About a month ago I sent away for a subscription called The Bookish Box from Appraising Pages. This box is similar to many other book boxes as it has a few book related goodies, but not all of the options for this box contain books (in fact they just added the option to have YA books in their boxes recently). Most of the box options consist of either a box with the goodies and a shirt related to the theme of the month or just a box without the shirt. The box I choose was the one time pay gift box option so I was not required to get a month to month or yearly subscription. Anyway, I was delighted to find out the January theme was “Book to Musical.” This box featured different items related to musicals like Hamilton, Les Miserables, and more. When I first opened up the package I really appreciated the simple design of the box. It tells you who it is by and what the box is, but I really love the simplicity of it, with the box being mainly white, featuring a bit of teal blue and black with the design of the type writer and the ribbon with the bird. Though un-pictured, the side of the box reminds people to tag on social media using a specific hashtag, which I felt was extremely smart and a good move marketing wise. People can share their photos of the box, items, and opinions about it and the hashtags make it easier for marketing workers at the company and others to be able to find what people are saying about the box. This can provide some possible future changes that they should make to the box depending on reactions of customers and can add in types of items that customers really enjoy and should probably be used in future boxes, if the theme permits.
When I opened the box I was greeted with the green strips of confetti used to fill the box for decorations and protections of the items in the box. The greenish-teal color of the confetti I suspect had to do with either the theme of the box since green is related to the musical Wicked or the teal green color on the outside of the box related to the brand itself. Whatever the reason, the confetti was a fun touch. Another item I saw in the box when I first opened it was a letter. In this letter, like most subscriptions boxes, it thanked the box recipient for purchasing the box and also had a list of all the items that were included in that particular box. Though this letter had the shirt listed though I did not order the box with the shirt included with my purchase.
After tearing through the confetti pieces, I finally got the moment I was waiting for, the items themselves. The first item included in the box was a “Wicked” themed bath bomb by the company “Michael Kelly Co.” While I have not been able to use this yet, I am hoping to when I get home as I think it will be very cool and I have never used a bath bomb before. The next item, which is probably one of my favorite items ,was the Hamilton inspired earrings from the Etsy shop: “Tangledwood Lane Crafts.” I actually do not have them pictured below because I put them on as soon as I saw them. They are small black polymer clay earrings that are perfect for any occasion. The next item featured in the box was a book mark inspired by the musical Les Miserables from the Etsy shop: “LexyOlivia.” This beautifully painted bookmark, the colors mirroring a sunset, includes the quote from the musical: “Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise” and the title of the musical on the back. It will be a great placeholder for the many books I will be trying to read this winter. The last two items that were included in the box I received are “currently reading” stickers and a small musical related planner labeled “Bookish Notes 2017.” These items were both made by the company that created the box, Appraising Pages. The Bookish Notes planner features different pages including quotes from different musicals as well as spaces for each month to keep track of what you read each month. The stickers also can be used for that purpose as they can be placed in the planner and written on. While I usually use websites like Good Reads to keep track of books I am reading per year, writing them down can be helpful and this is a great resource just for that.
While I am not sure if I will be purchasing another Bookish Box or getting a yearly or monthly subscription to the service, I feel that what I received in the box this month was great as I only had to be pay around 21 dollars (which includes shipping and handling). All in all, this was a book box subscription I would definitely look into if you enjoy books, bookish goodies, and more.