The Hive Box is a bee-friendly subscription box that partners with small businesses and artisans that work with honeybees to make their products. Honeybees are threatened due to conditions like colony collapse disorder and The Hive Box is helping to combat that by partnering with people who support local bee populations.
My Subscription Addiction paid for this box. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)
This review is of the Mini, $15.95 a month, box.
The Subscription Box: The Hive Box
The Cost: $15.95 for the “Mini” Hive Box or $24.95 for the regular-sized Hive Box. Shipping is $6.95.
The Products: Food, bath and body items, beeswax candles, and other specialty gifts with a bee-friendly theme. And of course, lots of HONEY.
Ships to: U.S.
Check out all of our The Hive Box reviews and the Food Subscription Box Directory for more great artisan food boxes!
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The box came with this information card detailing the items in the box.
Beeswax Tealight and Refill – Value $2.50?
These were unbranded and weren’t available in the Hive Box shop, so I based the value on an average of beeswax tealights from small producers I found through an online search. It is nice to get a candle in a “mini” version of a box like this! These burn cleanly; I tried one out in a Himalayan salt candle holder.
“Life is Sweet” Notebook – Value $5?
The artwork on the cover of this was custom-designed for the Hive Box. I need items like this periodically for to-do lists, shopping lists, and so forth, and I haven’t received one from a subscription box for awhile (I don’t subscribe to any lifestyle boxes). This wasn’t for sale in the Hive Box shop so I based the value on a few similar items I found on Etsy since the information card says this is handmade. (The inside pages are lined but otherwise blank.)
Ona Bar in Honey Nut (1.9 oz) – Value $2.59 (buy a 12-pack for $28)
I don’t think I have ever had something labeled “honey nut” flavor that tasted so much like actual honey and actual nuts! This was really good (and 273 calories, so I shared with my husband). Because of the honey, this is not vegan, though it is vegetarian. It has a LOT of tree nuts in it and also some coconut and it was very good.
The Hive Box Honey (6 fl oz?) – Value $12?
You’ll pretty much always get honey in a Hive Box shipment. We estimated this jar at 6 ounces based on the size of a molasses jar we had in the pantry (same footprint but this was half as tall). The Hive Box partnered with a Washington apiary to produce this. I based the value on another artisanal honey I found online but with products from small producers, there could be a few dollars’ difference either way.
At any rate, I had a taste of this in my tea and it worked really well to soothe my throat (I’ve been having sinus issues and drainage lately). But because of the size, this is probably mostly going to be used in baking or maybe for making some granola.
Angus photobomb!
Honeybee Favorites Seed Tin Mix from Seedgeeks – Value $11.95
This tin comes with packets of Bachelor’s Button, Borage, Echinacea, a “Feed the Bees” Mix, and a “Honey Bee Happy” Mix. These plants were selected as being good for the honeybee population. We recently had a giant tree fall over (like 5+ foot diameter with two trunks) in our backyard that took out a bunch of other trees with it. The tree removal company left a bunch of open area that looks kind of ugly right now. I am going to plant/scatter these back there to add some color.
Verdict: I calculated a value of about $34 for the April Hive Box Mini. I did have to estimate a lot of the values, but even if I am over by a couple of bucks in my estimate, I feel the value of the merchandise definitely exceeds the cost of the box plus shipping. I thought the mix of items was great and I will use everything in the box!
What do you think of the April 2017 Hive Box Mini? Do you have a non-food use for honey?
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