It’s August 2016 bluum unboxing time!
If you’re not aware, bluum (yes, with a lowercase b) is a monthly subscription box for babies & kiddos from birth through age 5. Each box contains four or more products that are responsibly sourced, eco-friendly and often organic. The contents are based on the age of your kiddo in months, so there are many variations in the boxes that are sent in each shipment. (I don’t think I’ve seen any two boxes that were exactly the same.)
bluum now gives you the option to choose the exact items that you’ll receive in your box! When you log into your account you’ll be given a chance to pick one item from each of the available categories for that month’s box (food, toys, books, etc). If you’d rather be surprised, you can forgo picking and have them choose the items as they did in the past. They also give you the choice of opting out of the “mom” items, which I love because I kinda hated getting things for myself in a kid’s box. 😉
Subscriptions are $34/month or less with multi-month commitments. For a limited time, you can save $10 on your first month with coupon code “MRVA286CCE“.
My girls are currently 47 months old (remember — they go by months), so the bluum box I received was geared towards a 48 month (4 year old) child.
Let’s see what’s in my August 2016 bluum box!
The bright red box!
A peek inside. — I actually had no idea what was in there this month, as I decided not to choose my own items for August. Ooh, the suspense! 😉
As always, there’s no actual printed info card… just a generic insert indicating the current month and age range of your child. Once your box is delivered, you’ll be able to log in to your account and view a list of its contents on their site.
Imagine I Can Lace & Play Ram ($9.95) – I’ve seen this in my list of playtime choices for a while, but never really wanted to select it. Welp, here it is, so… Turns out that it’s actually not as lame as I thought it would be. It’s a lot larger than it looked in photos and it’s more of a craft project than a simple lacing toy. The main activity is lacing, but it also involves attaching googly eyes and a string to display the finished project.
Stephen Joseph Frog Wallet ($10.99) – Aw, this is cute! I actually have the butterfly version of this wallet stored away from a different box, so I’m happy to get another one for both girls to have their own. This is made of sturdy nylon and features multiple pockets with a kid-friendly velcro closure.
Manhattan Toy Groovy Girls Posh Paintastic Bracelet & Ring Kit ($6.04) – My girls love accessorizing, so I’m sure they’ll have fun with this DIY bracelet & ring kit. It comes with 50 plastic beads, 5 ceramic beads, 6 paint colors, 2 cords, a paintbrush, and instructions for making one bracelet & one ring.
Taylor’s Lavender Muffin Mist ($11.95) – Um, so am I the only one who has never heard of lady parts being referred to as a “muffin”? I had no clue what this all natural/organic/vegan-friendly mist was intended for, but after reading the description on Amazon it looks like it “freshens muffins, panties, pads, menstrual cups, linens, & more”. So… there you have it. If you have a stinky muffin, this is the mist for you! (FYI — They also make “Punani Paste” & “Woo-Woo Wash” as well. 😉 )
Scrub Genie by PowerPuff ($5?) – I can’t find this for sale online, so I’m guessing at the value. According to the package, these sponges change their cleaning power with water temperature. Warm or hot water softens the scrubber for light duty jobs, while cold water hardens it for more heavy duty ones. Package contains 2 sponges/scrubbers.
August’s bluum box was the first one that I haven’t selected my own items for since they began offering that option. While I wasn’t thrilled with some of their picks, I did like about half of them. So with that said, I’ll likely continue to use bluum Choice from here on in. The total retail value (using Amazon prices) was about $44.
Remember — if you’d like to sign up for bluum, you can save $10 on your first month with coupon code “MRVA286CCE“!
Disclosure: I received this box for review purposes. I was not compensated in any way. All opinions are my own. Post may contain affiliate and/or referral links.
I have to say I’ve had the worst experience with Bluum. I subscribed 3 months ago for a 3-month subscription and they’ve disappointed me each and every month. I chose my items and for the 1st box ALL of the items I chose became “unavailable” at shipment time so I was sent a surprise box that was very disappointing. I wrote customer service to find out what was going on and they responded and apologized and assured me that I’d get all of my next month’s chosen items. Month 2, surprise, surprise… all my choices again unavailable and I got another “surprise box”. After contacting CS again they did extend my sub by an additional month for my inconvenience. Move forward to month 3. I chose my items and waited patiently. Last Friday evening (2 days before shipment) I received an email that all of my items had become unavailable… AGAIN! Monday I received an email that the box contained no items and gave me 2 options… extend another month or log in and choose 4 items to be shipped within 5-7 days. So I logged in to make my choices. In the toy category there were 4 different glitter glues (3 years + up); a 5th glitter (3 years + up); stickers (3 years + up) and 2 infant toys (3-11 months). Come on now, the recipient of this box is 11 months old and none of those are age-appropriate for her. There are no choices in the clothing category and the rest of the choices in the other categories are very disappointing.
I’m very surprised to see glowing reviews for Bluum. I’ve been a subscriber for 3-months and they’ve messed it up for all 3 months. I’m usually not a complainer and I’ve been a subscription box junkie for over 3 years. Bluum… why give me choices when it’s obvious that I really don’t have any?