I've been hearing so much about Citrus Lane, through blogs, and facebook feeds, so I had to try a box. (Continuing on with my subscription box addition here....) But, I felt better about this one, because it wasn't for ME, it was for my daughter (although it was fun for me to open as well).
Citrus lane is a monthly subscription box which contains specially selected products each month (depending on your child's age). The products are often popular baby/children gear items, either currently popular, or up and coming. The subscription is $25/month if you do a month by month subscription, however if you choose a 6 month subscription it's only $21/month (and I believe they charge you for the whole 6 months up front). I wanted to try the month to month first, and then decide whether I wanted a 6 month subscription.
I signed my daughter up for a 25 month old box, and was excited when my box arrived 2 weeks later.
The box was a good size, and my daughter and I had so much fun opening it. First you will see a card that lists the items the box contains. I went down the card, and read all of the descriptions, then I went through products. Sadly, one of the items I was supposed to receive (per the card) was not in the box (more on that later). However, I still happily looked through the other goodies.
1. Bear on the go Puzzle by Barefootbooks $12.99
I've been hearing a lot about Barefoot books, and was excited to get a puzzle from them in this box. The puzzle contained 4 4-piece puzzles each with a different picture of their bear series. My daughter LOVED the puzzles. She wanted to do them all, about 5 times in a row. Later on in the night, she talked about the puzzles, they even showed up in her prayers that night ("thank you for puzzles!"). So they were a big hit. The only complaint about these puzzles is it said NOT for use for 0-3 year olds because it's a choking hazard. I thought it was odd Citrus Lane would send this out in a 25 month old box. Fortunately my daughter doesn't put things in her mouth (except food), and I watched her while working on the puzzles, but definitely always look at the box and the recommended age, and make sure you are monitoring your child during play!
2. Fun Things to Color from A to Z $7.99
This book came with markers, and seemed so fun. Again, when I turned it over, it said 3 and up. My daughter just turned 2, and she doesn't play with markers (or I'm not brave enough to let her play with markers yet) So I don't know if I'm going to let her play with this quite yet, or maybe hold it as a gift. It looks like it is great quality. The pages are thick, and seems like an awesome coloring project for a 3 or 4 year old. My 2 year old would just do a couple lines on each page and say "DONE!" so giving this to her now wouldn't serve it's true purpose.
3. Ouchies Bandages $5
Based on the description, these look adorable! My daughter loves bandages, (she calls them stickers!) and they make her tears go away when she get a boo boo. However, I didn't receive this item in my box :( TOTAL BUMMER!! They forgot to include it.
4. Clean Well Sanitizer Wipes $5.50
These were orange vanilla scented, and will definitely be perfect for the car. At first I thought they were to wipe down surfaces (since they look like my clorox wipes) but it says it's for hands and faces. So, I kept some by the high chair, and used them on my daughter after she ate some hummus and carrots. It cleaned off her hands and face very well. It was hard to get the wipes started and pulled through the loop, I still don't think I have it pulling correctly, but I can get them out. They are kind of soapy/sudsy at first when I was wiping off my daughters hands, but the suds wiped off.
5. Sample of Annies Cheddar Bunnies (sample, no value given)
Sophia loves her goldfish, but these Cheddar Bunnies seem to hit the spot and taste just as delicious. I wouldn't say she preferred one over the other, so these will definitely make it into the snack box if I'm at the store, and want to pick up a snack.
6. Free month of FabKids subscription ($39.95 value) just pay $4.95 shipping
This is a monthly subscription that sends you the choice of an outfit each month for your child. I don't know if I'm going to use this yet or not. I heard it's hard to cancel, and I'm not sure if I can convince the husband that ANOTHER subscription is in the family budget. But it would be nice to get the trial month to see the value of the clothing you receive. I think Christina Applegate is affiliated with the company, so I'm sure the quality is great, and the outfits are adorable. I'm still debating on this one, and have another week to decide before the code expires.
TOTAL VALUE: $31.48 plus $39.95 (if you want to count the voucher for FabKids) for a total of: $71.43
August was a GREAT box, and I'm glad I picked this month to start!
