Citrus Lane Review: March2014

It’s that time of the month again! Time to review another Citrus Lane box and see if it was worth it’s purchase price! See my reviews for previous months here.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with how Citrus Lane works, it is a subscription service that sends you age appropriate items for your child aged 0-5 years every month. The cost of the subscription depends on how long you are willing to commit to. For month to month subscriptions your cost is $29.00 per month, or $24.00 per month for a three month subscription, while it goes down to $21.00 per month if you sign up for a six month or one year subscription. To personalize the box, you choose the child’s age and gender (or neutral) and receive items appropriate to those selections.

In my reviews, I can only review what my daughter receives in her box. I will always tell you what my age and gender selections were, give you a description of the items, what I think of them, pricing, etc.

This month my daughter received a twenty month old box with a neutral gender selection.

1. You Are My Baby from Chronicle Books
Price: $8.99
Status: Good
Comments: Always love to get books in the box, especially sturdy board books. This one is different in that it has the “two books in one” feature, which both fascinates and frustrates Baby Girl. I like it, but I wish I had gotten the safari, garden, or ocean variety, because I am thoroughly sick of making farm animal noises.
Use code MYCB-CITRUS for 30% off all personalized items at mychroniclebooks.com through 07/31/14.

2. City Planner Blocks from Hape
Price: $9.99
Status: Good
Comments: We love Hape toys around here, and the elephant she previously got is fantastic. That said, Baby Girl has yet to figure out how to play with blocks, and it seems like her block collection is growing. I really don’t mind having a ton of blocks, since they can pretty much be mixed and matched, but I’m just not sure how much use we’ll get out of them.
Use code HAPECITRUS for 10% off and free shipping on orders of $40+ at hapetoys.com through 05/15/14.

3. Citrus Hydrating Body Lotion from Weleda
Price: $16.50
Status: Good
Comments: Wow, Citrus Lane must think that Baby Girl has ridiculously dry skin. She actually does, but we still have several unopened tubes of lotion in the closet that we’ve received from subscription boxes. The only reason this rates a “good” instead of a “meh” is that I really love the Weleda brand.

4. Medi Buddy from Me4Kidz
Price: $5.25
Status: Awesome
Comments: Every time I’ve gotten one of the Me4Kidz Cool Buddies in my subscription box (which has been twice so far), I have been wishing it was one of these instead! So excited to finally get one! These are the perfect size to throw in a diaper bag when you head to the park or grandma’s house, or to keep in the glove compartment of your car. They most everything you might need to patch your kid up and send them back out to play. The only item that’s missing are insect bite relief pads, which would be an awesome addition…anybody listening? But there’s no reason you couldn’t buy some of those and stick them in yourself. This is awesome. Now I want the full MediBag!
Use code CL314 for 25% off at me4kidz.com through 12/31/14

Final Thoughts:
This time I really didn’t mind at all that we only got four items. The items we got were a good value, and awesome quality, so I’m beyond happy with this box.

By the Numbers:
Total value of the box items: $40.73
Total value of items I will use: $40.73
Is the value greater than the cost? YES
Best usable box value I have ever had, and thanks for leaving out the mommy items!

Looking for my previous Citrus Lane reviews? CLICK HERE!

CLICK HERE TO SAVE 50% OFF YOUR FIRST BOX!

Citrus Lane Review: October 2013

It’s that time of the month again! Time to review another Citrus Lane box and see if it was worth it’s purchase price! See my reviews for previous months here.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with how Citrus Lane works, it is a subscription service that sends you age appropriate items for your child aged 0-5 years every month. The cost of the subscription depends on how long you are willing to commit to. For month to month or three month subscriptions, your cost is $25.00 per month, while it goes down to $21.00 per month if you sign up for a six month or one year subscription. To personalize the box, you choose the child’s age and gender (or neutral) and receive items appropriate to those selections.

In my reviews, I can only review what my daughter receives in her box. I will always tell you what my age and gender selections were, give you a description of the items, what I think of them, pricing, etc.

This month my daughter received a fifteen month old box with a neutral gender selection.

1. Toddler Tambourine from Hoehner Kids
Price: $12.00
Status: Awesome
Comments: I’m actually a huge fan of musical instruments for kids. In a previous box we received Hoehner’s rainstick, and it continues to be a top toy in our house. This tambourine is a welcome addition, and I’m pleased to see it in the box!

