Papergang is a monthly stationery subscription box from quirky UK design team, Ohh Deer. Each month they partner with a different artist and have a theme to bring you paper goods and desk accessories.
Each month's packaging is not only eye-catching, it's often heart-flutteringly good, and acts as the perfect preview to the theme of the box. It's designed by a featured artist each month. December's artist is LA-based illustrator Keiko Brodeur, whose line of camping and traveling themed paper goods, entitled Small Adventure, marked the start of illustration being a "serious endeavor" for her.
The flip side of the box always features a cut-out craft, and this month it's two cut-out travel tags that you can slip into the window of your luggage. My current version of this is literally a piece of scrap paper that I ripped and scribbled my information on, so I'm all about the artistic upgrade opportunity provided to me by way of these quirkily designed rectangles!
My Subscription Addiction paid for this box. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes).
About Papergang
The Subscription Box: Papergang
The Cost: About $13.98 USD (10.95 GBP) + shipping.
Coupons: Buy a 3-month subscription and save 50% off your first box, no code required, just link here! You can also get a free box with a 6-month subscription or 2 free boxes with a 12-month subscription!
The Products: Each month you'll receive a box full of papery goodness. The product selection will vary, however, it will include the likes of greeting cards, notebooks, desk accessories, and art prints.
Ships to: the US and Canada for approx. $5.80 USD (£4.95), UK for $3.86 USD, Australia for $7.79 USD, and Worldwide (shipping costs vary).
Good to know: Papergang partners with Tree Aid to make sure that for every four boxes they sell, one tree gets planted in the African Drylands, which helps with vital food and income.
Papergang December 2018 Review
My subscription with Papergang just renewed, so I got the patch that comes in first-time subscriber boxes! It's this cute little mascot named Drew with pencils for hair (or a hat? Cast your vote in the comments below). On the back of the card to which Drew is affixed, there are simple instructions for how to successfully apply an iron-on patch. I'm thinking Drew's gonna have to go on my fanny pack.
Papergang includes a fun little info booklet each month that matches the box and theme of the contents! Shall we take a look?
Open the booklet and you’ll find the contents of this box (Box #34). Plus a little intro to our artist, Keiko Brodeur.
Here it dives into an interview with Brodeur, with a focus on how she came to use the outdoors as her inspiration, and her illustrative medium and style.
The interview wraps up with her upcoming travel plans—very on-theme!
Here's an area for you to jot down some of your own adventure ideas. Opposite the chart is a peek at some of Brodeur's Small Adventure greeting cards (psst—you get to experience one in the "flesh" with December's box).
Here are a few more cards and some info about Papergang's partnership with Tree Aid.
On the back cover is an ad for their referral program. A program that leads to a free stinkin' box! Do it, dudes! Find out more info about their referral program at papergang.ohhdeer.com/faq.
A5 Slim Daily Planner - Listed Value About $9.34 USD (£12.95)
Oh, hello, beautiful! This daily planner has my favorite type of cover, which is a fabric-covered soft cover. It's substantial and classy without being too heavy. And it's got that gorgeous starry sky print of Brodeur's on the front and back. Plus, gold foil lettering on the front! *kisses fingertips like an Italian chef*
A ribbon page marker is a staple of a fine notebook or planner, and I love how this one offers a great pop of contrast to the dark blue cover. The print on the inside pages is faint, but there's a line where you can note the date (so, yes, this is a versatile planner that doesn't expire), a to-do list, and a time table. That's kind of crucial for me because my days of carrying a paper planner—my bible, really—with me are over and I now use Google Calendar so I can easily coordinate my life with my husband, but I've been missing the experience of hand writing plans and to-dos and special occasions that I can then look back on years later and reminisce. But I'm not ready to take the leap just yet, so I can keep this guy around until my magical moment arises.
On each opposite page is space for notes and doodles. Oh what I would give to see what kinds of doodles you all end up creating in your planners!
Le back. Lovely, huh?
Woven Patch - Listed Value About $2.85 USD (£3.95)
Another patch! This one is iron-on, as well, but one that I would recommend reinforcing with at least a few stitches since the sewn edges are a bit bulky. I'm thinking this one will go on my frame pack that I use for backpacking. Seems fitting, right?
Sticker Pack - Retail Value About $2.85 USD (£3.95)
You're lookin' at a reeeaaal sticker junkie right here, and so the fact that Papergang provided us with not one, not two, not three, but FOUR sheets of stickers with a truly delightful variety of adventure-themed imagery all over 'em has me wondering what I did to deserve such goodness in my life. Perhaps because I'm a good, kind person or perhaps because I needed something to hang onto to tell myself I'm not an unstable adult, I gave one sheet to a friend's four-year-old daughter (she was pumped), but the rest I shall stash away where no one can see them until they receive a piece of snail mail with a few carefully selected combos on the envelope. Ooh yes I can't wait.
Greeting Card - Estimated Value $1.98 (£2.75)
Who wants to live on this birthday card with me? I mean, that rug, come on. My brother's birthday rolled around just a few days after this box arrived on my doorstep, but I wasn't ready to part ways with this card yet—the colors! The awning! The cuteness!—so I repurposed a non-birthday card for him so that I could soak up this one for a little longer. So, yeah, about being a stable adult...
Bonus: Riso Postcard - Estimated Value $1.98 (£2.75)
Most of the Papergang boxes I've received include a little bonus riso calendar designed by that month's designer. Instead, December's box brings a little postcard-sized print. The blue tones remind me of a camping scene you might see through the night vision lens of a camera (Is that a real thing? Am I making that up?). It doesn't have postcard lines on the back—it's just blank—but I'm totally going to draw my own and mail this to a friend.
Verdict: After a few months without Papergang in my life (it was a dark time, folks), I am bursting with joy to have this insanely well-designed subscription box and its truly lovable contents in my life. I always enjoy a good card to have on file, so I'm excited about that. I like that the planner is an upgrade from a basic notebook. And, the patch and stickers are fun items you don't see every month in your Papergang box. So, yes, yay, December's box was just great! I received a soft cover planner, a patch, a sticker pack, a birthday card, and a bonus riso postcard, which added up to about $19 USD, which does not include the Drew patch. For an approximately $19.78 (including shipping fee to the USA) box, that's not as good of a deal as past boxes have been, but I'm OK with it because these are such special goods with exclusive designs.
To Wrap Up:
Can you still get this box if you sign up today? No, you'll receive the January or February box! Check this helpful ship date guide to see the order-by date to receive the next few months' boxes.
Coupon - Buy a 3-month subscription and save 50% off your first box, no code required, just link here! You can also get a free box with a 6-month subscription or 2 free boxes with a 12-month subscription!
Value Breakdown: This box costs $13.98 + $5.80 shipping, which means that each of the 5 items in the box (counting the bonus postcard but not the Drew patch) has an average cost of $3.96.
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Did you like December's Papergang theme as much as I did?
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