Pandora charms (yes I know lots of folk hate Pandora)

[JakeBullet]

I have always had a secret hankering after a Pandora bracelet but never had the money or been able to justify the purchase when I have.

However, it's my birthday on Monday and my fabulously wonderful friend turned up yesterday with a Pandora bracelet......its sort of a combined Xmas/Birthday/thank you gift....long story but I put her up here for 8 weeks last year when she really needed the support. I totally did not expect this fantastic gift though and was in floods when I opened it.

So charms.....I have yet to choose anything and the genuine Pandora charms are very pricey. My exH has given me £40 as a birthday gift (yes he is good and I know I am lucky) and I want to buy my first charm.

So.....do I need spacers.....am assuming they are functional?

Are the genuine Pandora charms very overpriced and just "special occasion" purchases?

Do other beads fit? Are they just as good?

Any dealers you recommend/websites etc?

Any Pandora experts out there?

I will probably buy a safety chain to keep it safe as I will treasure this

I buy charms from john greed website, never had any problems, I have spacers on mine but could live without them, I have a safety chain but it annoys me.

I have no idea if other types of beads fit.

My parents bought me mine half full for my 30th birthday and I do love it and it's all pink and silver charms, very pretty!

My first Pandora bracelet is full. I am just starting a bangle.

I wouldn't recommend John Greed. We had a problem when we bought from them online. They were incredibly unhelpful over the phone and via email. As we live near their flagship shop in Lincoln went in, I have never been treated so badly in all my life.

We use Argento now and have never had an issue, but a small jewellers in our local town sell Pandora so we try to go there.

I had a few spacers on mine and some dangling charms, but it is personal taste. Most of mine are silver charms with a few neutral coloured beads in between. My children bought nearly all of mine for birthdays, Christmas and Mothers' Day. They just bought me this peacock for Christmas, it's beautiful in RL.

I don't have any spacers on mine (yet). Another recommendations for the John Greed site. No idea if other beads fit but I would just out the genuine ones on. You can create a wish list on john greed.

Just had to Google john greed. I thought it was a typo for john lewis. Sorry I don't know anything about Pandora though!

Thank you...and the Argento link is great.

I suspect as this gift is SO special to me that I will save and buy the occasional Pandora charm to make it very personal. I also love pink nd sparkly and will concentrate on those charms.

Thank you all for your thoughts and ideas.

Pandora items frequently become available on the Achica website at really good prices. I buy them from there for my DD and have never had any problems, although they do take a while to deliver. All the Pandora items on there at the moment are sold out, but keep checking back as they come up quite often.

Thank you for that...will go and bookmark it so I can check back.

Beadazzle is good for charms. Chamilia charms fit also.

Most makes if charm will fit a Pandora bracelet, including Lovelinks& Chamillia both of which are cheaper than Pandora ones but still made of sterling silver & have the coloured Murano ones the same. Lovelinks do sets of colours which work out cheaper than buying individually.
Troll beads will not fit a Pandora bracelet because their chain is thinner than others, so all charms will fit it.
Pandora charms will not fit Lovelinks bracelets.
Pandora charms screw onto the bracelet at the end then slide between the spacers. Lovelinks charms don't screw on, they have a gripper inside to hug the stations.

I was given my pandora by my parents when their house was burgled to replace the jewellery items of mine that were taken. I don't have any spacers or a safety chain on mine and it's just fine. I wear it more or less every day. I have mainly silver charms which were brought by DH as gifts for birthdays, Christmas, anniversaries and on the birth of DD. I also brought myself my grandmothers initial after she died as a memento.
The Chamilia beads from H. Samuel also fit on the pandora bracelet as my mum has some on her pandora.
You can also buy pandora charms on eBay as well so you can get some amazing bargains on there.
Good luck!

I don't bother with spacers unless I like the pattern and am using it as another charm

I use steffans a lot. I have used john greed too also beadazzled is a good website. I believe pandora have a price fix so the only way you benefit is if you get free postage.

There is a Danish website that has limited pandora beads perlenodense prices are about 10% cheaper and they do free delivery.

I'm a bit of a purist in that I only like pandora charms on my pandora bracelet. I also collect the essence beads, troll beads and now Thomas sabo karma beads. The troll beads do a range called universal unique that have larger cores so fit pandora.

As you are just looking for one bead right now I'd choose one of the sparkly ones and just add a few £ to your birthday money.