I must say when I received my parcel it looked and felt like a brick. The blanket had been shrink wrapped in plastic so looked quite bizarre. I unwrapped it and left it to fluff up and air and it soon looked very much more like I had expected. if this is a gift for someone I would recomend giving it a good airing as it did smell quite strongly of plastic and packaging which soon passed once i had left it out in the fresh air. Once aired and resembling a mermaid tail - i must say just how lovely this little blanket is. it has an opening so you can get little legs inside and will be perfect for snuggly movie watching and book reading. The tail is knitted and the stitching is lovely - the stitches look like fish scales and so there is a lot of texture. The colour as well is not flat - it is blues and greens which again adds to the overall appeal. A very simple but lovely item which is going to be used lots in our household.