2. Scrubble from Boon
Price: $11.99
Status: Useful
Comments: We actually own a few Boon products in our house, and while they aren’t one of my favorite companies, I do appreciate how innovative they are and how classic their designs tend to be. That said, these are essentially bath toys. I’m sick of bath toys. Nobody could possible have a use for the number of bath toys we have ended up with (why do they always come in packs of a ridiculous number?). Many of ours aren’t even used in the bath, as our bath toy basket would completely fill up. These don’t function well as squirters, which is fine, since we already have several of those, but I do like their scrubby ends and the fact that they come a part, making them easy to clean, unlike most bath toys. I feel like these would be super useful for an older child that tends to make a mess with the wash cloth. Put some bubble bath in the water and let them scrub themselves clean with a toy. Baby Girl hasn’t quite gotten the point of them yet though.

3. Cool It Buddy Instant Cold Pack from Me4Kidz
Price: $2.99
Status: Meh.
Comments: Seeing this item in my box this month made me slightly annoyed. I received this exact item in one of my previous boxes, and I wasn’t too jazzed about it then. I believe I said that while I could see it’s usefulness, I had no immediate plans for it. Well, I have yet to use it. My kid is not all that injury prone at only fourteen months old that she is in need of instant cold packs (especially when we’re usually at home, where there are reusable ice packs). This makes me a bit sad because I would have been excited to receive one of Me4Kidz other products, like their portable first aid kid (for only a couple of dollars more in value). Oh well, I guess it will go in the first aid stuff. Hopefully these things don’t go bad.

4. Little Yums from Plum Organics
Price: $0.75
Status: Meh
Comments: Once again Citrus Lane has given me the opportunity to gripe about sending food samples. These are great little snacks. Organic, semi-healthy, portable…and Baby Girl really likes them. Too bad she ate the only one they sent us and they don’t have them at our local store. I would feel a lot better about the value of this box if they had sent me a six pack…or even two.

5. Babybug Magazine Digital Subscription + Print Issue from Cricket Magazine Group
Price: $7.45
Status: Meh
Comments: Okay, so maybe I’m the last person on the planet to join the digital revolution, but I’m not a “digital magazine” person. I don’t own an e-reader or a tablet, and my baby is not yet addicted to screens. She does however love books. She also loves songs. I was thrilled to see the September issue of Babybug Magazine in the box, as it was stable (not easily torn up by baby hands), and the rhymes and songs were cute and seasonal. Definitely something to put on the bookshelf! The actual value of a single issue is rather small, however. When I saw free subscription on the insert card, I got excited. Then I saw that it was actually a free three month digital subscription, with nothing in print at all. How disappointing. I don’t plan to download my free digital issues, as it will just take up space on my non-existent device, and chances are good that Baby Girl will never see them.

Final Thoughts:
Compared to a year ago when I started subscribing to Citrus Lane, I feel as though the quality has come down a bit. That said, the value is still pretty decent for what you’re paying, and it is still fun to get that little surprise piece of mail each month. We’ll see how my bluum box looks when it arrives.

Optional Add-to-Box:
This month’s optional add to box were a variety of Halloween costumes. I did not purchase any as I find baby Halloween costumes to be horribly over priced.

By the Numbers:
Total value of the box items: $35.18
Total value of items I will use: $24.74
Is the value greater than the cost? MAYBE –
They really walked the line with this box! The total value is more than the cost, but my useful value is less than a month to month subscription. On top of that, last month was the first time I seriously questioned the value of my box, and this month is worth even less.

Looking for my previous Citrus Lane reviews? CLICK HERE!

CLICK HERE TO SAVE $10 ON YOUR CITRUS LANE SUBSCRIPTION!

Citrus Lane Review: July 2013

It’s that time of the month again! Time to review another Citrus Lane box and see if it was worth it’s purchase price!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with how Citrus Lane works, it is a subscription service that sends you age appropriate items for your child aged 0-5 years every month. The cost of the subscription depends on how long you are willing to commit to. For month to month or three month subscriptions, your cost is $25.00 per month, while it goes down to $21.00 per month if you sign up for a six month or one year subscription. To personalize the box, you choose the child’s age and gender (or neutral) and receive items appropriate to those selections.

In my reviews, I can only review what my daughter receives in her box. I will always tell you what my age and gender selections were, give you a description of the items, what I think of them, pricing, etc.

This month my daughter received a twelve month old box with a neutral gender selection.

