For bright and cheerfulness, nothing beats LEGO Friends. It is a colour kaleidoscope that brings joy to the soul.

2023 promises more of the same as LEGO has announced 22 new sets, which includes two polybags (30633 and 30634).

Some of the new sets announced include:

30633: Skate Ramp

30634: Friendship Flowers

41723: Donut Shop (4+)

41724: Paisley’s House (4+)

41726: Holiday Camping Trip (4+)

41727: Dog Rescue Centre

41729: Organic Grocery Store

41730: Autumn’s House

41731: Heartlake International School

41732: Downtown Flower and Design Stores

41733: Mobile Bubble Tea Shop

41735: Mobile Tiny House

LEGO launches a new generation of LEGO Friends

LEGO Friends launches in 2023 with new mini-dolls, colours and packaging (see the new look of “Friends” in the image below). New packaging features dark purple and dark turquoise in the its colours.

The new generation of LEGO Friends follows extensive input from kid testing, research and feedback. The existing generation of LEGO Friends will be represented as adults in new sets while the new generation will become “front and centre” of the Friends storyline.

4+ sets

The wonderful mix of new sets includes something for everyone. There are three 4+ sets announced. 4+ sets are designed for new builders and allows kids a quick, but fun building experience. As a rule, there are no stickers in these sets, which removes the fiddly bits that smaller hands might find tricky.

I particularly like the look of the 41723: Donut Shop. The set comes with two mini-dolls (Liann and Leo) and a drive-through window. The accessories include a bird, scooter, 3 donuts, a table and chairs.

Because there are no stickers in this set, the printed pieces may be useful in your MOCs. The set comes with 63 pieces and could make a great addition to your Heartlake City.

Mobile Tiny House

This is an attractive 7+ set with 785 pieces in it. The arrangement of colours is just perfect.

A car in colours of lavender and orange tows a mobile home. The mobile home is beautifully designed and I love the use of bright-light yellow, lavender and blue colours. There is plenty of detail in the exterior of the home, which makes me think that the interior must hold plenty of “Easter eggs”.

(What is a LEGO Easter egg? LEGO Easter eggs are unexpected surprises that are usually undocumented. They are small, clever details in a set or part of a set that LEGO designers add for LEGO builders.)

The set is completed with a camp fire scene. The set includes three mini-dolls, Leo, Liaan and Paisley, and their pets. Look out for the new mould that looks like a “grumpy” cat.

Downtown Flower and Design Stores

This appears to be the largest of the new LEGO Friends sets to be launched in early 2023. It is a 12+ set that contains 2,010 pieces, which for those mindful of the price per part, it is relatively competitive at 8.0c (US) price per part. (For my South African readers, this is R1.29 per piece.)

At first glance, the set almost feels like it could work with other modular buildings. There are three components to this building that can be arranged separately. Depending on what you are looking for, the set could make an attractive addition to your Heartlake City or City build.

The colour arrangement contains a striking purple and lavender section, and a mix of bright-light yellow, bright-light orange and greens.

The set comes with 9 mini-dolls and some of their pets. It measures 34 cm (H) by 51 cm (L) by 19 cm (D) and features tons of playability.

In South African stores

Several of the new sets will be available from the Great Yellow Brick, Importatoy, and Kiddiwinks, and are currently listed as “coming soon”.

International stores

Internationally, look out for these sets and many more at LEGO.com.

Happy building!