Owlcrate is a book subscription box and it seems to be one of the most popular ones. However, it can be nerve-wracking to decide on spending money when you are not certain about a product being worth it. This review might help you decide if you want to try out a subscription.
January 2018 box items The way that Owlcrate works is that you pick a plan type and those are monthly, 3-month or 6-month. If you choose a 3-month or a 6-month you will have to pay for it upfront but you don't have to worry about paying for it again until your subscription expires. If you are a new subscriber, the money is taken out of your account immediately but after that you will be billed on the 1st of each month. Owlcrateboxes cost $29.99 + shipping each month. Shipping for the United States is $7.99, for Canada it is $10.59 and Worldwide it is $19.99. All prices are in USD.
The way they curate a box is by picking a new Young Adult release for each month. They read the books months in advance and once they pick something for a particular month they focus on coming up with a theme for the box. Each theme will also have a few different fandoms as well. Some of them include items that center around Guardians of the Galaxy, Harry Potter, Star Wars and the Throne of Glass series. Once they decide on a theme they work with companies to try and come up with the items based on that theme. A lot of the time they work with small business owners. A lot of the books that come in Owlcrate seem to be fantasy novels but they do throw in a few contemporary. The book is supposed to be a secret but they do a theme reveal and you can usually figure out the book based on what they say about the monthly pick. The types of items you get vary from box to box. They include bookmarks, necklaces, soaps, book themed candles, scarves and tote bags.
With Owlcrate you can also skip a month if you decide that you don't like the theme. To do this you can log into your account, hit the edit button and then click 'skip next renewel'. If you have a 3-month or 6-month subscription you can email Owlcrate and ask them to skip a month for you. If you skip a 3-month or 6-month subscription it will extend your subscription for an extra month. If you subscription was supposed to end in January it wouldn't end until February.
I have been getting Owlcrate since September 2017. I was initially gifted a 6-month subscription but was able to extend it. I feel that Owlcrate is worth the price and it's the one box I know I will keep subscribing too as long as I can. I am in the United States so I pay $7.99 for shipping and that isn't too much compared to other boxes. If you are someone who is going to have to pay more for shipping you might want to look at the past boxes that the Owlcrate website lists. This will give you an idea on whether or not you feel that the items are worth it as the website shows past boxes as far back as 2 years ago.
The reason that I find Owlcrate to be worth the price is that I am able to utilize the majority of the items. They do include items from different books, movies and shows and while I don't know all of them I tend to be able to utilize those items because they come with a quote or something similar. This is because the particular book, movie or show was only used as inspiration. For example, January's box came with a pillowcase that was inspired by Sleeping Beauty and February's box came with a Coraline inspired button necklace. I have never liked Sleeping Beauty and I am not a huge fan of Coraline but I ended up loving and utilizing both.
Some of the other things that I like about Owlcrate is there have been times when I wasn't sure about a book but was mildly interested. I ended up getting the box because they had a theme that I was interested in and I was also able to try out the book. My way of thinking has been that if I end up disliking the book at least I got some cool items. I did this with December's book and ended up really enjoying it and I got an awesome Harry Potter tote bag and some other smaller items that I loved. I tend to read most of the books I get because they are books I've been interested in or anticipating. So far I have read four out of the seven books. I would have read more of the books I've gotten but I have been in a reading slump and more selective about the books I read. I find that more often than not they include books I am interested in. I've only skipped one box in the eight months I have been subscribed.
Owlcrate is also the subscription box that got me into liking candles. I used to not want to go out of my way to buy them because I didn't use them much. However, Owlcrate tends to include book themed candles with their boxes and I have been able to try out a lot of different scents. The downside is that I get headaches and so there are times when certain scents are too strong.
I think that if you are someone who is sensitive to smell you might have to consider if strong scents are a turn off. I know that most subscription boxes include candles or soaps that have strong scents for some. One example I can give is January's box because they included a wax burner and some wax melts. While I loved both items I have to be selective about using the wax melts as they have caused a headache and my headaches have a tendency to turn into migraines. Since they don't bother me all the time I can still use them but I know other people who got the January's box complained about the headache the scent gave them.
When I get a candle or another item I cannot use I tend to re-gift them to people. I either give them away or use them as gifts since I tend to have to live on a strict budget and I can still make use of the items. In March one of the item's they gave was a galaxy scarf and I don't tend to utilize scarves all that often. Due to that I will be re-gifting it to a family member.
Another complaint I have heard about Owlcrate is that their items seem to cater to women. I suppose this could be viewed as accurate to some since they include jewelry, bath products and tote bags. At times I do wish some of their items were a bit more gender neutral but I think they try to the best of their ability. I am someone that doesn't tend to like a lot of items that can be viewed as being for women but I have found that even those items work for me.
I think that Owlcrate also has some of the best customer service of any box I have tried. I recently skipped my first month and since I have a 6-month subscription I had to message them about it. They were kind and told me I had to wait until after March's boxes shipped. They've always been kind and exceptionally helpful. If an item breaks while shipping they will either ship you a new one or give you a discount on your next box. They have an extensive
FAQ on their website as well and that has helped to answer some questions I have had. They seem to want their subscribers to be informed about what they are getting and I really appreciated it when I was looking into it as a gift.
I know the biggest concern people have about book boxes is that the book tends to be chosen or unknown until you get it. While this is true a lot of the time, you can guess the books once the theme is revealed and make the decision to skip. There are even pages on Facebook where you can guess the book based on the theme. I am part of one of these groups and I find it fun to see the different guesses for each box. The biggest reason to skip Owlcrate is if you don't like fantasy because most of their books tend to be fantasy. I think a lot of that is because fantasy is more popular right now and they focus on popular or highly anticipated new releases.
March 2018 box items Overall, I have been quite happy with my subscription. I don't have as many complaints as some people who are subscribed but I looked at past boxes before subscribing and knew that there would be items I wouldn't use. That helped me to go into it with more realistic expectations. It is definitely a fun treat if you have the extra money.
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