1. Sumo Snack Stacker from ZoLi
Price: $18.00
Status: Useful
Comments: A couple of months ago Citrus Lane sent me some stackable snack containers of a different type. They were smaller, and I’ve used them a lot. As Baby Girl gets bigger though, I was finding things that I didn’t want to pack in a ziploc bag (due to crushability), but wouldn’t fit in the containers I had. That problem is now solved. These are much bigger, but are still useful. Their stackability makes them great for putting in the diaper bag so that you don’t have to dig around for more than one container. Take one, two, or all three with you. My only problem with this now is that they are so big that I have to find a place in my kitchen to store them…

2. Peek-a-Boo Turtle from Melissa and Doug
Price: $9.99
Status: Useful
Comments: Baby Girl loves the Melissa and Doug toy that she previously received from Citrus Lane, the wooden caterpillar. This one is actually a bit old for her I think. I like it, it’s a nice toy, but it’s actually a bit of a let down after the awesome toys we’ve previously received. I don’t see this one being the giant hit some of the other things have been. She wants to love it, but she doesn’t quite have the motor skills to make it work yet, and she gets frustrated with it easily. Maybe when she gets a bit older. To be honest, I think they sent this one to us a bit early. It’s a high quality toy though, and a good addition to the ever-growing toy basket taking over my living room.

3. Cool It Buddy Instant Cold Pack from Me4Kidz
Price: $2.99
Status: Nothing Special
Comments: There’s almost always one dud in the Citrus Lane box, and I feel like this is it this month. It’s a 2 pack of instant cold packs like you would find in a first aid kit. Is it useful? Maybe. Do I need it? No. I have a freezer full of cold packs and frozen vegetables that will work just fine if I need them. The primary use I could see for these is to put in a portable first aid kit while you were traveling, camping, or attending a sporting event where there are no trainers present. The best thing this product did was remind me that I should probably put together a portable first aid kit, actually. Do they work? I’m sure they do, but I’m not going to bust one open just to find out.

4. Nibbly Fingers from Ella’s Kitchen
Price: $3.99
Status: Useful
Comments: Once again, I’m glad that they decided to send a whole box of these things rather than a single one, which they sometimes do. These appear to be like toddler granola bars. They’re very chewy, and full of wholesome stuff. I’m just glad they didn’t send us the flavor with strawberries in it, since Baby Girl is on a no strawberry diet. This is another item in the box that I feel they sent us a bit early. She has teeth, but the bar was a little big for her to take on at this stage, and while she seemed to like the taste of it, about half of it ended up being thrown to the dog…so the remaining four bars will have to wait for another time. We love Ella’s Kitchen products though, and are always happy to see them in the box.

5. Postagram from Sincerely Inc.
Price: $9.90
Status: Kinda Cool
Comments: This is kind of interesting. Sincerely is a custom card company that has a few different apps for your smart phone or iPad where you can send a custom greeting card or postcard to a friend or loved one for a pretty inexpensive rate. The Postagrams are especially cool. You choose a photo from your phone, type in a message for the person you’re sending it to, and fill in the recipient information. Sincerely prints out the card as a postcard and physically mails it to the person. The photo on the postagram is perforated, so it can be popped out of the postcard and put on the refrigerator or stuck in a wallet or something. As a fan of snail mail and postcards, I think it is pretty cool. Sending a postcard through the app costs 99 cents each, so this gift is essentially ten free postagrams to send to whomever you like. I have already thought of a use for them, and I think they’re definitely cool.

Final Thoughts:
This month was a good box, I’m happy with it. The value seemed good, it was fun to unbox, I think it worked. It’s always nice when the box comes and is super satisfying. I just wish it had been a bit more age appropriate. I know that twelve months is kind of an awkward, in-between age where they aren’t really a baby, but they aren’t really a toddler, and I know it must be a tough box to put together with that in mind, but I still feel like it was just a tad too old for her.

Optional Add-to-Box:
I should mention that the optional add-to-box products are getting more common. I received two or three of these offers this month (I think two…). I know that one of them was for baby toiletries, which I have no use for, since they send them to me almost every month and I still have a stash from my baby shower a year ago, and the other was for the Skip Hop Pronto! changing station for a small discount off of the retail price. The Pronto! was the only offer I considered, as I love Skip Hop products, and it seems like a cool item, but there were two reasons that I didn’t. First, Baby Girl is almost a year old and we’ve done well so far with just a regular diaper bag. Her changes are becoming less frequent as she gets older, and I’m hoping to start potty training in the not too distant future, diminishing the use time of this product. And second, we cloth diaper, so we still have to carry a wet bag to put the soiled diapers in, undercutting the compact nature of this item as a selling point. If this were several months ago or we were a disposable diaper family though, I’d have been all over that. That’s why these things are optional I suppose.

By the Numbers:
Total value of the box items: $44.87
Total value of items I will use: $41.88
Is the value greater than the cost? YES

Looking for my previous Citrus Lane reviews? CLICK HERE!

CLICK HERE TO SAVE $10 ON YOUR CITRUS LANE SUBSCRIPTION!