January 2016 Bluum Subscription Box Review & Coupon

January was not my favorite Bluum ever. Bluum is a baby and kids subscription box full of age-specific developmentally appropriate items for your child (with mom items too).  Bluum now has a box item preference system to help adjust what goes into your boxes – so you can nix diapering items, mom items, etc, or keep those in! It’s up to you. And on top of that you can now customize your box completely!  Cut-off is the 4th of the month at 11:59 PM EST to build your own box! Note that picking your own items is “Pick Products” and selecting the areas you want more for is “customize your box” on your account page. 

We reset the age for our box so we could select items that were more appropriate for our baby (who is quickly becoming a toddler!). So it’s an imaginary child’s 3rd birthday!

There is no specific theme to Bluum boxes, nor is there a real information card – Bluum checks the tracking and when your box is delivered, a list of the items inside your box is emailed to you. I let Bluum pick my products this month.

Shea Moisture Raw Shea Chamomile & Argan Oil Baby Head-To-Toe Ointment with Frankincense & Myrrh ($10.4) This is a petroleum jelly alternative that’s really great for winter, but it’s really really thick too. It’s packed with all sorts of natural healing botanicals and it’s sold at Target, so if I like it, I can get more – though I cannot imagine running out of it any time soon! It’s a really big tube.

Baby Spa 3-in-1 Tearless Shampoo, Body Wash & Moisturizer ($9.99) I’m going to admit now that we’re on the second body item and you can already see that the next item is flushable wipes, that this box was crazy boring. But I have to give credit to Bluum for careful selection of the items – totally natural and nontoxic – in sharp contrast to Citrus Lane’s inclusion of J&J stuff, which just didn’t match their brand.

Our Stage Two Tearless Shampoo, Body Wash & Moisturizer is a unique all-in-one formula created to gently cleanse and refresh your toddler’s hair and skin before or after a day full of outdoor activities. Exclusive to our blend, ECOCERT® certified Nyamplung Oil moisturizes while acting as a natural SPF booster to help preserve skin’s healthy balance. Invigorating Rosemary softens the hair while Organic Aloe, Chamomile, and Calendula soothe the scalp. Our 3-in-1 formula has an uplifting citrus scent and is rich in botanical emollients such as Shea Butter and Sweet Almond Oil to provide your toddler head to toe nourishment and softness.

This product isn’t something you actually use as a moisturizer – it’s a hydrating body wash and shampoo. We’ll use it.

Naty by Nature Babycare Flushable Wipes ($8.99) While I can think of other things more fun to get in a subscription than butt wipes, these are made from all natural ingredients and totally free from alcohol and artificial fragrances. These (as in a relatively small package of wipes for $9) aren’t something I would purchase again, or even value all that highly.

EQtainment Q’s Race To The Top On The Go! ($9.46) These cards are said to promote social skills, better behavior, balance and coordination.

Fortunately, our kids are only obsessed with video games at home (they suggest you use these to keep the kids entertained on a trip or while waiting for dinner), so I’ll pass these along to a friend. They aren’t really my style – I don’t think “when is it okay to cry?” is a particularly fun game! When you have multiple children they tend to keep each other pretty entertained.

I discussed my disappointing box with the owner of Bluum. Apparently they reset customizations in November and sent the following email:

I honestly don’t pay too much attention to that sort of thing, and it wasn’t really highlighted.  I had previously customized my box to receive NO mom products and NO potty products, so I was pretty ticked off with this box. I reset my customizations, and I’m also happy to share that in the future non-customized boxes should contain more items from the most popular categories like toys and books. I put my 2 favorite items in the bathroom (we will, after all, use the shampoo and wipes) and the other two in the donate pile. Overall this box was only worth about $10 to me in personal value, though it had around $38 in products in it. The age this box is set for is a 3 year old, so I would absolutely expect a book and a toy, which have nearly always come in my Bluum box.

I’ve had a lot of success with the select your own box option, but I think I’ll do another month of letting Bluum select the items so I can see how well they’re doing in that regard.

Visit Bluum to subscribe or find out more! Save $10 on any subscription plan! Use coupon code  MRV3835U16.