Bargain Bead Box Subscription Review – March 2017

Bargain Bead Box is a monthly subscription promising over $40 worth of quality jewelry-making supplies every month.

My Subscription Addiction pays for this subscription. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)

The Subscription Box: Bargain Bead Box

The Cost: $15.95 a month

The Products: Designer quality beads in materials ranging from crystal to glass to semi-precious gemstones, plus metal beads and findings. Bargain Bead Box does not send any plastic beads or seed beads.

Ships to: U.S. (free), Canada for $7.50

Check out all of our Bargain Bead Box reviews the Craft Subscription Box Directory for more great beading, craft supply, and DIY project boxes!

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There was a letter in the box with some more information on the theme (“Amethyst Aviary”). The back contained a list of the month’s beads.

A note on prices: Items like this can come from a variety of different suppliers at many price points depending on how many you buy, etc. I couldn’t find a lot of these exact beads from common sources (e.g., Fire Mountain Gems) and it’s of questionable value to pick something similar because a slight difference in grading or size or material and you are looking at half or double the price (or an even greater difference). Even different colors of the same size and shape of glass beads are priced differently due to materials needed to make the colors!

30 Pieces 7 mm Bead Cap

You’ll always get bead caps with this subscription. I never used to use them but now that I have a steady supply, I find that I like them. These match the other metal findings for the month, which is great!

5 Sets Toggle Clasps

You will often get some fun toggle clasps with Bargain Bead Box, as well. This month, they have a neat feather motif. And again, the metal tone matches.

4 Pieces 32 mm Perched Bird Charms

These are pretty cute.  I can see making one into a delicate pendant. Perhaps I could wire wrap some little gemstone or seed beads around the top for a bit of color.

1 Piece Genuine Amethyst Point Pendant with Bail

I’ll be honest, I’m glad this came with the bail. Because I have tried wire-wrapping crystals and I am not very good at it yet. This would probably be a simple pendant for me, perhaps in a necklace designed to be layered.

24 Pieces 8 mm Jade Round Beads (Color Enhanced)

50 Pieces 6 mm Frosted Round Lavender Glass Beads

I’ll talk about both of these together. I think both go quite well with the overall “amethyst” part of the theme and both are good, basic beads to use as accents. There are also a lot of beads this month (these two types included) that would look great in a simple stringing project.

1 Strand 8 mm Purple Iris Glass Round Beads

These are shiny like Mardi Gras beads or something. I think a whole piece of jewelry made only from these would be a bit much, but they are pretty good as accents.

2 Pieces 18 mm Handmade Indonesian Beads with Shell Accents

I think these are really cool. You would not want to use them in a piece that would get a lot of wear, though, as I think the little shell bits would start coming off.

10 Pieces 11 mm Fancy Two-Tone Resin Round Beads

These could work in macrame because they have large holes. Because they’re resin instead of wood, they’re a bit smoother, so they should be easier to put thick thread through, as well.

16 Pieces 10 mm Miracle Beads

Miracle beads are a type of coated acrylic made in Japan. I think these are the first ones I’ve ever owned. They were pretty easy to work with and they’ve got me interested in working with other acrylic, which is a material I’ve mostly avoided up to this point.

30 Pieces 5 mm Spacer Beads

These are nice accents to go with the other silver. I will warn you, though, that I couldn’t get my headpins all the way through the holes in some of them. Most were usable, though.

4 Pieces 18 mm Swallow Charms

These are medium-sized charms. I ended up using them all but if I hadn’t, I think they’d go well in a charm bracelet. I need to order some thicker chain and make charm bracelets – I’ve certainly amassed quite a selection of charms from bead subscriptions.

3 Pieces 11 x 43 mm Lovebird Links

4 Pieces 7 x 11 mm Mini Bird Charms

These are both super cute (and delicate). I am thinking of using the links in bracelets where I tie the loops to some sort of cording and then do a decorative knotting or braiding technique to go around the rest of my wrist. I used up all the mini bird charms already.

1 Strand 4 mm Chinese Crystal Bicone Beads in Amethyst AB

1 Strand 6 x 4 mm Dark Violet AB Chinese Crystal Rondelle Beads

I’ll be honest, I wanted to do another right angle weave collar like last month, but I don’t want to make the same piece of jewelry for you all every time, so I am saving most of these to make the collar on my own time. There are enough of both to go all the way around my neck, accompanied by some seed beads (I think…).

Here is a bracelet I made with some of the beads from this month’s box. In retrospect, the dangles are probably too big, especially proportionally to my arms since I have tiny wrists (5.25 inches). The dangles don’t go all the way around the bracelet as that would be super heavy and would overwhelm the magnetic clasp. However, I made this like exactly the dimensions of my wrist and the weight of the dangles does keep them on top, so it works if I want to wear statement jewelry, which I am much more likely to do with a bracelet than with a necklace.

Verdict: I did not calculate a value for Bargain Bead Box, as explained above. I definitely feel that I got a value that greatly exceeded the cost of the subscription; the information letter said the total retail value was $51 and I can believe that. At any rate, if you divide the price by the number of items, you get about $1 each, which I think is definitely reasonable. I really appreciate the color coordination this month – that is a feature of this box that makes it easier to make a complete piece of jewelry (or two or three) than with some of the other subscriptions out there.

Please note that no directions are given and you have to supply your own needles, stringing materials, tools, etc.

What did you think of the March 2017 Bargain Bead Box? Do you subscribe to any beading or craft boxes?