Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Citrus Lane May 2015 6 mo old baby girl box review

Our discounted subscription period ended on a decent note. I thought the boxes were pretty good this month and really liked the dress received in the older girl boxes. Sadly my still unborn daughter aged to 6 months didn't receive the cute dress. I've decided against renewing for many reasons, but I will say that Citrus Lane took a step in the right direction with this month's box. It appears, for the most part, Citrus Lane tried to theme this box with things a child could enjoy in the summer.

The box arrived undamaged this month. YAY!!

It looks like Citrus Lane decided to do away with their signature yellow tissue and Citrus Lane sticker (at least for this month). The box looks neatly packed though.
The first visible portion of the box was the card detailing the contents for May:
A coupon for 20% off any additional Tea brand clothing purchase and an advertisement for Care.com (owners of Citrus Lane) was included:
First up, a tank top body suit from Tea Company. Ugh...I was so excited when I heard I'd be receiving a Tea item. Baby girl already owns quite a few pieces and I'm a big fan (her dad is too), but I don't love anything about this piece. AT. ALL.

The Tea Aditi tank bodysuit with floral print retails for $16.50 on the brand's website. All Tea fashion is globally inspired and this particular print was inspired by India. A nice bonus is that it's a "give back" item, so a portion of the item's sales will be donated to a Tea charity.

A Crocodile Creek 5" playground ball was the next item. This is a cute ball. I think that our little lady will enjoy this as she grows...if we can keep it from big brother in the meantime. According to the item description, the ball is made from rubber and contains none of the nasty BPA, PVC or vinyl found in other similar style balls.

A 5" playground ball from Crocodile Creek retails for $11 on Amazon.com, although a google search provided cheaper results.

We have received Goodbyn snack containers from Citrus Lane in the past and I'd like to say that I used them, but I didn't. In fact, I'm pretty sure when we unpack from our move, we will find that container with tags still attached in some box of miscellaneous items. Other snack containers received from Citrus Lane were much more useful. I do like that this is purple, since little sister will be getting so many hand me downs from her brother and maybe I will find it more useful now that I have two kids to pack for?

The Goodbyn snack container retails for $3 per Amazon.com

Finally, a sample of cleaning pods was included. One each of three of Vaska's cleaning products was included in a small zip lock bag. The products included in our May box were: a dishwasher pod, a baby laundry pod and a laundry pod. The description on Amazon states that these products are clinically proven to remove stains as well as or better than competitors without leaving behind any residue, chemicals, etc. I'm always up for something more natural for my family and am a huge fan of brands like Method and Honest, so I look forward to trying these out.

The per unit value of these is so low (.3-.38 per pod), I am just going to say $1. You can find the baby detergent here, the laundry here and the dishwasher pod here. I noticed better prices than Amazon on other sites, so it may be best to look a bit before purchasing if you're interested in trying any of these products for yourself.

The total value of the may box is $31.50. I feel this is a generous value as I believe you could find the ball for $5-8 in stores or other online retailers. You can purchase a Citrus Lane subscription here for $29 per month for a monthly subscription or as low as $24/month if you purchase a 6 month plan. Citrus Lane is always running specials through Groupon or their website, so if you are interested in trying this box for your child(ren) I would suggest seeking out the specials and waiting until you see a good one.

We had some ups and downs with Citrus Lane during our three year off and on use of the company's monthly box subscription and store. I can't say we will never subscribe again, but I am definitely "over it". I can't wait to provide my review of a new subscription box for Applecheeks diapers in June!! Applecheeks has paired with a mom owned small company to create one of a kind items available only through The Baby Bum. The monthly subscription is so popular that it's selling out and the owner is capping the number of orders she will take. I was really lucky to get in before the wait list begins. Check back in June, but in the meantime you can check out the Baby Bum Bundle here!