Stork Stack Review: March 2014

Okay, so I know subscription boxes are all the rage. I already receive and regularly review both Citrus Lane and Bluum boxes. But I have to admit that I am a big enough fan of those that I was willing to try another one: Stork Stack. Stork Stack is a little different from the other two. From what I can tell from their previous stacks, there seems to be very little brand overlap between Stork Stack and the other, more well known child subscription boxes. This is what I experienced in my first box as well, receiving brands I had never received from either Citrus Lane or Bluum, while those two often overlap in brands and products. The other difference is that they are slightly more expensive than the other, two, at $27.99 per month versus $24.95 per month for Bluum, and as low as $21 per month (with a six month subscription) for Citrus Lane (NOTE: Citrus Lane has recently increased their per month pricing to $29 per month!). They also do not offer a discount when you order 3, 6, or 12 month subscriptions like the other companies do, and instead send gratis boxes to children in need, which is a nice touch. They are still my least favorite of the three boxes, and I keep telling myself I’m going to discontinue my subscription. Maybe next month I will.

I intend to review my Stork Stacks based on value and usefulness and be as helpful as I can to you consumers out there! This month my daughter received a gender neutral box for a nineteen month old.

1. Hop a Little, Jump a Little! from Child’s Play
Price: $4.99
Status: Good
Comments: I will never turn down a board book in these boxes! Baby Girl loves to read, and it’s always good to add a little variety. That said, this book is very short, and a little dull, so not the best addition to our collection.

2. Racecar from Green Toys
Price: $8.99
Status: Great
Comments: So much for a lack of brand overlap! I don’t mind though, because we are big fans of Green Toys products around here. We have several, and all of them have been a hit. This one is a great little first car toy, but Baby Girl isn’t really interested in cars, so it hasn’t gotten much play time yet. I really love it though, and it’s something she won’t grow out of any time soon, which is a plus.

3. Legwarmers from BabyLegs
Price: $12.00
Status: Meh
Comments: Okay, I will admit two things here. The first is that I originally made fun of baby legwarmers when I was pregnant. The second is that I became a huge baby legwarmer fan when Baby Girl was tiny with leaky breastfed poop diapers and I didn’t want to change her pants every five seconds. That said, she’s a bit old for them now, and I feel like this is something too young for a nineteen month old’s box. Also, this is the second pair I’ve gotten recently. I regifted the first pair, and that’s what I intend to do with these as well.

4. Tooth Tissues from My Dentist’s Choice
Price: $12.00
Status: Meh
Comments: Yet another item that is a bit too young for Baby Girl at this point, but a great idea. I found it interesting that instead of one 30 wipe pouch, they actually sent three mini wipe pouches, which add up to the same number of wipes. That’s fine though, I know lots of people having babies, and I can spread the regifting out a bit more! I actually do really like this product. When babies are little they tell you to wipe their gums with a damp washcloth or gauze pads to clean them and prepare them for healthy baby teeth (which we did). These are essentially gauze pads treated with xylitol, which is the same ingredient you find in baby toothpaste, so a more effective version. I love the idea, and wish I had gotten them a year ago! Instead, Baby Girl has already graduated to a toddler toothbrush and xylitol gel, so I’ll be spreading this love around.

5.Larabar Samples from Larabar
Price: $1.79
Status: Meh
Comments: I don’t think anyone is listening when I tell them that I’m not a fan of mom items. I got two little larabar samples, an apple pie and a blueberry muffin, both of which I’ve received full size bars of in other boxes, so I didn’t really need to try them. They’re fine, not the most delicious things ever, and I’ll throw them in the pantry for when I need a quick snack.

Summary: So was it worth it? I wasn’t blown away by this box, but there were some really good items, and I know I’ll be able to add to a few baby gift bags with some good things. As far as value goes, the total value of the box was about $39.77, up against a purchase price of $27, so not bad at all, actually. I’m not over the purchase price if I subtract things I’ll regift, but I feel like they are still good quality items, so I’m not sure I mind. I still feel like this subscription is on probation though. We’ll see how next month goes, but it may be canceled if it doesn’t go well.

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Citrus Lane Review: March 2013 Box

For the last couple of months I have been posting reviews of each box that I have received as part of my subscription to Citrus Lane. This is the fourth box I have reviewed. There are also reviews of my boxes I received in December, January, and February. If you are unfamiliar with the format of my reviews, I give detailed product information for each item included in the box along with pricing in order to determine if the box is worth the subscription price. A three month subscription costs $25 per month, while a six month subscription costs $21 per month, and my subscription was $16.50 a month because I used a Black Friday/Cyber Monday discount. I should mention that everyone’s subscription is different based on your baby’s age and gender. Baby Girl received an eight month old box, and I designated that I wanted gender neutral products.

March 2013 Box

This month I tried to open the box with Baby Girl, and at first she seemed excited. She kept pawing at the box, waiting for me to open it for her. Once it was open though, she was confused. Oh well, guess that has to wait until she’s a bit older.

