June’s Citrus Lane Box

This Citrus Lane box share late, but I didn’t want to interrupt the rhythm of the Then & Now series. I was also dragging my feet because I don’t like being negative, especially when I want to be excited, but this month’s box was really disappointing. So disappointing I even emailed the company about it. Now that Oliver’s 1, he’s starting the toddler boxes, which I’ve heard are not always as good as the infant boxes. At least for this shipment, I’m in full agreement. My big issue is in the value - if I had bought all these items myself, the grand total would be about $24. That’s only $1 LESS than the cost of a full price box... so why bother using their service at all then?

In our box this month, there were only 4 items instead of 5: An iplay sunhat (worth about $10 on amazon), a Haba sand sieve (worth about $6 on amazon), a HappyTot fruit pouch (worth about $2), and a small tube of Episencial baby sunscreen (it’s $14 for a 4 oz tube on amazon, but we only got the 1.5 oz tube, so that’s technically worth less than $6). I actually LIKE all of the products themselves - I love iplay hats, they are great quality and I love their wide brims. We are also huge fans of Haba toys and I’m excited for summer stuff, but this sand sieve by itself feels cheap to me - we just bought a couple from Target’s dollar spot that are just as good. I’m always happy to receive organic baby products and I love Episencial’s sunscreen - it’s just a really small trial sized tube. In combination with everything else in the box, the extra-small tube kind of feels like an insult (why couldn’t they spring for the full size?!).

If they had included one more small toy (like the Haba sand funnel or a scoop to make it a set) or a summery board book to round things out, I would have been satisfied. Or Haba makes some other really cool sand toys (like steam rollers, sand mills, etc.) instead that would have made the box GREAT. Even if they had just included a full-sized sunscreen, I would have been happier. But in combination, the lack of value in the box is very disappointing. So much so that they will really have to wow me in July and August if they want me to renew my subscription. I went into this knowing that I wouldn’t love everything, that some boxes would be hits and some would be misses, but I DO expect to receive a certain amount of value for my money - and I didn’t get that this month.

Now all that being said, that was just our 12+ month toddler box. I know of other people who got different boxes that were THRILLED this month. From what I’ve seen, the newborn boxes and the baby boxes were MUCH better in June and I’ve heard things like, “This was my favorite box ever,” and “Best box yet!” So I’m not sure if it was just a bad month to be a toddler, or if it’s the toddler boxes all around, we’ll just have to wait and see...

So if you have a baby and want to get good boxes, or have a toddler and faith in Citrus Lane that their toddler boxes will improve, click here for a $10 off coupon:
https://www.citruslane.com/invitedby/citrus.lane.471652

See February’s Box | March’s Box | April’s Box | May’s Box

**I am not in any way affiliated with Citrus Lane, they did not ask for my endorsement and my opinion is completely my own. I'm just sharing my experience with the subscription site for fun!