To think subscription boxes are a swizz?

[ketchupontoast21]

Loads of my friends seem to be signing up for subscription boxes like Birch Box lately where you basically get a box containing five mystery products a month for a fee of about £10. Apparently it ranges from make up, to skincare, hair products, creams and bath gels. You don't know what you're going to get so it's all a surprise.

On one hand I like the idea of a little treat each month and the chance to try new products. But I can't help but think it could be a giant waste of money if you end up with products you don't like or ones that are very cheap (a soap or bog standard shampoo for example). What are people's thoughts? Are they worth the money?

Has anyone tried the book subscriptions? That appeals to me, but it seems expensive.

@Ali1cedowntherabbithole You should try Riverford if you want an organic box. There is a lot of choice and you can also build your own box. They do 'root-free' boxes, mixed boxes- all kinds.

I do the latest in beauty box, you can place your order anytime within the month depending on what they’ve got at that point and they add new bits everyday. Nice to be able to choose, and there are lots of bigger and full sizes. I feel it’s worth it and I love getting the post every month.

I also did a coffee bean shop one, which was fab, but I wasn’t quick enough at drinking the stuff. Now just do an order every six months or so.

Daft signing up. Im sure you get lots of useless stuff. A waste of money and products

Chewymoon has better environmentally friendly packaging for snacks for kids and wonderkid 7-12 box is good. There are lots of nice subscription boxes - I do think it’s like a relative sending you treats - but I agree on packaging, lookfantastic was nice but never essential and so much packaging plus Elle magazine I never wanted.

southwest
Which gin one do you get please!? Sounds fab!

I tried 2 beauty boxes , glossy box and birch box - glossy was better than birch but neither were worth it really and I've ended up with a lot of stuff I know I'll never use like a bright purple lipstick or pale peach glittery eye shadow sticks

@JinglingHellsBells. You got it.

They saw everyone else coming

@ketchupontoast21 I’ve just subscribed to Lots of Lovely Art www.lotsoflovelyart.org/boxes/
My DC is nearly 9 and quite arty and my friend says the materials are good quality (not like ToucanBox’s). You can order boxes as a one off or subscribe and there’s a summer discount if you order before 15 Aug (I don’t work for them, I’m just a bit excited )
And my mum says swizz, I might try and use it more often now!!

I like the food ones. Graze are nice but expensive, I had it for s few months while I could get special offers and then cancelled.

I also like degustabox (awful name though) here they would send drinks, snacks, ingredients. Usually new products or unusual flavours of things. I really liked some of the things I was sent.

I liked Graze but it seemed pointless when their stuff started to be sold in the supermarkets.
I hate little samples of priducts Never last long enough to know if they work and if they are little miracles I can never find ( or afford) the full size.

I get a magazine through the post. It’s a travel one. Bloody love it.

Just a heads up, never go for the Viva Dogs one.

It's content is usually a toy you could get cheaper in B&M and some weird foreign treats that have no English ingredients list and are frequently mouldy. Customer Service is a nightmare.
Trustpilot is full of poor reviews on that one.

I had Graze for a while, but binned it off as too expensive for what it is.

I now happily make my own snacks for much less, and make them to my own taste. And if people want a cheaper version, Aldi and Lidl sell their own versions now, which seem to be a similar quality.

I did a beauty one a few years ago, and it wasn't much cop. I can't remember the name: it wasn't Glossybox or Birchbox, but I do remember that they changed the name within a few months of me joining. I signed up for 6 months and after 5 months they told me my subscription was ending: I had to contact them to sort it out … yes, their mistake … then in the 6th box there was a note saying, sorry, we've only got 4 products this month instead of the promised 5, so we will put an extra one in next month. But I was cancelling so got stiffed on the missing product. Their promise was that there would be one 'full size' product in each box, but the full size product was always something cheap that you could get in Tesco for under £2 like Nivea or suchlike). Seemed a bit pointless: I was never taken with any of the little sample things anyway, and their customer service was rubbish.

I get the papergang stationary one which is stationary but I love that sort of stuff and it encourages me to send the cards etc that I get out to people in the post which is nice.

Complete waste of money in my opinion . Someone mentioned donating the ones you don’t use to reduce waste . It would make more sense not to buy the crap in the first place .
You must have money to burn to buy into such nonsense .

I don't get any anymore as I'm loyal to products I love - but the majority of those I found through subscription boxes in the first place! Rituals for example, as someone mentioned above, do an amazing shower gel. I got it in birchbox, adored it, expected it to be really expensive. It's actually really affordable and I always use it now. Sometimes you get full size products or brushes, brush cleaners etc. I sometimes give those as gifts (I do a lot of hamper style gifts for birthdays). I love them, if you can afford them, they're good value and fun.

I tried Birch Box once, I think it was a £5 offer, and immediately cancelled.

I've had Freddie's Flowers monthly but I don't think the quality is as good as it was and quite often the flowers are damaged after being shoddily packed so I've stopped that.

I liked the look of the Bella Coco crochet box but having seen the contents of the first two it looks way overpriced for what you get and I'd rather support my local yarn shop and get stuff I'll actually use.

I get birchbox when i can afford it, its like a surprise present to myself and a great way to try expensive products that i would never buy full size.

Just had another quick read through - my little boy loves toucan box. His dad pays for 2 every month, he gets one to my house and one to his, so we can both have fun doing crafts with him. It comes with a magazine now which makes it much more affordable than buying a £5.99 one in the shop plus crafting materials!

My DD(18) did loads of research and asked for Glossybox for Christmas.

She loves it. Lots of fun things to try and she loves the anticipation and opening of the box.

So I would say a success as a treat

We have a monthly coffee box. Random 3 pack of ground coffee, though we could have gone for beans and specified some elements. It was a Christmas present from DM to DH as he had been so amazing when I was seriously ill last year. We love it! We have lovely coffee for breakfast and really notice the difference when we run out and go back to cheap bags from the supermarket. DM renewed it for DH's birthday and the new delivery arrived today. It isn't particularly cheap but it is soooooo good. One month the box didn't arrive and the company sent a replacement straight out, no quibbles. The box should fit through a letter box but we have possibly the smallest opening in the world...OK that's slightly exaggerated but it is much smaller than modern standard and we can't change as listed house in conservation area. The company is Blue Coffe Box.

Ha! Does anyone else now have an ad for Cosy Killer, Murder Mystery Subscription Box?? 🤣🤣

I used to get Glossybox, but it made me cross how they would say you could get this amazing star item that makes the subscription charge worth it, and they showed up again and again in influences boxes, while normal plebs like me got the same budget ranges over and over. We were paying Glossybox so they could send the good stuff to YouTubers for free. Nah.

BarbaraofSeville! That's it.
It was annoying me.
I used to like the cylinder shaped parcel every month arriving!

I love my birch box , the items are always worth the money
Ive recently signed up for the fab fit fun , you can customise the box by picking what you would like from the options listed . The box arrived this week , they have slightly over stated the value of each item , however when checking the prices ( its full size items you get ) the value far outstrips the cost

The only downside is I would like a box every day lol