down the couch and come up with at least that much lost coinage. But, I digress.

Back home, I decided to check out and compare the colors these two different brands put in their 24 packs. It was interesting to see that most of the colors have the same names (there were a few with similar colors, but different color names) and that there were only three colors that did not have a match in the competitions package. (see photo's below - click to enlarge)


Now, this may all seem fairly trivial to you, butI'm a sucker for a mystery, so I had to know what the big difference in colors would be between the two companys. Crayola has an indigo, scarlet and cerulean that Rose Art does not have. Rose Art has a turquoise blue, orchid and forest green that Crayola does not have. Here is my thinking: some (girls) might like the Rose Arts better because of the orchid (lavender), and some (boys) might like the Crayola because it has two more blues in it. The Rose Art crayons have a more colorful paper covering the crayon (though not always very close to the REAL color of the crayon) while Crayola's papers are more subdued (but closer to true color in my opinion). I think the Crayola's color a bit more smoothly, but for a dime, the Rose Art crayons are just fine.

On a related note, Target also had the Rose Art washable markers for $.50 a set of 10. You can guess I bought a few of those to tuck away for stockings and gifts too!

Edit: Just a quick additional note here. Per the Crayola website, the retail price of their 24 pack is $2.49. There are also lots of fun things to explore on the Crayola site: printable pages, lesson plans, card creator, etc. Per the Rose Art website (which I won't bother to link to because it is mostly about Mega Blocks - hard to even find the crayons listed there. Weird, huh?) their 24 pack of crayons retails for about a buck. So, are we paying more for Crayola's name or are Rose Arts just made of cheaper materials. Or????

My fugal mind says a dime a pack no matter the starting price is a good deal. My "eye-out-for-a-bargin" mind says I'm "saving" more money paying the twenty cents for the Crayola pack. LOL! What do you think?

20 comments:

Jenni said...

Good to know! Thank you Jerri :)

Ann @TheAssetEdge said...

I'm glad to read your comments, because I haven't been very impressed with Roseart products in the past. That's funny to even write, because I almost always buy generic. I'll try the crayons!

Anonymous said...

I had found the "texture" difference between the two brands also. Rose Arts just not being quite as smooth. But I hadn't thought that there might be color differences. . . thanks for doing the investigation for me! =0) And honestly, my kids don't care about texture! I'm the only one who would notice and I'll just keep that little tidbit to myself while we're coloring together. =0)

Meg said...

So, reading this I am thinking, "Do I even know what brand the skanky, wrapperless crayons in our crayon drawer are?" No. I think it is time to forge ahead to a brave new world in which I toss the old crayons without further guilt.

Roseart and Crayola- here I come!

Meg

Mom of thirteen said...

I have a rule I follow when I "go through" the crayon storage box. If the crayone is less than half the original size, it gets tossed. That crayons get broken is a fact of life. That the papers are fun to peel off, is another. I don't mind "naked" crayons, but DRAW the line (snicker) at having tons of little bitty pieces of crayons hanging around.

Of course, if I was a really creative "good" mom, I would save all those little bits, heat them till soft and poor the goo into ice cube trays from Goodwill and then the little kids could have fun, chunky crayons. As it was, when I cleaned out the school cupboard, I filled a recyle bin with old papers, used up coloring books, and (horrors) childrens "art" work, AND threw away about 2 pounds of broken crayons.

Such is life.

~jer

Roberta said...

Crayola is definately the better investment imho.
The first time I bought roseart the crayons literally began warping and bending right in my daughters hands...one after another just smoodged to pieces. They ended up using the crayons like a sculpting compound (which dyed their hands various colors.) We have some now (yes, cuz I'm cheap ;)) and the girls and I were coloring the other day...like you said they do not color as smoothly nor brightly.
So I stocked up on Crayola at 20 cents a pack too. (also Crayola pencils& markers too.) :)
P.S. You crack me up about the color comparison...more detail than I'm used to seeing you do. :)

MommyLydia said...

I like Crayola etter. I spent a lot of time only buying the cheap Rosearts. Until I found myself using Crayolas once. I loved the feel of them better. The RoseArt ones quickly get a "scratchy" feel to them. And they are more likely to snap.

And, I notice, in Sunday School, (when the wrappers stay on. RoseArt's wrappers fall off easier too) that the Crayola crayons are the ones I generally still have when they are stubs. For some reason cheaper crayons just don't hold up. So as much as possible I look out for sales.

Jeana said...

Hi! Found you through Meredith at MLike Merchant Ships. I think they are made differently. A few years ago my kids and I used old muffin tins as molds and broke up old crayons into them, then let them soften in the sun to mold a round, multi-colored crayon. The Crayolas did great, but the Rosearts' color seperated from the wax in the sun. This was when I finally accepted that I was not imagining things when I thought the crayolas held up better. And 20 cents is still pretty cheap. :-)

Kayla said...

I can't help it! Not usually a slave to brandage, I AM when it comes to crayons. We are a crayola family!!! *grins sheepishly*

Amber said...

My dh sat down the other night to color with my dd. At that time we hadn't discovered the $0.20 crayola crayons and only had the Roseart in the house. He was horrified when he went to color the stem of a flower green with a green crayon and it came out more blue then green. It was the next day that we found the sale ... and we now have several boxes of crayola in the house :)

Anonymous said...

I've found Roseart crayon heads snap off easier! So, I'll spring for the 20 cent Crayola crayons if there's a choice.

Amy said...

Great post and great investigation. We must be on the same wavelength. I actually took all of my son's cheapo crayons and made giant crayons out of them. All the cheap ones were broken and the Crayola were still in tact. I guess my son isn't as hard on his crayons as I once thought. Maybe they were just that fragile. I will definitely pick up some new crayons- great post!!

Goslyn said...

I must say, the wax in the Rose Art crayons isn't as saturated with color ... which means the colors come out more pale on the page. So for my money, I'm still sticking with Crayola. Takes less crayon to make a nice dark color.

Unknown said...

I gotta get to Target

Cindee said...

I'm such a crayon snob! It's only Crayola for me for all the reasons stated above. I recently bought a Crayola crayon maker ($6.99 new/clearance) that we use to recycle the old crayons. The kids have a blast making new varigated crayons. I think it's funny how a post on crayons has garnered so many responses!! :-)

Mom of thirteen said...

Cindee,
I am wondering where you got the Crayola Crayon Maker for only $6.99? That is a great price! I have been wanting to get one of those gadgets, but the price has held me back. I followed your link and the price there is $17.45. Am I missing something? lol!

Crayons obviously have a special place in a mommy's heart. They are a staple of motherhood. So stock up ladies!

~jerri

Anonymous said...

Over here in the UK, most of the cheap brands of crayons are not worth it because they just don't colour as well. The only one I will buy other than crayola is the rose art, which co-incidentally is sold at a toy shop i town which is owned by a Christian.

Anonymous said...

This is only hearsay, but from someone I trust. Her grandniece tested as having a high level of lead in her blood, and when the person sent to investigate saw her RoseArt crayons, she said, "There's the problem" and claimed that RoseArt crayons contain lead. I can't find anything on the Internet about RoseArt in particular although there are some warnings about lead in imported crayons. Has anyone else heard about this?

Mary said...

Thanks for taking the time to post this! My daughter found it very interesting!

Anonymous said...

I think Crayola is much better!

Just my 2 cents!

~Leslie

 
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