Date Box Club is a monthly subscription that delivers you G-rated date night ideas and everything you need to complete them.
Date Box Club sent us this box for review purposes. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)
The Subscription Box: Date Box Club
The Cost: $35.00 per month + $1.99 shipping
The Products: Everything you need for a creative date night activity. The activities are designed for couples in committed relationships but are not romantic or “adult” in nature.
Ships to: US. Shipping is free.
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There's an envelope in the box that includes all of the information for the date.
The theme this month is "Grow Together", and all of the activities are somewhat themed around literal or figurative growth. There are three "steps" to the date: making ice pops while listening to the Date Box Club "Growth" playlist on Spotify, decorating mason jars in which to plant purple shamrocks, and asking each other questions from the "Magic-Gro" card set they include.
Zipzicle Ice Molds, Set of 18 - Value $3.99
2 Crystal Light Pure Raspberry Lemonade Packets - Total Value $2.00 (buy a pack of 42 for $41.95)
The first activity is making ice pops using these long skinny zip-sealed bags and this lemonade mix. I love these kinds of ice pops, but have never made them myself. I think these bags are a good discovery, though the popsicles themselves were kind of so-so.
There's a recipe card included with the box, but the info card says you can also start with just the lemonade mixes included in the box....
...and a little vodka. (Hey, the card suggested it!)
We poured one of the packets into a bottle of water, per the instructions, shook it up, then added about a shot's worth of vodka, then shook again. After that, we (carefully) poured the lemonade into the bags and collected them in a cup so that they'd freeze upright. (Here's Alistair with our popsicle bouquet!) We got 6 popsicles out of the one packet, which we didn't expect.
The popsicles were a snap to make, but the taste was... eh... not so great. The flavor ended up being a bit weak, and the artificial sweetener taste was pretty strong. I bet the more complex recipes in the box, where you're blending real fruit together, end up being way tastier than just these simple mixes, but running out to the store for extra ingredients kind of defeats the point of getting everything you need for a date at your convenience. If we do it again, though, it's nice to have those recipe ideas on hand!
Shamrock Growing Kit and Marbling Craft - Value $12.00?
The second "step" of the date is made up of a bunch of component parts, so it's tricky to value. I took a guess for how much I'd think to pay for a little planting kit at a shop or boutique, and I think it sounds pretty fair. There are two steps of this project—first, you use the tray, some water, the nail polishes, and the toothpicks to do a dip marbling technique to decorate the jars. Then, you plant the shamrock bulbs in the jars and wait for them to bloom!
The first thing we noticed was that the plastic tray, which is sort of integral to the marbling project, was a bit cracked on one side. It was also dusted with stubborn dirt that had shaken out of the packaging during transit. We gave it a good rinse, but some of it was a little caked on, which was annoying.
I'd done this kind of marbling technique on my nails before, so I was familiar with how this whole craft should work. Essentially, you pour nail polish into a bath of room temperature water, then use a toothpick to swirl the colors together. If you're quick enough, you can dip something across the pattern floating on the top of the water, and it should, in turn, transfer to whatever you've dipped.
We were both totally game to be creative, but whoooooooooooa mama did those nail polishes smell bad. And I mean, I love painting my nails and even getting acrylics and things. But I don't think I've ever smelled something nail polish with such a powerful, horrible, chemical smell before! And wow, did Alistair not like it. He trooped through, but it wasn't pretty, haha!
Maybe more importantly, the jars didn't end up looking so hot. The nail polish didn't stay sitting neatly on the surface of the water—some of it sank or just collected into little blobs, which then stuck to our jars in equally globby ways. They sat on the windowsill for over an hour drying (and airing out), but were still damp and sticky!
This card will be helpful for getting our gardening going. Planting shamrocks is probably the easiest part of this date experience, though we didn't get any good photos. Picture those pink and yellow jars filled with dirt, and that's basically what it looks like, haha! Fingers crossed they help clarify the air a bit!
50 "Magic-Gro" Question Cards - Value $3.00?
Since these were custom made by the subscription, I just took a guess at how much they might be. I could see something like this being purchased at a gift shop for around $3.00. I was actually really impressed by the cute design concept and the crispness of them. I think these cards were the best part of this date. We're both the kind of people who love bubbly small talk conversation, but we really thrive in sincere, heart-to-heart conversation and connections. This stack of 50 cards got at a little of column A and a little of column B. We talked about favorite animals, regrets, great haircuts, death and aging... all kinds of things. It was the perfect way to kill time while our popsicles chilled (and the nail polish smell cleared out of the kitchen). I could see this being a fun activity to play with other couples on double dates, too.
And of course, through it all, we had the "Growth" playlist going on Spotify. I think this is a cute touch to add to the experience, though I'll be honest, it wasn't my favorite. The songs aren't as loyal to the growth theme as I assumed they might be. There's a good mix of vibes, all of which range from chill to upbeat in terms of energy. It's definitely designed to be as crowd-pleasing and easy-going as possible, and I think it achieves that—it definitely accomplishes the mission of providing some happy, cute background music.
Alistair put it best, I think: "It was nice. It was music."
Verdict: I think this subscription is a really cute idea with a very sincere, big-hearted mission to bring couples together. I like that it's more G-rated—the focus is really on sharing experiences and emotions with one another. And since it wasn't anything fancy, it was the perfect way to spend a Sunday evening. I love the ability to have a cute night together and not have to change out of my couch clothes!
Based on my guesses, we only got about $20.00 of product in this $35.00 box (about $37.00 with shipping), but the curated experience was definitely worth something, too. This box takes away the whole "I dunno... what do YOU want to do?" conversation and gets straight to it. And sure, for two DIY novices like Alistair and I, these activities were a bit more Pinterest fail than romantic craft night. But there was plenty of giggling between the "ohhhh geez" moments, and any opportunity to laugh and smile together, I will gladly take.
What do you think of the July 2017 Date Box Club?
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