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Fair Ivy Subscription Box Review – April 2015

Ragan Buckley
ByRagan BuckleyApr 18, 2015 | 7 comments

Fair Ivy Subscription Box Review - April 2015 Box

Fair Ivy is a monthly subscription box offering a monthly delivery of handmade surprises.  The monthly gifts ship directly from the independent artisans who create them, so there isn’t a standard Fair Ivy box design.

Fair Ivy sent us this box for review purposes. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)

The Subscription Box: Fair Ivy

The Cost: $30 plus shipping.  Monthly, 6-month, and 12-month plans can be purchased.  However, the price per month stays the same regardless of your subscription length.  Fair Ivy is currently waitlisted but you can sign up here to be notified when subscriptions open again (I think the waitlist opens a few times a month).

The Products: Handmade gifts from independent artisans.  These could be anything from bath and body products to tea towels to jewelry.

Ships to: US only; $6.95 per month shipping charge.

Check out Fair Ivy and lots of other great lifestyle boxes the Lifestyle Subscription Box Directory!

Fair Ivy Subscription Box Review - April 2015 Cards

With every shipment, you get an information card about the artisan who produced that month’s gift as well as a little note from the Fair Ivy team.  This month’s gift is from White Peach Pottery, which is run by Marianne Tolosa of Northern Virginia.  Looking at Fair Ivy’s “Past Surprises” page, it appears that White Peach Pottery has been featured before, as well.

Fair Ivy Subscription Box Review - April 2015 Mug

Yellow + Gold Latte Mug – Value $32

Stirring Spoon – Value ?

This is a cute handmade mug and spoon set with 24K gold accents.  I am not so into coffee, but I drink a lot of tea and other hot beverages, so this is perfect for me.  I am always nervous about getting breakable things delivered via the USPS, but this was really well packaged and it arrived in great shape.

Fair Ivy Subscription Box Review - April 2015 Bonus Surprise

I was a little puzzled to receive this purple envelope from Plum Deluxe in my mailbox a few days after I received the mug…

Fair Ivy Subscription Box Review - April 2015 Bonus Tea

Oregon Breakfast Black Tea (0.85 ounces) – Value $5.95

But there was an insert in the package from Plum Deluxe explaining that this was a bonus for April’s Fair Ivy box.  I was familiar with Plum Deluxe because they have their own subscription service (see Haley’s reviews of Plum Deluxe) and I was excited to try this tea!  Plus, it’s perfect to go with the mug.  (It’s a good morning tea, too.  You can really taste the hazelnut flavor.)

Fair Ivy Subscription Box Review - April 2015 Bonus Surprise 2

The day after I received the tea, I got *another* envelope in the mail!  I love the calligraphy (plus they spelled my name correctly)!

Fair Ivy Subscription Box Review - April 2015 Bonus Cards

This surprise was from a company called Marvi Beauty.  They’re based in the Atlanta area.  I always think it’s fun to discover new local (for me) companies!  There were a couple of inserts with information about Marvi Beauty.  Their products are all natural and vegan.  (Sorry the picture turned out kind of dark…)

Fair Ivy Subscription Box Review - April 2015 Soap 1

I thought the wrapping on this was so cute!  And it smelled good, too.

Fair Ivy Subscription Box Review - April 2015 Soap 2

Sandalwood Vanilla Soap (about 1-1.25 ounces?) – Value $1.75

I love sandalwood and vanilla and they really work well together here.  This is made from natural oils and is free of parabens, dyes, GMOs, petroleum products, and sulfates.

Note: The main surprises are also hand-wrapped by the artisans.  I didn’t get a picture of the wrapping on the mug because there was so much packing material in the box to keep the mug from breaking that I didn’t notice the wrapping at first.  (Totally my fault.)

Also, I e-mailed Fair Ivy late on a Friday night to ask a question about the shipping costs and I got a response back right after they opened for business on Monday.  That’s a good sign as it relates to customer service.  They also explained that bonus surprises would be coming, so I waited to submit this review so I could cover the bonus surprises, too!

Verdict: The value of this box is about $40 with the bonuses, which is slightly higher than the cost of the subscription (if you count shipping) – maybe a little higher than $40 since I couldn’t find the spoon listed in White Peach Pottery’s shop.  Since this is a box of handmade goods, I was expecting it to come in low or possibly to break even, so I was happy with the value.  Plus, I never would have discovered White Peach Pottery on my own, so I think you have to account for curation, as well.  And getting little packages in the mail after the main item comes is kind of fun, as well.

The only thing to be cautious of is that get one main surprise a month.  If the surprise happens to be something you’re not interested in (for example, silver earrings if you don’t wear earrings or only wear gold jewelry), the value won’t be there for you.  However, the items you receive are definitely giftable!

What do you think of the April 2015 Fair Ivy box? Are you going to join the waitlist (or do you already subscribe)?

Ragan Buckley
Ragan Buckley
Ragan stumbled across My Subscription Addiction in late 2013 and immediately subscribed to way too many beauty boxes. She's now focused on boxes for her cats and dog, vegan/vegetarian food boxes, and craft subscriptions (and she didn't give up beauty boxes entirely).

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7 comments

Teri

I just received an email that Fair Ivy was taking subs again but when I go to the site, it still says they are all full. Huh?

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Lucy

Hi Teri—our new spots filled up in about an hour, so that’s probably why you saw that it was closed when you went to check. It’s a first-come, first-serve sorta scenario. But if you’re on our waiting list newsletter, you’ll get another email about the same time next month!

Hope that helps clear things up!
Warmly,
Lucy (from Fair Ivy)

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Sara

I love the idea behind the sub, local handmade things are my favorite. But a big drawback if you don’t like the main thing and you don’t get bonus items. I don’t like how they “randomly” pick people to get bonuses. I don’t drink coffee or tea, but the mug with spoon is beyond cute!

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Andi

Hmm…I didn’t get any bonus items with my box. I wonder if anyone else got these extra items?

This was my first Fair Ivy box. I love the idea of getting handmade items each month, and I’m really looking forward to next month, which I believe is a jewelry month.

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Lucy (Fair Ivy)

Hi Andi,
I just sent you a reply! We get a limited number of these “bonus” items every few months so we try to rotate who gets them. You’re on the list for next month though 🙂
Lucy
Fair Ivy

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Andi

Thanks, Lucy, for the quick reply! There’s no need to move me ahead of the line because of my inquiry.

Ragan

The bonus items came in the mail (separately) a couple of days later. I think they shipped directly from the artisans who produced them. Fair Ivy CS seemed friendly and attentive so if you don’t see any bonus items in the mail, you may want to reach out to them.

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