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 Hive Box, which is $15.95 a month.
The Subscription Box: The Hive Box
The Cost: $24.95 for the regular-sized Hive Box. This is a review of the “Mini” Hive Box which is not currently offered (I have a legacy subscription; my price was $15.95). The items in the Mini box are representative of the types of items you’d receive in the standard box, you just get more of them and/or bigger sizes.
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. for $6.95
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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I didn’t get an information card this time.
Mikolich Family Sage Blossom Honey (2 oz) – Value $3
Mikolich Family West Coast Wildflower Honey (2 oz) – Value $3
I have seen honey bears before but these small ones are just too cute. The Mikolich family apiary is in Southern California and they’ve been producing honey for nearly 40 years. The Hive Box does a wonderful job of finding small apiaries from all different parts of the countries. I’d never have discovered this shop on my own! I am not sure that I can really tell the difference between these two types of honey, but I’m hoping as I gain more experience, my palate will become more developed and someday the distinction will be clear.
Portland Bee Balm (0.15 oz?) – Value $2.99
This has such a simple ingredients list – beeswax, organic coconut oil, organic olive oil, and peppermint essential oil. All the ingredients are sourced in California and/or the Pacific Northwest.This doesn’t have the same consistency as Chapstick, but I feel a little better knowing I’m not swallowing lots of petroleum byproducts, either, so it all works out! The minty flavor is nice, too.
Big Dipper Wax Works 100% Pure Beeswax Bar (1.5 oz) – Value $3.50
This came with a little card explaining some of the uses. I was just thinking I needed to buy some oil to coat some of my steel jewelry making tools so I was excited to see that was a use for this product. Of course it’s too soon to tell if I will be avoiding rust, but I think I got a pretty good application and it’s nice to receive just the type of item you were looking for, right when you needed it!
Bee Local Honey Sticks (10 pack, 1.8 oz) – Value $4
You’ll receive a lot of honey sticks with this subscription, but not too many to reasonably use (you don’t even get them every single month). I absolutely do not have the knack for opening these without scissors, though I’m told it’s possible. At any rate, I find these rather soothing in lukewarm tea in the afternoon (can’t have hot right now due to recent oral surgery) and they’re only about 20 calories each.
Verdict: I calculated a value of $16.49 for the July The Hive Box Mini. That is above the cost of the Mini box but somewhat below the cost of the box plus shipping. I do think you have to keep a couple of things in mind – for example, these products almost all come from very small producers, who would be charging you individual shipping charges if you were to purchase the items separately from their shops. Secondly, I rarely come across brands I already knew in this box, so it is still great in terms of new discoveries. Plus, there were five separate items this month and I think the curation is great; although the scope of the box is somewhat limited, I never get too much of the same thing. I feel like a lot of thought goes into this subscription. Plus, most months exceed the cost of the box plus shipping. Overall, this was still a good month for me.
What do you think of the July 2017 Hive Box Mini? Do you have a non-food use for honey?
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