However, here were my issues with Citrus Lane:
I sent an email letting them know an item was missing from my box. I waited 2 days and did not get a response, so I called and got a customer service rep. I explained that I emailed 2 days ago, and hadn't heard back, and I just wanted to make sure my email went through. (I'm a very cordial person, I HATE being whiny, especially to customer service people, who I know had nothing to do with my issue, and are trying to help). Well she looks up my account and while she is looking it up she goes "Yea, we've just been too busy." That kind of rubbed me the wrong way, but I didn't let it affect my conversation with her. She said she saw where I sent the email, and she was going to get them to send me my item within 48 hours. About 5 days later I received the item, so not too bad. It was about 7-8 days to receive a missing item from when I first contacte them, I'd say that's pretty good turn around.
My other issue was the age of the items in the box. It seemed more for a 3-4 year old. I sent (another) email to Citrus Lane asking them to confirm that they had my daughter down as 25 months, just to make sure. It took 4 days to get an email response (I'm sure they were super busy, so not a big deal), plus I think they were checking with the manufacturer. They indicated "parents like to see things on the earlier side whenever possible, so we do include such items for a few different reasons: families may already own items that are rated for their little one's exact age, folks they like having items their little ones will grow into, and we like encouraging activities that parents, older siblings, and little ones can enjoy together as a group." This is all understandable, I still will probably wait to give Sophia the marker and book set, because she wouldn't really "color" it with anything besides a few scribbles (and it's a nice quality marker coloring book). I kind of wish she had something to do from the box now, besides the puzzle, but that's alright. Just a note that you may have items that are a little older than your child's current age.
I'm leaning towards canceling my September box, but I might keep them for 1 more month to see what September brings.
SIDE NOTE: do not leave puzzle pieces out.....the dog had a good time eating a part of 2 of the pieces... ugh...I can never have anything nice in this house I guess. I've managed to repair the pieces to the best of my ability. But, my daughter knows and cries "Broken!! No No Beamer (our dogs name)" every time she puts together those puzzles... oh dear....
If you are interested in trying out Citrus Lane you can get $10 off your first month by signing up here: Citrus Lane Subscription which makes it $15, an AWESOME deal for everything you get (if you do get everything you are supposed to get.) If you sign up via this link I also get $10 off my next box, if I decide to continue on, we shall see!
Citrus lane is a monthly subscription box which contains specially selected products each month (depending on your child's age). The products are often popular baby/children gear items, either currently popular, or up and coming. The subscription is $25/month if you do a month by month subscription, however if you choose a 6 month subscription it's only $21/month (and I believe they charge you for the whole 6 months up front). I wanted to try the month to month first, and then decide whether I wanted a 6 month subscription.
I signed my daughter up for a 25 month old box, and was excited when my box arrived 2 weeks later.
The box was a good size, and my daughter and I had so much fun opening it. First you will see a card that lists the items the box contains. I went down the card, and read all of the descriptions, then I went through products. Sadly, one of the items I was supposed to receive (per the card) was not in the box (more on that later). However, I still happily looked through the other goodies.
1. Bear on the go Puzzle by Barefootbooks $12.99
I've been hearing a lot about Barefoot books, and was excited to get a puzzle from them in this box. The puzzle contained 4 4-piece puzzles each with a different picture of their bear series. My daughter LOVED the puzzles. She wanted to do them all, about 5 times in a row. Later on in the night, she talked about the puzzles, they even showed up in her prayers that night ("thank you for puzzles!"). So they were a big hit. The only complaint about these puzzles is it said NOT for use for 0-3 year olds because it's a choking hazard. I thought it was odd Citrus Lane would send this out in a 25 month old box. Fortunately my daughter doesn't put things in her mouth (except food), and I watched her while working on the puzzles, but definitely always look at the box and the recommended age, and make sure you are monitoring your child during play!
2. Fun Things to Color from A to Z $7.99
This book came with markers, and seemed so fun. Again, when I turned it over, it said 3 and up. My daughter just turned 2, and she doesn't play with markers (or I'm not brave enough to let her play with markers yet) So I don't know if I'm going to let her play with this quite yet, or maybe hold it as a gift. It looks like it is great quality. The pages are thick, and seems like an awesome coloring project for a 3 or 4 year old. My 2 year old would just do a couple lines on each page and say "DONE!" so giving this to her now wouldn't serve it's true purpose.
