A few weeks ago, I posted about a sample box that Kiwi Crate was offering. I’d heard a lot about Kiwi Crate before, but I’d never signed up for it.
Kiwi Crate is a monthly subscription service that offers kid’s educational projects, crafts, and activities on different themes. It’s typically $16.95 per month for the box — including shipping. This box will include 2-3 projects, all the materials to complete those projects, plus hands-on learning activities and more.
They recently launched monthly crate subscriptions for various ages: Koala Crate is for ages 3-4, Kiwi Crate is for ages 4-8, Tinker Crate is for ages 8-14+, and Doodle Crate is for ages 9-16+.
Since the Kiwi Crate sample box was only $3.95 and a friend had highly recommended it, I went ahead and posted about it and signed up for a box. {Please note: The sample box offer is currently not available.}
We got the box within two weeks and I was very, very impressed with what we got for $3.95 (that price included shipping, too!)
The kit came with:
- All the materials to build your very own glowworm
- Set of fabric markers to decorate your snuggly friend
- One-of-a-kind glow in the dark sock
- Bonus firefly foldout project with set of glow sticks
- 16 page explore! magazine filled with puzzles, DIY activities and kid-friendly recipes
The instructions to complete the craft were very detailed and organized. For a non-crafter like me, this was especially helpful!
Silas has an absolute blast working with me to create his glowworm.
I loved seeing his focus and determination!
He decided to name his glowworm “Billy Butler”, after one of his favorite Royal’s baseball players. 
While he worked on his glowworm, I read to him from the accompanying book.
I thought there was a lot of value in this booklet. Not only were there short stories, a poem, a number of activity pages, but there were also some fun additional related projects.
They gave you instructions on how to make your own FireFly Paint Jar — which looked cool.
There were also pages you could cut out to make a Glow-in-the-Dark FireFly using the patterns and the glow sticks they gave you in the kit.
Silas got to practice his cutting skills on this project!
After he finished his FireFly, he went back to decorating “Billy Butler.”
He was so proud of his finished product — and especially excited that it actually glowed in the dark when he took it into a dark room. He asked if he could sleep with it tonight before he went to bed.
Why I Can’t 100% Endorse Kiwi Crate
Honestly, I wanted to give Kiwi Crate a huge standing ovation in this post… because clearly, the sample box was a HUGE win at our house!
But here’s the problem: I can’t.
You see, I ordered the sample box and was unsure as to whether or not I’d continue my subscription. While I was waffling over it, some of my readers commented on my post about the sample box saying they were having trouble getting their subscription canceled.
They couldn’t get ahold of anyone at customer service and their card had been charged for a crate that they didn’t want — after they had requested for their subscription to be canceled.
Because of this, I decided that I personally wanted to try canceling my subscription to see if I had trouble getting it to work. I followed the instructions they outlined on their site to cancel my subscription: I emailed customer service within the time frame allotted.
And I never heard back. What’s worse, about 10(?) days later, I got an email saying that my card had been charged for the next crate and it had already shipped.
What?? I had emailed customer services DAYS before to request that they cancel my subscription and I was well within the time frame stated on their site for when to cancel and not get billed for another month.
To say I was a bit frustrated is an understatement. Not so much for myself, but for my readers whom I’d introduced to Kiwi Crate. I felt so badly that a deal I had posted was turning out like this.
I emailed customer service again and reached out to them on Twitter. {I’ve learned that Twitter is often a very effective way to actually hear from companies when email doesn’t seem to be working.}
Would you know it? I heard back from them via Twitter within 30 minutes. They looked my order up and canceled my subscription. I received an email apologizing to me and confirming my subscription cancellation. They also asked they I relay to my readers that if anyone is having trouble getting your subscription canceled, you should contact them through Facebook or Twitter.
They were very gracious about it, which is a big plus. But I still have reservations about fully endorsing this company. I think the sample box was every bit worth the cost, but I’m not sure it was worth the hassle I had to go through to get my subscription canceled. So if you’re thinking of trying it out but think there’s a good chance you might cancel, be aware of this.
That said, I still was very impressed with the box. In fact, we loved it so much that we are thinking that our Christmas gifts for the kids this year will be a subscription to Tinker Crate for Kathrynne, a subscription to the Doodle Crate for Kaitlynn, and a subscription to Kiwi Crate for Silas.
We got the full Kiwi Crate in the mail (the one that I had tried to cancel but got billed for) and I’m planning to try it out with Silas soon and will report back to you on what we think of it. We’re going to make our decision about whether or not we’re going to subscribe after I’ve gone through and completed the projects with him from that full crate.
Note: Since a subscription is rather expense, this also might be a great gift idea to pass along to Grandma & Grandpa for Christmas this year. I love that it’s mostly consummable, very educational, hands-on, and a gift that would keep giving all year long!
Have you tried Kiwi Crate before? Have you tried canceling your subscription? If so, what was your experience?
Note: This post contains my Kiwi Crate referral link. If you click through and decided you are willing to risk it enough to sign up for a subscription, I will receive a referral fee if you sign up through one of my links in this post. If you don’t feel comfortable doing so, you can go to KiwiCrate.com to sign up directly.
My neighbor had told me the week we moved here that all Nashville-area Goodwill stores run a 50% off everything in the store the first Saturday of every month. I’ve been meaning to check it out every single month since we moved, but it finally worked out for it to happen today.
Silas had an early soccer game and Kaitlynn had ice skating at the same time, so I took Silas to his game and Jesse took Kaitlynn and Kathrynne to ice-skating. After soccer, Silas & I went over to Goodwill (it was right on our way home!) to check it out.
The store was quite crowded — and I could see why! The prices after the 50% off sale made most items less than $3, with many as low as $0.99! For the most part, almost the entire store was at garage sale prices or better.
The only downside? There was a LONG line at checkout. Even though they had multiple registers open, I guessed that you’d probably have to stand in line for at 30 minutes just to make it to checkout. So I decided that there wasn’t anything I needed enough to stand in that long of a line today. But it was fun to check it out and I hope to go back some other first Saturday of the month when I have more time and am prepared to stand in a long line!
One way we save a lot of money is by eating oatmeal. We typically eat it at least 3-4 per week. Usually for breakfast, but sometimes for lunch or a snack.
Today I had oatmeal for lunch. I cooked it my favorite way — just a little crispy on the stovetop and then added a heaping teaspoon of coconut oil and a half teaspoon of vanilla. It’s plain and simple, but it’s filling, nutritious, and inexpensive. Plus, it’s a quick and easy meal or snack to make!
How did YOU save today? I’d love to hear!
