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!
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.
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.
I was a little puzzled to receive this purple envelope from Plum Deluxe in my mailbox a few days after I received the mug…
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.)
The day after I received the tea, I got *another* envelope in the mail! I love the calligraphy (plus they spelled my name correctly)!
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…)
I thought the wrapping on this was so cute! And it smelled good, too.
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)?
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