Lit-Cube is $35.94 per month. It's a literary subscription box. You get a book and various bookish goodies, all based around a theme.
April's theme was You've Got Mail. Yes, for those of us old timers this means AOL, but it's also in reference to the Tom Hanks movie when he was a young dreamboat (as opposed to the classy, handsome gentleman he is now - have you noticed how ruggedly handsome he is now, seriously? And damn can that man act!) Okay - I got distracted. Backing off the Tom Hanks fan club train (who doesn't enjoy a man who appreciates a good typewriter?) and back to the box. (But Tom Hanks!) No seriously... back to the box.
So - $34.95 a month (includes shipping)
Innerds - 3-5 items, sometimes more
Themed box, typically revolving around books, though she's trying something new next month.
On to the box!
Fancy box - durable, sturdy, does it's job keeping the contents safe.
But on to the goodies. Ya'll want to know what's in the box don't you? (Like Brad Pitt - geez, this is what happens with a movie theme, I just go from one movie to another.)
The first thing is the info card. Long gone are the days of AOL and the joy that would come with hearing you indeed had mail. Now it's texting. Blech. But, personal preferences for antiquated technologies aside, the info card fits today's age and the theme of the box.
And on the back you get to see the goodies:
This isn't included on the list. It's a postcard brochure/ teaser item/ promo item/ promo card for the book that's included in the box. We'll come back to the book later. There's a reason for the photo associated with it and the layout.
As you can see on the reverse side of the promo card, this book came out this month. On April the 4th, in fact! Brand new book.
Next in the box was a set of two greeting cards. They're both associated with quotes from the original movie, which is quite nice. The info card for the box lists these at $7.99 for the two, or $3.99 each, which is about what you would pay for a single card in a store.
Here's the first card:
And here's the second:
Up next is an emoji coin purse. The info card says this has a $4.99 value and that's about the price I see coin purses for in general, so I would say this is accurately priced. It's silicone (I think). It's squishy and plastic like. It holds shape very well. I never got on the emoji train myself, so this isn't a hit for me, but it does go very well with the box theme (all will be revealed in time).
And the back of the little coin purse.
Next up is the snack - popcorn! This makes perfect sense, with the whole, this box has a movie theme and it goes with the book, which also has a movie theme, making popcorn the obvious choice. I don't know if this was fancy popcorn or not. If the little one was any indication, it was good, because it was just there and then it was just gone. I swear she waits for this box to come like I do because she wants to steal all the snacks.
A shot of the back so that you could see the three kinds of popcorn that are (were) in the bag. If my daughter had her say, I'm sure she'd say something like it was definitely worth the $2 price tag associated with this item for her to be able to inhale it in two minutes flat. *laughs*
Next up is a pair of socks. "I wanted it to be you so badly" - the line from the movie - is written in a repeating pattern all over the socks. Unfortunately, I am not a thin socks kind of person. I am a no socks, no shoes kind of person who wears athletic socks if she absolutely has to wear shoes. These types of socks aren't my thing, so they're still in the package. This has a $9.99 value associated with it, and for fancy socks/ dress socks on etsy, that seems about right. Still not my cup of tea though.
And then we have the book. Alex, Approximately by Jenn Bennett. MSRP is $17.99 and that's the value it's listed at on the card. Amazon does have this book on sale currently for $10.58; however. Free shipping with $25 worth of books or free shipping in general with Amazon Prime.
This time I'm not going to give you the Amazon summary of the book, because I actually started reading this one when it came in. It's a teen version of the movie You've Got Mail, but updated with new technologies. I find myself mildly annoyed with the text transcripts of their conversations, but oddly drawn in to the story. I'm over halfway done and I can't decide if I like it, per se, but I also cannot stop reading it. So - whether or not I am appreciative of the means of delivery, the book is very well written.
And the final item in the box - pencils with the store name on them - The Shop Around the Corner - the shop from the movie that is, not from the book (above). They were manufactured just for this box. There's a pack of six, and they have a $9.99 retail value listed on the info card. That's ~$1.67 a pencil. Based on the gift shop I went to yesterday, that's cheaper than your normal fancy pencil. They wanted $3 per pencil at their fancy gift shop.
An up close of the pencils:
And I arranged everything for a pretty final picture for you:
So - what's the verdict, you might ask? Well, even though I won't use two of the items, and one of the items was snatched from my grasp by slightly grubby toddler fingers, that still gives me three things for me to enjoy. All in all, the value for the box is really there. Everything worked with the theme of the box and it was beautifully curated. Worth it? Yes. Yes, it is.
