Friday, October 24, 2014

Treatsie Artisan Sweets Subscription Review, October 2014 + Double Sweets Code!

For those with a serious sweet tooth, Treatsie may have just what you crave!  Every month they send artisan treats from three different vendors.  Each box has a retail value of $20 to $25 before shipping.  As with most food subscriptions, the box value is not a lot higher than what you pay but you definitely get a diverse assortment of gourmet sweets that are probably not available to most people on a regular basis.

You can bring the monthly price down substantially by signing up for longer term subscriptions. The pricing plans for Treatsie are:

Monthly billing (The Sugar Rush) - $15 plus $4.95 shipping
Quarterly billing (The Sweet Tooth) - $14 plus $4.95 shipping
Annual billing (The Chocoholic) - $12 plus $4.95 shipping

You are billed according to the plan you choose and can cancel at any time.  Treatsie usually ships around the 15th of the month but you can check the shipping calendar on their site to see exactly when the boxes are going out.  

The October orders are just now arriving so let's see what they sent!  Treatsie is shipped via USPS first class mail and comes in a branded cardboard box.


First things first.  There were a couple of cards enclosed which I have somehow managed to lose just since taking the photos.  (I'm talented like that.)  One advertises their business gift service and the other tells about each of the vendors represented in this box.


And here are the October goodies, one of which is Halloween themed.  Quite honestly, the contents of this box seem rather thin to me.  That may be a result of the enormous packaging costs Treatsie must have incurred during the summer months when they were sending out a lot of chocolate that had to be protected in enormous padded radiant cooling envelopes complete with ice packs.  (More on that later)


Skimpy or not, I really like everything Treatsie sent this month. First is a cute little red and white striped box containing handcrafted marshmallows by Wondermade. 

  
This box contains 16 one inch square marshmallows with a light apple cinnamon flavor.  Very good!


There is a colorful Halloween mix of hard sugar candies by Papabubble and the same thing in a non-Halloween version.  These little candies have adorable little designs and sayings on them and each one is flavored differently, according to color. Treatsie has sent similar sugar candies from another vendor in the past that I didn't really care for but the flavorings in these make them go down very quickly. And they're just so darn cute!


This next candy is completely new to me so I had to look up the description on Treatsie's site. This is called an Original Dark Chocolate La-Dee-Dah from Whimsical Candy. I'm describing this one from memory as it magically disappeared within seconds of opening the box. It's a small round candy about an inch and a half in diameter, made of white chocolate nougat swirled with creamy sea salt caramel, then dipped in dark chocolate.  At $3 apiece on Treatsie's site ($2.25 on Whimsical Candy's site...yes, of course, I checked), these are ridiculously expensive.  Even so, at least one or two should be on everyone's bucket list!


And finally, there are two individually wrapped caramels from AvenueSweets.  One is apple cinnamon flavor and the other is pumpkin spice.  I gobbled down the pumpkin spice caramel; it most definitely had a gourmet flavor and texture.  A lot of food subscription boxes send high quality caramels; I've learned to really appreciate them!


As I mentioned up top, Treatsie does a really careful job of packaging any of their products that are liable to melt.  During the past two or three months (where temps reached 100+ degrees where I live), I was surprised that they sent quite a bit of chocolate.  The packaging was nearly bomb-proof but even at that, the contents of one of my boxes was completely melted.  All it took was one e-mail and I got an immediate friendly reply from Treatsie.  They sent a replacement package right away. Since then, I've learned that they have a "Melt Free Guarantee" so if you receive anything that is not in good condition, they will replace it.  It does seem to me that it would make more sense to hold off on sending chocolate until the colder months but hey....with a guarantee like that (and one that I've personally tested), I am not complaining!

Treatsie sells many of the products in their boxes individually on their site.  The prices are high but they have a good rewards program, where you get a point for every dollar you spend and that includes money spent on subscriptions.  For every 100 points you accumulate, you get $10 in store credit.

Treatsie has a great deal right now where you can get double the sweets when you sign up for a new subscription.  (I believe that's just in the first box but I'm not positive.)  If you want to take advantage of that offer, click here and use code FRBUC001.  If you want to order a la carte from their site, use code FREESHIPPING on orders over $49.     

Let the sugar rush begin!

Cheryl

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