Box of Happies is a subscription box service that I first heard about in January. I've been wanting to try them out since I heard about them and since I saw reviews written by other people. They only do prepaid subscriptions, not recurring subscriptions, and their full sized box is $24.49. The stuff in them is absolutely beautiful, and looking at reviews from the past three months, I realized that literally everything that was in them, including the box (it ships in a plastic reusable container in a bag) would be something I would use. Still, at the beginning of the month, I had more subscription boxes going than I should have.
I found out about the grab bag shortly thereafter. at $10 each, with free shipping, I figured I would give it a go, hoping that I would maybe get some leftover items from the past months.
There's not much information on the grab bags, so I'm trying to be thorough here -
First - it does not come in one of the plastic reusable containers.
Second - it ships at the end of the month you ordered it. So, though I ordered it at the beginning of February, it didn't get here until today. Longest month ever.
I ordered two (yes, I know, not that much cheaper than it would have been to get a box, but I felt like if it was a grab bag and not another subscription box, it would be okay. I have to justify things to myself in weird ways sometimes.
There are limited quantities, but as of right now the Box of Happies Grab Bag is still available for purchase.
Each one comes in an envelope for shipping.
Both of the grab bags were in the same envelope.
Surprise number 1 - they're actual grab bags! This was awesome for me, as I haven't found a place that does actual grab bags, i.e. in a bag, since I was a kid.
Item #1 - a pair of sparkle earrings in its own little box. They look better in the picture than they do in person. Studs aren't really my thing. I'll put these in the gifting box and they'll probably go to a kiddo on the Angel tree at my eldest daughter's school. (For those who have never heard of this, as I didn't until this year - the Angel tree is for you to play Santa for other kids. Jewelry is one of the top girl requests.)
Item #2: Orange Crush bath fizzie. this is the back, with the shop owner's info (all items in Box of Happies are handmade by different small businesses/ individuals).
And here's the top. It smells great - even through the package. I'll be using this if my little one doesn't snag it first. She has a tendency to take all my bath products and then look at me super cute and I give in like the sucker I am.
Item #3: Another pair of studs. They're well made, and the roses are lovely, but they're just not my style, so to the box it goes to make some preteen very happy next year.
Item #4: I couldn't really tell what it was at first. It was wrapped in tissue paper in a bag, with a card for the maker attached.
After taking everything apart, it became clear that it was going to be a necklace.
It's got a little anchor and ship's wheel on it and a little green bead. It's not my usual color scheme for jewelry, or my normal style (I'm not big into nautical jewelry), but I like this one. It looks nice on too.
And then we move on to grab bag number 2!
Again - in an actual bag! How awesome is that?!
Item #1 was a glass ring. It's adjustable. It's costume jewelry and definitely not something I would wear. It goes into the aforementioned box. Bummer.
Up next is a wooden keychain. It's very lightweight, and it's really pretty. My last keychain broke compliments of the littlest one, so this makes a nice replacement.
Item #3: A pot scrubber. It's a crocheted pot scrubber! It's quite high quality, and it's got a great "scrubby factor" to it. It's firm enough to get the job done, without having the potential to scratch whatever you happen to be washing. This is great!
Item #4: A headband.
You can see it a little bit better here - it's the older style cotton material that you don't see anymore. It's braided and has elastic attached. It actually stays in place, unlike those stupid elastic ones with the little beads on them that are supposed to help them stay in place but never does, and unlike those stupid plastic ones that just jab you behind your ears. No, this one is really, really nice.
So - 5 of the 8 items are going to be kept for use, some are already in use. At $20 for 8 items, that comes out to $2.50 each. Some, like the pot scrubber, can be purchased on Etsy for $2.50 plus shipping. So, not only was the grab bag reasonably priced, it was a ton of fun. I love grab bags. And, if you take out the three items that I didn't like, it's like I paid for shipping anyway, so I'm okay with it even though I didn't like all the items.
Will I get another grab bag? Maybe next month, or, now that I know what the grab bag is about, maybe I will splurge and get one of the individual month boxes instead. All I know is that this was a lot of fun :)
