Reviews,  Stuff I Like

Subscription Boxes – Are they worth it?

1mUxhz (1)Recently I decided to try something different with my gift giving. Subscription boxes.

You see, at my house, I get books in the mail all the time. Sometimes several a day. And my family thinks that’s cool, but that also means Mom is the only one that gets packages to open and at one point, my husband said something along the lines of “You’re the only one that gets the fun of opening those.”  Don’t get me wrong, I would happily let anyone else in my house open the books, but it’s not the same. They know what’s inside and they know it’s not actually for them. That takes a bit of the fun away.

But then the subscription box thing hit and now….there’s a world of possibility inside each of those. I decided my husband’s birthday is going to be something different this year. So I’ve signed him up for some packages to come every month. And then I tried a couple for me.  And now I’m thinking I might be mildly addicted. But still – this could turn out interesting. I’ve decided to start reviewing the boxes we’re trying. 🙂 Hey, I review books, movies, tv shows and products – why not subscription boxes?

Now I do have a confession to make. I tried a subscription box about a year ago that I absolutely hated. And it shocked me. It was a BOOK BOX. And I hated it. It was $50 a quarter (not a month) and it was supposed to come filled to the brim with things that book lovers would enjoy. It was from Book Riot. And though it was a lot of fun to see what was packed inside, it didn’t feel like $50 worth of stuff in every box. And some of the things were just too…not really exciting for me. A mug with banned book titles. A book from some author I haven’t heard from. It just wasn’t exciting and it got to the point that when it showed up, I wouldn’t even open it right away and I’d figuratively smack my forehead because I’d forgotten to cancel. So I wasn’t really all that interested in the subscription box craze. But then I saw some fun reviews and things I thought my family would like – so I’ve decided to give it another go.

So right now we’re subscribed to Bespoke Post (for him), Ipsy, Julep (both for me), Nerdblock (family) and I signed my son up for BrickLoot. I also just added a subscription for The Handy Box and Dollar Beard Club for hubby. It sounds like a lot, but on some of them, I got freebies for the first one, or I signed up for three months at a time – just to see how they are. And Bespoke Post allows me to skip any box I’m not interested in, so that’s cool!

As we start unboxing these subscriptions, I’ll put together some reviews and let you guys know what I think. And if you have a subscription box you’re a part of, let me know. Maybe I’ll give that a whirl – or a review!