It’s no secret that I love getting stuff in the mail. I’ve done Birchbox, Glossybox, Beauty Army, Julep, Sample Society, Jewelmint; I participate in BzzAgent and Influenster so I can try things, and a large part of my enjoyment lies in reviewing things I get and talking about them with friends. I was delighted to discover that the curated subscription box is such a big thing now (Grace maintains a great list of the available boxes) that there are baby-themed boxes available. And there are few things more squee-inducing than tiny clothes, except maybe getting a surprise selection of tiny clothes in the mail, so for my first foray I chose Wittlebee (referral link here and throughout, except where noted; you can get a $10 discount by using it, and I get some type of credit). The subscription is $39.99/month, including shipping, and you get six items in each box.
When you join the site, you fill out a style profile, much like… well, every other subscription box. You have to choose boy or girl clothing; to me, this is a slight negative, because there are lots of cute, neutral clothes available, and I hate the whole “girl Legos are pink” phenomenon and things related to it. Since we don’t know type of genitalia Hoho will have, yet, I just selected “boy” and placed a note to the stylist that we’d like neutral clothing, since we don’t know. I indicated 6 month sizes, since I’ve heard babies outgrow the 0-3 month sizes fast, and indicated animals, patterns, and stripes for style preferences. They sent the box out within a couple of days — indeed, before the stylist had read my note. I joined on November 26, they shipped my box on the 28th, and replied to my note on the 29th. So, our first Wittlebee box was a “boy” box. I was a little disappointed that they took longer to read the note than they did to ship, but they did reply and will send neutral boxes in the future. Except I’ll have the big ultrasound before the next one ships, but more on that anon.
The shipping took forever. Well, a week, but that feels like forever these days. I don’t think it’s that far out of the range of other subscription boxes; I’m just impatient, and I wanted to get BABY PRESENTS! in the mail, even if I ordered them myself. That’s the nice part about curated boxes; they’re a surprise, and so it really does feel like getting a gift. At any rate, the delightful bee-logo’d box was awaiting me last night after work. I impatiently waited for my husband to finish feeding the cats so we could sit down and open it together. I pretty much squealed with delight when I saw the contents.
So, here’s what we got:
- Rabbit Moon button-down long sleeve shirt with a rocket ship(!) embroidered on it. This is easily my favorite thing in the box. It’s just so cute, and I do think that either a boy or a girl could wear this, although I think it’s styled for boys. I couldn’t find this exact item for sale, but similar shirts from Rabbit Moon seem to run at least $25. The only thing I don’t like about it is that the embroidery has no backing, so without something under it I fear it will irritate baby’s skin. Still: CUTE. Estimated value: $25
- Three-piece outfit from ??? I’m going to have to look up the details on this later, because baby brain made me forget. This is so cute and has black sweatpants, a maroon and white striped shirt with black collar (with snaps at the shoulder, hurrah), and a maroon dirt bike printed hoodie. The hoodie is the only thing that really screams “boy” to me in the box, and honestly, I’m not sure why. It’s not quite my style, and isn’t animals, stripes, or prints, quite, but the shirt is striped, so I’ll give them credit for that. The outfit altogether is adorable, and the shirt and pants are just so casual and fun. Since I forgot to look up the brand, I can’t really search out the price, but it seems to be of nice quality so… Estimated value: $35
- Grey cotton jersey pants, fairly heavy, with a Wittlebee brand tag. These are cute, although not my favorite color, and they’re just a little bit off from the spaceship shirt. Still, they’re nice enough. I think these are American Apparel rebranded, but I’m not 100% sure; I’m basing the value on that guess. Estimated value: $12
- Navy blue long-sleeve onesie. I have no idea why I love this so much; possibly because blue is my favorite color and it’s just so tiny. Although I put it on my stomach, at which point it didn’t look so small. I’m hoping the 0-3 month clothing is smaller because it gave me a moment of panic, if we’re being honest. It also has the shoulder snaps (I’ve heard these are handy) and is a fairly heavy, but soft, cotton knit. This is also Wittlebee branded. Estimated value: $12
So, six items, three of which are already an outfit, and I’m guessing the value here to be $74 or thereabouts. Not at all bad, although I would shop sales and be unlikely to pay full price. I used a discount code as well, so for $30 including postage I got to have a ton of fun opening baby clothes in the comfort of my own home. I think the black pants, blue onesie, and rocket ship top might make a cute outfit, as do the grey pants and blue onesie. So that’s three “outfits” right there.
I give them fairly good points for matching my preferences, although I like cute animals a lot better than dirt bikes. I’m still kind of irrationally disappointed that I couldn’t get that gender neutral note in there before they shipped a box, because we don’t know yet, and I feel like we’re jumping the gun or something by ordering clothes labeled “BOY.” This is, of course, completely illogical, but there it is. They encourage you to leave plenty of style notes, so I’ll be doing that, and we’ll see how and whether it improves — but there isn’t anything in the box I wouldn’t put on my baby no way no how, so, it’s not like we’re starting from a bad place.
Obviously I don’t know yet how the clothes fit or how durable they might be, since Hoho has another 24 weeks to go in there.
I’m definitely planning to keep my subscription, and would recommend the service. One caveat, though; I recently got an email from Wittlebee’s founder, and he asked that subscribers skip December to give them a little time to get things together. They’ve grown faster than expected (something that plagues these services, I’ve noticed) and are going to a waiting list for new subscriptions. I give them big props for stepping back and saying “Look, we need to regroup” rather than just sending out worse and worse stuff, later every month (I’m looking at you, Birchbox), and never replying to emails. Just be aware that they are sending out December boxes for those that want them, but if you’re signing up as a new customer, I might be tempted to wait until January due to that email. I went ahead and skipped December, so I won’t have
You can get $10 off if you use my referral link to subscribe to Wittlebee. If you prefer not to use referral links, you can subscribe by going directly to their site.
little birdhouse 