This time of year is gifting season at our house. Not only do we have Christmas, but my children have their birthdays stacked up in November, January and February. In the past this has meant that we would have a gift/toy surplus at our house all at once. It was sensory overload. As a result, most of their gifts would go unappreciated.
Then my sister-in-law sent us a gift subscription to Bookroo. It’s a subscription service that hand-picks and wraps two hardcover children’s books each month and delivers them straight to your doorstep. I can’t even begin to tell you how much my kids loved this! Receiving special mail each month was not only a way to keep things fresh, but also a way for my kids to connect with their Aunt Marie who lives all the way up in Michigan. Not to mention it took the place of big clunky toys that would soon be forgotten.
It wasn’t long before our go-to gift for someone would be a subscription service. And let me tell you – the market is HOT right now. You can literally find a subscription service for anything. Wine, makeup supplies, snacks, tea… you name it! We even found a subscription box of monthly fishing lures and accessories for my fishing enthusiast father-in-law.
It’s the gift that keeps on giving, Clark.
Seriously though, subscription gifting is no longer just for expensive jams that nobody is going to eat. And for our family, it’s a way to keep connecting well past the holidays. My favorite subscriptions are the ones that even sneak learning into their fun little boxes. We currently subscribe to Little Passports year round. My kids get a geography lesson each month, along with postcards and activities and map lessons. But it’s so much fun that they have no idea that they are learning. And for my daughter’s 7th birthday, she just received a subscription to Kiwi Crate. Filled with STEM inspired activities, she created a working moving claw game all by herself. The best part though? She spent an entire afternoon without any sort of technology.
Do you have a favorite subscription gift service? This year (spoiler alert!) the couples in my family are receiving date crates. There are several services that offer complete at-home date night kits, promising fun, connection, and (woohoo!) no need to hire a babysitter.