What was in the box:

Item 1: Art Cards (Farm Collection) from Wee Gallery
Retail Price: $12.95
Bought it Anyway?  Yes
Notes: When I first pulled these out of the box, I was unsure. Flash cards for baby? I’ve also never been a true believer in the black and white contrast for baby thing (high contrast doesn’t have to mean black and white, after all). Then Baby Girl and I opened them. She’s teething pretty heavily right now, so I didn’t hand them over to her, but I held them up and told her what the animal was and made the corresponding animal sound. She seemed to think it was a fun game. She would stare at the card and smile wide when I made the sounds. This is something, because normally when I try activities like this she just stares at me, but this time she was actually paying attention to the cards! They’re really attractive looking too. Perhaps when she’s grown out of them they’ll make awesome framed wall art for her room! Wee Gallery offers several other art card collections, and I’m so sick of farm animals that I sort of wish we’d gotten a different pack, but these are still great!

Item 2: Peekaboo Lovey from Cloud B
Retail Price: $7.99
Bought it Anyway? Maybe
Notes: Another lovey?! I’m kidding, sort of. The reason I’m giving this a maybe is because we already own and use the heck out of two very similar items. We only have two so that I can wash them without Baby Girl being without one, as she sleeps with them and loves them to death. We didn’t need another one, and this is not my favorite. I can’t even really find them for sale anywhere, which is interesting. The photo I’ve posted is of the blue turtle one that’s for sale on Amazon, but we got the giraffe one. I’m not a huge fan of the embroidered text. I would give it away, but as I was going through the rest of the box Baby Girl decided to eat it and completely soaked the head of the giraffe with spit. Gross. Eh.

Item 3: Organic Socks from iPlay
Retail Price: $5.50
Bought it Anyway? Yes
Notes: You can never have enough baby socks. Since Baby Girl doesn’t wear shoes (she doesn’t walk yet), cute patterned socks are even better. These are cute. They don’t go with a ton of her outfits right now, but they’re sized 6-18 months, so they’ll cycle through a few wardrobe sizes before they’re finished. Thanks for the socks!

Item 4: Powdered Baby Food from NurturMe
Retail Price: $2.50
Bought it Anyway? No
Notes: I hate powdered food. I hate powdered drinks. I hate the grainy texture that seems completely unavoidable when you use this kind of stuff. On top of that, Baby Girl gets all homemade baby food. While I found some of the pouches we received in a previous Citrus Lane box to be helpful in a pinch, I’ve now gotten into a rhythm where I always have some frozen baby food stashed in the freezer for that day when I didn’t go grocery shopping. The only time I can think of when these would be remotely useful is if you were going somewhere that you couldn’t practically take homemade baby food or space was an issue…like camping, or an all day wrestling meet where you aren’t allowed to bring in food (I’ve been to a few of those)…babies can’t eat nachos after all! Actually, these would be great for camping…I’ll save them and see if we use them. I don’t like the suggestion that when your baby outgrows purees you should just mix these into your toddlers food to add nutritional value. Just give the toddler the nutritional food! Why are you mixing powdered peas into their macaroni? I hate that type of attitude. If we don’t get around to using them I’ll give them away. The price listed is based on the fact that they only sent two pouches, not an entire box of eight, which sells for $10.

Item 5: Calendula Weather Protection Cream from Weleda
Retail Price: $12.00
Bought it Anyway? Maybe
Notes: Baby Girl gets really chapped cheeks. I have no idea how this happens, since we hardly ever go outside in the winter, but it does, and if she keeps sucking her bottom lip like she has been lately, that is going to get pretty chapped too. Providing this stuff works, it would be great…but I just bought a pot of Episencials Cheeky Salve with a Citrus Lane coupon for this exact problem, and it has really made a difference. Love the idea, just wish I hadn’t already thought of it. I guess I’ll stash it in the closet with the eight million bottles of baby wash and shampoo that I might use in this lifetime. If we don’t use it, like everything else I’ll just give it away. It’s great for babies and kids though, so maybe we’ll get around to using it.

**I should note that Citrus Lane also included a coupon for JUSTFAB, a shoe subscription website. I didn’t include it as a separate item because the coupon wasn’t actually worth anything…it was the exact same discount that they give to ALL new customers, and it isn’t valid for existing customers…making it essentially an advertisement flyer. I get it as an informational type item, maybe some Citrus Lane moms don’t know about JUSTFAB and think it’s a neat service, but I don’t buy my shoes online (I have odd shaped feet), and I never spend $39.95 on a pair of shoes. Ever.**

In Summary: Is It Worth It?
Items I would definitely have bought before the box: $18.45
Items I love now that I have them: $19.99
Total value of stuff I’m glad I got: $37.44
Answer: YES

I’m on the fence about this box, to be honest. This is one of the lowest values of YES items that I’ve gotten so far in my subscription, and my overall impression was very “meh”. I could have done without a lot of the pricier items in this box, so the value seems off to me. That said, I got a lot more out of this box than I put into it, and if you average the YES items from all of my boxes, the value is still pretty great.

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