3. Ouchies Bandages $5
Based on the description, these look adorable! My daughter loves bandages, (she calls them stickers!) and they make her tears go away when she get a boo boo. However, I didn't receive this item in my box :( TOTAL BUMMER!! They forgot to include it.
4. Clean Well Sanitizer Wipes $5.50
These were orange vanilla scented, and will definitely be perfect for the car. At first I thought they were to wipe down surfaces (since they look like my clorox wipes) but it says it's for hands and faces. So, I kept some by the high chair, and used them on my daughter after she ate some hummus and carrots. It cleaned off her hands and face very well. It was hard to get the wipes started and pulled through the loop, I still don't think I have it pulling correctly, but I can get them out. They are kind of soapy/sudsy at first when I was wiping off my daughters hands, but the suds wiped off.
5. Sample of Annies Cheddar Bunnies (sample, no value given)
Sophia loves her goldfish, but these Cheddar Bunnies seem to hit the spot and taste just as delicious. I wouldn't say she preferred one over the other, so these will definitely make it into the snack box if I'm at the store, and want to pick up a snack.
6. Free month of FabKids subscription ($39.95 value) just pay $4.95 shipping
This is a monthly subscription that sends you the choice of an outfit each month for your child. I don't know if I'm going to use this yet or not. I heard it's hard to cancel, and I'm not sure if I can convince the husband that ANOTHER subscription is in the family budget. But it would be nice to get the trial month to see the value of the clothing you receive. I think Christina Applegate is affiliated with the company, so I'm sure the quality is great, and the outfits are adorable. I'm still debating on this one, and have another week to decide before the code expires.
TOTAL VALUE: $31.48 plus $39.95 (if you want to count the voucher for FabKids) for a total of: $71.43
August was a GREAT box, and I'm glad I picked this month to start!
However, here were my issues with Citrus Lane:
I sent an email letting them know an item was missing from my box. I waited 2 days and did not get a response, so I called and got a customer service rep. I explained that I emailed 2 days ago, and hadn't heard back, and I just wanted to make sure my email went through. (I'm a very cordial person, I HATE being whiny, especially to customer service people, who I know had nothing to do with my issue, and are trying to help). Well she looks up my account and while she is looking it up she goes "Yea, we've just been too busy." That kind of rubbed me the wrong way, but I didn't let it affect my conversation with her. She said she saw where I sent the email, and she was going to get them to send me my item within 48 hours. About 5 days later I received the item, so not too bad. It was about 7-8 days to receive a missing item from when I first contacte them, I'd say that's pretty good turn around.
My other issue was the age of the items in the box. It seemed more for a 3-4 year old. I sent (another) email to Citrus Lane asking them to confirm that they had my daughter down as 25 months, just to make sure. It took 4 days to get an email response (I'm sure they were super busy, so not a big deal), plus I think they were checking with the manufacturer. They indicated "parents like to see things on the earlier side whenever possible, so we do include such items for a few different reasons: families may already own items that are rated for their little one's exact age, folks they like having items their little ones will grow into, and we like encouraging activities that parents, older siblings, and little ones can enjoy together as a group." This is all understandable, I still will probably wait to give Sophia the marker and book set, because she wouldn't really "color" it with anything besides a few scribbles (and it's a nice quality marker coloring book). I kind of wish she had something to do from the box now, besides the puzzle, but that's alright. Just a note that you may have items that are a little older than your child's current age.
I'm leaning towards canceling my September box, but I might keep them for 1 more month to see what September brings.
SIDE NOTE: do not leave puzzle pieces out.....the dog had a good time eating a part of 2 of the pieces... ugh...I can never have anything nice in this house I guess. I've managed to repair the pieces to the best of my ability. But, my daughter knows and cries "Broken!! No No Beamer (our dogs name)" every time she puts together those puzzles... oh dear....
If you are interested in trying out Citrus Lane you can get $10 off your first month by signing up here: Citrus Lane Subscription which makes it $15, an AWESOME deal for everything you get (if you do get everything you are supposed to get.) If you sign up via this link I also get $10 off my next box, if I decide to continue on, we shall see!
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