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Are you looking for unique non-toy gift ideas this year for Christmas? One unique idea you might consider is monthly subscription boxes!
My kids LOVE getting monthly subscription boxes, because it means they'll get fun snail mail packages every month all year long!
Here are the top 10 subscription boxes for kids that our family has loved and/or my readers highly recommended…
1. KiwiCo
KiwiCo is a monthly subscription service that offers kid's educational projects, crafts, and activities on different themes. You can get a subscription for as low as $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 offer 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+.
Our family LOVES KiwiCo and our kids have been receiving KiwiCo subscriptions as gifts for many years now! I highly recommend it. You can check out my honest review of KiwiCo for more information + get a coupon code for 30% off your first box.
2. Surprise Ride
Surprise Ride is a monthly subscription box that offers pre-planned educational activities for kids ages 6-11. They work with experts to curate a monthly adventure in a box. Each month, the box theme is a surprise and centers around something fun and educational like art, geography, outer space, food, and more!
We tried Surprise Ride for the first time about a year ago, and all three of our kids fell in love with these boxes. We ended up getting a subscription and it's brought hours of fun and excitement to our home over the past year!
3. ipsy
ipsy sends you a Glam Bag with five beauty products each month for $10 shipped. The five products are personalized to your preferences and profile, and you usually get at least 1-2 full size products.
This one has been a HUGE hit with our daughter Kaitlynn over the past year. She’s a little bit older and loves all things fashion and style, so she has had so much fun trying out the latest and greatest brands of cosmetics each month.
4. Pley
Pley is a monthly toy subscription box that aims to get kids to turn off their gadgets and turn on their imaginations by playing with creative toys.
They offer several different boxes:
- Disney Princesses: Each mystery box tells a story and includes 4-6 Princess figurines, accessories, and goodies to keep.
- National Geographic Kids: A monthly mission that explores our planet. Each box includes activities, toys, and accessories — including educational digital games.
- Hot Wheels: This every other month subscription has out-of-the-box stunts, new cars, and track pieces delivered in a reconfigurable box.
- Pley Toy Library: With this subscription, you can rent an educational toy each month. They have over 500 toys to choose from and a huge selection of brands — including LEGO, Minecraft, Nerf, and more!
We’ve done LEGO Pley in the past, and our kids really enjoyed it.
5. Little Passports
Little Passports creates award-winning subscriptions for kids that inspire them to learn about the world. They offer a variety of fun and engaging options for children ages 3-13 with several different payment plans.
There are four different subscriptions to choose from: Early Explorers, World Edition, USA Edition, or Science Expeditions.
Little Passports is one of the first subscription boxes my kids ever tried and they loved it! Although we haven’t used it in many years, I’ve heard it’s still just as great and many of our readers highly recommend it.
6. Kidpik
Kidpik is a personalized style service for young girls sizes 4-14. Think Stitch Fix, but for kids! If you have a pre-teen interested in fashion, this might be a great gift idea!
When you sign up for Kidpik, your child will receive a monthly custom fashion box of head-to-toe outfits. (You can also choose to only receive the box once or twice per season.) There are four general styles to choose from: girly, classic, trendy, or active.
Each box delivers 8 high quality items: 5 pieces of apparel, shoes, accessory, and free gift. This equates to a total of two to three head-to-toe outfit choices.
The best part? You only pay for what you decide to keep. Everything else can be returned for free. There is NO membership, styling, or shipping fee. It’s 100% commitment-free! And if you decide to keep the entire box, you get 30% off — which equates to paying about $12 per item.
7. Kidstir
Kidstir delivers a monthly themed cooking kit that has delicious recipes, kid-size tools, and fun games & activities.
With these monthly hands-on cooking kits, kids get to build their own cookbooks, try new foods, learn all about where food comes from, and gain important life skills in the kitchen.
If you have a child who loves to help out in the kitchen, Kidstir might be a really unique gift idea!
8. Green Kid Crafts
Green Kid Crafts is a monthly subscription service that delivers a monthly box of STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) kits that spark the imagination and encourage discovery & learning in kids ages 2-10.
Each box comes with step-by-step instructions for 4-8 STEAM projects, a 12-page magazine, and eco-friendly materials to complete all of the projects.
Green Kid Crafts offers four different subscription boxes to choose from: Junior Discovery for ages 2-4, Discovery for ages 5-10, Literary Discovery that includes a book upgrade, and Sibling Discovery that has two sets of projects for siblings.
9. Groovy Lab in a Box
Groovy Lab in a Box is a monthly subscription service for kids ages 8+ that delivers a box full of everything needed to learn about and do hands-on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) experiments.
The idea behind this box is that kids are natural engineers. It encourages kids to have fun while developing problem solving and critical thinking skills.
Each Groovy Lab in a Box includes a 20+ page custom-designed lab notebook to guide kids through the engineering design process, plus everything needed to complete all of the activities, inquiry experiments, tests, and engineering design challenge.
10. Birchbox
Birchbox is very similar to ipsy, and you get a monthly box of 5 personalized beauty products for $10 shipped.
Birchbox offers more high-end brands with a little more control over your box (you get to pick one of your samples). Birchbox is mostly sample sizes, though, so you won’t get the full size products that you get with ipsy.
It’s perfect for tweens or teens looking to try out some new high-end brands that they might not be able to otherwise afford.
Looking for more Non-Toy Gift Ideas? Check these out:
