Dottie Box #2

You may remember me telling you last month about a subscription box I signed up for called Dottie Box. I received my second box this month and, to be honest, I was less than enamored. I think the concept is pretty neat--each month you get a box of things from different Etsy shops. It's a great way to support handmade and to find some products that you may never otherwise have tried. But the thing is...it's a bit pricey per month, and if the stuff inside isn't your thing at all you feel a bit...I don't want to say cheated or ripped off, but you definitely feel a little disappointed.

Here's what my second box looked like--

OK, cute little packages looking like presents. I can get behind that. Here's what was in those packages--

Homemade laundry soap, which I'll probably never use (but it does smell good); some shimmery fold-over elastic hair ties; earrings that I won't wear (I can't wear earrings--gross things happen to my lobes); a very strongly scented soy candle that I can't burn because soy candles make me cough terribly for some reason); and a bit of soap that is about a third of the size of the tin that it comes in.

I wasn't majorly in love with the first month, but I have used most of the products. Everything was packaged really cute, they included coupons for certain shops, and other little things. This month I feel fell short of even that, especially as I'm probably not going to use any of the stuff. I signed onto my account and cancelled my subscription. Hey, I'm all for supporting handmade. But I'm also for feeling like I got my money's worth. So far I feel like I have paid for a lot of cute packaging. They do have a blog that I'll check out to see what was included in that month's box, and if there's something that catches my eye I'll just buy that particular product.

BUT I do still really love the idea of a surprise box of who knows what each month, so I researched the other boxes that are out there a little more and picked a new one to try. This one is about the same price but has free shipping, and is craft-oriented. The past projects are all things I would have made, so I'm excited and curious (and wondering how I missed this one the first time around).