Happily is a monthly subscription that delivers everything you need for a unique, creative date designed to help you reconnect with your partner as you spend quality time together.
This box was sent to us at no cost for review. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)
About Happily
The Subscription Box: Happily
The Cost: $39.95 a month + free shipping. Save with 3- and 6-month subscriptions.
The Products: Everything you need for a creative date night activity with your significant other.
Ships to: the U.S.
Happily December 2020 Review
I can't even believe we are already halfway through December! With all of the pandemic restrictions still in effect, we have been spending a lot of time hanging out at home, baking cookies, making crafts, and watching Christmas movies. Through this extensive family time, I have learned that my husband can recite all of the lines from Home Alone 1 & 2 like he wrote it! Because my husband had to do some shift work, I decided I would change it up a bit this month and have my boys take me on a date! Read below to see how it went!
Upon opening the box, you are greeted with an insert that includes all of the info you need to prepare for your date without giving it away. This month we needed a mixing bowl, a microwave-safe bowl, a mixer, spoon, oil-greased pan, large plate, 2 eggs, water, and vegetable oil...hmm what could we be doing?!
This month's color theme went with our included project and included some splotches of watercolor while welcoming us to our date. We were asked to channel our inner Picasso, which the kids were excited to do, and when we read the part about making cake pops - they squealed with delight! How did this all turn out you ask? Read below to find out!
On the opposite side of the card, we have a list of the contents included in the box. This month we received a custom playlist, conversation starters, a paint set, and a homemade cake pop kit.
It's always interesting to check out the custom playlist Happily comes up with. This month it was packed with holiday favorites! Not only did they include Christmas music, but they also had a few Kwanzaa and Hanukkah songs to be as inclusive as possible. The variety of artists was awesome, and the kids and I really enjoyed listening to this.
Our conversation starters this month were themed to match our cake pop project. Hank was a great sport and answered 3 out of 4 questions. He listed the 3 things that he loves about me as: "You are a really nice mom," "you take good care of our family," and "you sometimes buy me somethings I want, but not all the time - and that's okay." He couldn't think of something that I didn't know about him because "you are my mom, you know everything about me!" When we went onto the question about the quirky trait about me that he likes, he said "that you can change your voice to speak in different accents to get our attention!" Lastly, his favorite special memory of us was our yearly tradition of going to the mother-son dance. Definitely, different answers than I would have gotten from my husband, but so sweet to hear and such a special mother-son moment!
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Cake Pops Kit
To start our mother-son date, we decided to read through the activities to see where we should start. With our playlist softly playing in the background, we decided to start with our cake pops as they were the most time-consuming. They included fantastic instructions that were easy to read and follow, a gluten-free cake mix, white chocolate chips, sprinkles, cake pop sticks, and a cute little tote bag to put everything in.
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I have a serious sweet tooth, and tend to spend a lot of time in the kitchen baking, but have honestly never made cake pops before. Hank was thrilled to read the instructions and follow the steps to get our cake baked. Once out of the oven, our cake cooled for about 15 minutes before we crumbled it up in our mixing bowl. Adding a bit of water, we used a cookie scoop and formed balls. This step was extremely sticky and messy which is why I didn't get many pictures. The balls kept crumbling, but I didn't want to put in too much water to create slime....a bit of a fiasco, but we worked through it! Once the balls were formed, we inserted the sticks and placed the entire plate of them in the freezer. After 20 minutes in the freezer, we melted the white chocolate and dipped the cake pops in. This step proved to be messy and caused even more crumbles. We did our best but honestly struggled a bit. Because Christmas is right around the corner, Hank asked if we could use our Christmas sprinkles instead of the provided ones, hence why ours are green and red. While the pops didn't exactly look the best, they did taste terrific! For a gluten-free cake mix, these cake pops tasted exactly like an underbaked sugar cookie covered in white chocolate, and that is 100% okay with me!
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Watercolor Kit
To channel our inner artists, we received a watercolor kit that included 12 tubes of paint, 2 brushes, paper, and a plastic paint palette. I also review the Paletteful Packs box, which sends high-quality art supplies each month, so this basic watercolor kit was a little underwhelming to me, but my kids LOVED it. While the paints are a step above a Crayola watercolor set, they were slightly hard to open and had flecks of paint pigment that wouldn't mix in. I was, however, impressed with the color variety and the amount of paint we received. For playing around, this is a really fun set, and the kids really felt like artists working with them.
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For our painting project, I placed a bit of paint from all of the tubes (except pink because I couldn't get that one open) onto our plastic paint palette. As you can see, when I was trying to open the yellow tube, it exploded, causing a bit of a mess! Once we got that all cleaned up, Hank and Charlie each took a piece of paper and got to work. Charlie decided to paint a jungle picture, complete with a jaguar on the prowl and a monkey hanging upside down. Hank ventured in the direction of logging equipment cleaning up a forest on a bright and sunny day. I decided to go simple and created a card with some cartoon flowers blowing in the wind. Fun, easy, and whimsical - just the way I like it!
The Verdict: Happily was quite different this month. Usually, I go on this date with my husband, but because he wasn't home, I decided to try this one out with my kids, and we truly had a great date. The music, conversation, and activities made for a perfect afternoon after a long day of Distance Learning, giving us a change of pace. I understand that this is an "experience" box, and the thought and curation was great, but I would love to see more physical items at the $39.95 price point. I'm hoping to see the value inflate in the future because the basis is great. I can't wait to see what the future holds!
To Wrap Up:
Can you still get this box if you sign up today? No. According to Happily's FAQ, boxes ship on the 10th of every month, so you'd likely receive the January box.
Read our other Happily reviews here, and for more options like this, check out all of our date night boxes and the Lifestyle Subscription Box List!
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What do you think of Happily? What do you think January's theme will be?
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