Friday, February 24, 2017

Product Review: Spoonie Essentials Box

** I have been given this product as part of a product review through the Chronic Illness Bloggers network.  Although the product was a gift, all opinions in this review remain my own and I was in no way influenced by the company. **

Seems like whenever I go AWOL from my blog lately, I come back to do a product review.  I promise to have several posts soon that aren’t product reviews.  But for now, this is a review for the Spoonie Essentials Box.

Watch the unboxing below and then read the rest of the review about the individual products and overall impressions of the box.  I wanted to put a lot of time and effort into this review as clearly a lot of time and effort went into creating this box. 


I was super excited about this since I’m really into various subscription boxes lately. 

Items are listed in the order I took them out of the box.

1.       Stickers – These are super cute.  I already have a project planned using a couple of them.


2.      Bark Thins – These look awesome!  I have wanted to try these, but haven’t had the chance to.

 

3.      Veggie Chips – I always love these.  A great (somewhat) healthy snack.


4.      Candy – As a general rule, if you’re doing edibles, I would do pre-packaged only.  This bag of candy tore open in transit.  It went straight in the garbage. 


5.      Bath Bomb – Smells amazing.


6.      Lotion Bar – Smells amazing.


7.      Chronically Fabulous Tumbler – I love this!  It is super cute and sparkly.  Will be taking it to work to use to increase my water intake.  Perfect! 


8.     Tea Bags – I love tea, so it’s nice to have a few tea bags that are different from the standard boxes of tea that I have. 


9.      Chronic Illness Warrior Keychain – Love it!  It’s already on my keychain.


10.  Organic Gummy Bears – We’ll see about these, not sure if I even like gummy bears…


11.   Paint Brush/Paint Set – Probably will donate this to my work’s collection of art supplies. 


12.  Spoonie Necklace – This is not my style, but very cute.  The thing I like the best about it is that it is created by a fellow spoonie. So that part is awesome!


13.  Happy Pills Pouch Cross Stitch Kit – I hate sewing!!!  Plus it’s kind of difficult with the arthritis in my fingers.  So I will probably pass this along to a friend.  But it is super cute! 


14.  Heart Socks – Love these! 


15.   Party Popper – This must have popped in transit, as there was confetti all over the inside of the box.  I couldn’t figure out what the plastic part of it was at first.


16.  Candle – Smells good, and is in a cute little jar.


Overall Impressions

To me, when I get a subscription box, my goal is to see unique things that I might not be able to find anywhere else or a grouping of things that I know I would not be able to get for that price elsewhere/separately.

I would say that this box sort of meets those requirements.  I’m a huge fan of the spoonie themed items, and for the most part, I love the items in the box. 

I appreciated that since it is February, the theme was about love and Valentine’s Day.  That and the spoonie theme, and it was a good combination.  I felt that the box basically stayed true to the theme.  And I loved the personalized touches from the creator of the box. 


I also love the packaging of the overall box.  It’s fun and bright, and I love the overall “I am visible” message. 


The two things that I am considering dislikes are mainly because they arrived damaged/broken. 

The first is the party popper, which appears to have “popped” in transit, as the confetti was all over the box and the popper was empty.


The second is a hand-packaged bag of candy.  This came torn open, so I ended up throwing away all of the candy that was loose and not individually wrapped. 

This didn’t bother me so much since I didn’t have to pay for the box, but I imagine that if I had paid for it, I would be disappointed if anything in the box arrived and was not in usable/edible condition.

Aside from these two items, everything else appeared to be totally fine other than the fact that there was something in the box, the smell of which permeated the entire box, which makes me think you have to be careful when you are including scented non-food products and food products together.  However, once everything was out of the box and I let it sit for about a day, it seemed fine. 

Would I purchase this box for myself on a monthly basis?  Probably not.  And for the price, I probably wouldn’t necessarily order this for a spoonie friend, either.  

However, I could see purchasing it if there was a quarterly option.  I personally love subscription boxes, but get overwhelmed by the volume of products in them, and I felt a little bit that way with this one. 

This box was definitely fun and unique.  It is also clear that a lot of time and effort goes into creating something like this.  I think this is great for spoonies who are worried about committing to a more generalized product subscription box.  It is also great if you are having flares and are looking for a pick-me-up.  

I am a huge fan of subscription boxes and the like because they give you the opportunity to try new products.  The Spoonie Essentials Box has a ton of stuff in it!  I mean, it took me almost six (6) minutes to unbox everything!  You can enjoy 10% off your purchase if you use the code “Chronic Blog”.  

Finally, here’s a recap of everything in the box:


 

3 comments:

  1. I love the idea of it, but well, it might be a little strange to send it to myself. Now do not get me wrong, I am comfortable with my sexuality but, it might be a little tough to explain to my wife that I want a party popper. Even given the candy for a person with diabetes getting candy. She might think it is a self destruction attempt.

    Now for a woman who does not have a food issue like diabetes, I would send that in a heartbeat.

    Do they have these with mini drones and light beer with a TV remote? Just thinking out loud.

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  2. You got different socks than me! I love the Spoonie Essentials Box. I use the tumbler every day.

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  3. A few years ago, I thought, "there should really be a chronic illness subscription box." (That was what inspired the box I sent you, and a few other spoonie folks. I knew I wasn't up for managing it as a business, but really wanted to try assembling one.) I am so glad that there are several of them now (though generally pricier than I can afford).

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