BirchBox Home Sweet Homespun Limited Edition Box Review

If you read a lot of subscription box reviews or watch video unboxings, you've probably heard time and time again about BirchBox's point system. Every good box blogger will tell you that BirchBox has the best points system around and that it's well worth the few minutes it takes to go to their site each month and write mini reviews for the products in your monthly BirchBox. (You're basically getting paid $5 for 10 minutes of your time.) I was quite late in discovering all the subscriber benefits. A couple of weeks ago, I happened to be browsing the site and suddenly realized I had hundreds of points accumulated....mostly because I've been a subscriber since the beginning.  It has finally sunk in that those points are valuable and I need to stalk their site more!

Among other things, BirchBox offers a number of Limited Edition boxes on their site. These are single purchase boxes that are curated around a specific theme.  At present, there are nine of them, at all price points between $18 and $98.  Using my points, I was able to get the Home Sweet Homespun box which retails for $40.  Every 10 points is worth $1, so it took 400 points to get this box for free. Trust me, it's not hard to accumulate 400+ points on their site!  (That's coming from someone who basically didn't participate until two months ago.)

Since I've never received anything besides the small monthly boxes from BirchBox, I really wasn't expecting much.  I wasn't prepared for the Russian nesting doll like gift box that contained the Home Sweet Homespun items.  Here's a pictorial of what one goes through to get to the contents!

And finally, we are there with a satisfyingly diverse group of products...all of which tie nicely to the homespun theme.

The card on the left opens up and gives tips on how to take mantel-worthy photos, stress-free hostessing and how to stay warm on a frigid day.  The second card lists each item and gives a little information on each one.

Although I can turn out really good cookies from scratch in 30 minutes (she said modestly...ha!), the appeal of a gourmet canned cookie mix is not lost on me....especially an inventive flavor mix like Cornflake/Chocolate Chip/Marshmallow. All you have to do is add a stick of butter and an egg. All the mix-ins are packaged separately inside the can; that should improve the quality of these cookies considerably.

Next is a 3 oz. bottle of Handmaid Luxury Hand Creme which is a shea butter formula with a subtle clean fig scent and Vitamins A and E for keeping hands soft.

    There is a cute pair of colorful patterned green socks from Richer Poorer.

A small box from Makerskit contains a Hanging Photo Clips project kit.  This is the only thing in the box that seems a little lame to me.  There is a "how to" URL included but the link just takes you to BirchBox's home page so that is of no use. I'll probably gift this to a child or teen.

You can't send out a box without including a lip balm of some sort!  This one is "Lippy Cow Natural Lip Balm" from Cowshed.  This is a sheer gloss that contains orange and rose essential oils.

The instructions for this package of Sipping Chocolate from Askinosie Chocolate are interesting. It says to mix 4.5 tsps. of the chocolate into 5 tbsp. warm milk.  That sounds like sludge to me, albeit very good sludge.  Of course, I'm wondering if those instructions are accurate. Does anyone know?

My favorite box item is always a candle.  Although this was not a subscription box, I was still quite happy to get this little soy candle in a tin from Illume.  This one is in a scent called "Noble Currant" which is an interesting combination of spicy and fruity.

A nice seasonal item that fits in well with the homespun theme is this "Sweet Treats Kit", a boxed set of packaging items for homemade goodies.  The set includes 18 cellophane bags, 18 cardboard tags and two colors of twine. I like how these make your gifts special without screaming "Christmas" in an overly commercial way.

   

This was a fun box to open and it was curated in such a way that it would make a wonderful holiday gift. If the homespun theme isn't your thing, there are eight other Limited Edition sets available on their site plus many other great gift ideas for women and men. An added benefit is that BirchBox really does make an effort to provide gift quality items in all different spending ranges.

If you missed my review of the November BirchBox, which contained a whole slew of recent promotional codes, click here.

Of course, I am now highly motivated to write those monthly mini reviews to rack up more points so I can get another free gift set!  As many other bloggers before me have pointed out, if you take ten minutes to review five items in each BirchBox, that translates to $5 in their store. Since the cost of a monthly box is $10, that effectively makes your monthly cost for BirchBox only $5.  I don't know of any beauty subscription that can beat that price-wise.  Having to figure out how to spend all those points is a very nice problem to have!

Have you tried any of the Limited Edition boxes from BirchBox?  If so, please comment below and let us know what you thought.

Cheryl

Disclosure:  Views and opinions expressed in this blog are strictly my own.  Product discussed in this post was purchased with my own money. Post may contain referral or affiliate links.