It’s hard to put into words the kind of heartbreak that hits when you realise something you bought to bring your children joy could have put their health at risk. For years, Hobbycraft felt like a safe haven for creative parents — aisles of paints, paper, glitter, and glue promising endless possibilities. But what happens when that promise turns toxic, literally?
Recently, it was revealed that some Hobbycraft glitter products — the very same boxes many of us have trusted for years — were found to contain asbestos. The word alone is terrifying. For families like ours, who have been buying those cheerful little boxes since our children were toddlers, that email felt like the floor had just been ripped out from under us.
Our Glitter-Filled World
We bought three or four of those giant craft boxes containing glitter over the years. My children are naturally messy, wildly creative souls — the kind of kids who can turn a quiet Tuesday afternoon into a living-room art festival. I can still see it: the glimmering air, the laughter bouncing off the walls, the sparkle in their hair like a scene straight out of Alvin and the Chipmunks. They’d toss handfuls of glitter at each other, roll in it, fill the house with it. At the time, it was pure joy. Now, that memory feels like a tragedy in disguise.
My son, especially, lives for art. He once filmed himself doing an “Art Attack”–style video, proudly instructing his imaginary audience to “blow the glitter across your page.” He took a massive breath in and out, beaming with pride. Watching that clip now brings me to tears — because that breath likely contained asbestos fibres. And the hardest part is knowing his room still bears the evidence and the asbestos — tiny traces of glitter scattered across the floor and furniture — meaning he’s been sleeping and breathing that stuff in for months.
Parenting With Intention — Then Betrayal
As parents, we’ve poured everything into raising our kids as best as we can. We’ve done it all: home education, breastfeeding for years (even triandem feeding at one point), managing chronic illness (I have Type 1 diabetes), and doing it all without a village. No babysitters. No breaks. Just relentless love and effort to nurture emotionally intelligent, healthy children. And then — this.
While holidaying in Fuerteventura, we got that email from Hobbycraft. The one that told us those glitter boxes may have been contaminated with asbestos. My stomach dropped. I immediately pictured my toddlers rolling around in the stuff, my son blowing it into the air, all of us breathing it in for years. My hands shook. I knew that house — our home — was covered in glitter.
To make it worse, I’ve never been one of those mums obsessed with spotless skirting boards or immaculate cupboards. My focus has always been on emotional presence. Listening. Teaching. Playing. And while that has given my kids the best start in so many ways, now I can’t stop thinking about every surface, every speck, every place asbestos-laced glitter could still be hiding.
Cleaning Up a Nightmare
Since that email, our home has turned into a zone of controlled panic. I’ve spent hours wet wiping, bagging, sealing, and disposing of contamination risks. Ten grey Kallax drawers full of glitter-covered craft items — gone. Boxes of kinetic sand — gone (because Hobbycraft kept referring to the glitter as “sand,” and I wasn’t taking any chances). I’ve thrown away what feels like our family’s creative identity to protect us.
The photos I’ve taken through this process capture my devastation. Piles of once-loved craft materials, games, and tiny memories, now in bin bags. Each one a symbol of lost innocence and broken trust.
Tomorrow I’ll move on to my son’s glittery bedroom — inch by inch. Then the living room, the kitchen, the dining area, even the bathrooms. The deeper I clean, the more I realise how far this glitter travelled. It’s heartbreaking to admit, but we may never be free of it entirely.
What I Told My Kids (And How We Faced It Together)
At some point, I had to sit my children down and break it to them gently. Because I was getting rid of so much, I told them we had been advised some of the stuff we’ve used (sand/glitter) may contain some toxic stuff, but that whilst I’m sure we’re fine and we have been notified quickly, I just have to clear everything potentially toxic out and clean, and then all will be fine. I emphasised it wasn’t their fault—not for playing, creating, or loving their crafts—and it wasn’t ours for trusting a big store like Hobbycraft.
We decided together to dispose of their desks and all their clothes drawers (not the clothes themselves—we’ve washed them all today in masses of loads, with another two drying and a couple more waiting). I’ve always had to excessively wash clothes, sheets, and towels for a family of five home educating, but today’s burden of cleaning every single item has shown how crazy this situation truly is.
As I dug in, the glitter’s reach was staggering: in every child’s clothes drawer, every living room drawer, every desk corner and section, every craft drawer, even non-craft ones. Random specks on the floor I’d vacuumed countless times, stuck like they’d been glued with paint or PVA. This stuff is literally everywhere.
The kids were sad and confused, but I promised them creativity isn’t over—just shifting to paints, pens, pencils, paper, and imagination. Meanwhile, inside, I want to get off this planet!!! Because no parent signs up for this kind of heartbreak when all you wanted was to spark joy.
Trying to Understand the Risk
In the midst of the panic, I’ve spent hours researching what this really means. The good news — if you can call it that — is that apparently for non-smokers, the risks of asbestos-related illness are statistically lower. But even “lower” doesn’t mean “none”, and even if it was “none”, what if my kids have other conditions that may increase their risk further as the years go by. My husband, an ex-smoker who now vapes, worries me endlessly. How does years of exposure in what we thought was a safe home affect our future? No parent should ever have to question that because of a craft product.
The Unbearable Irony
There is a cruel irony in this: the harder you love, the more it hurts when something threatens what you’ve built. We worked so hard to break generational trauma, to raise kind, curious, emotionally aware and healthy children. Yet here we are — betrayed by glitter. It’s terrifying to think that corporate negligence could undo all that careful nurturing. No parent should ever have to question that because of a craft product—and nothing can reverse this, not even an apple a day…
The world feels darker for it. Asbestos shouldn’t be anywhere near a child’s craft product, ever. And yet, like the talcum powder controversies before it, it’s clear that big companies can sometimes fail to safeguard the smallest of consumers — our children.
Moving Forward (Carefully)
We’ve stripped the craft corner down to the essentials: paints (which I now nervously question), pens, pencils, rulers, and plain paper. No more sequins, no more glitter, no more sparkle. Maybe simplicity is safer after all.
Still, I can’t help reflecting on how fragile our bubbles of safety really are. Parenting is constant navigation between risk and joy — but this feels like one betrayal too far. Maybe, in time, there will be accountability and clearer safety standards. Maybe lawsuits will follow. But right now, we’re just parents on our knees, trying to scrub the danger away while keeping our kids’ laughter intact.
Because the greatest irony of all? The very dust we’re vacuuming up came from moments of joy — moments we thought were pure love.
Gentle Parent 