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!
Happiness is Now 