Date Box: October

So you may or may not remember, about two Christmases ago I ordered a Date Box!  It had hot chocolate and mugs, with a gingerbread house kit (you can find the full review here).  My boyfriend as I had the most fun with it, and the mugs were gorgeous, so on a whim this October I decided to give it another try!

As stated in the last post, it is about $40 a month, which is a bit steep in my opinion, but if you really need some new date night ideas, then this would be a fun and creative way to get them.  If you search, you can find a discount code bringing the price of your first box down to $5.  I'm not going to post the code because it isn't mine to give out, but they are easy to come by!  They also offer a digital option now, which is $8 a month.  If you scroll down to the bottom of their about page there is a bar where you enter your email and they send you your first digital date for free, which seems to be a cooking class for two!

The experience is significantly more personalized than when I first tried them out.  You now get to take a survey and pick from different options so they can deduce of you are adventurous or have a strict comfort zone, if you like to go out or stay at home, if you are crafty, a foodie, or like to play games, and so on!  They then curate a box based on your options.  They say if you live in select (I'm guessing larger) cities that they will create a date night out for you and send you voucher codes and an itinerary through email instead of a box full of things.

Now on to my date!  It was loosely Halloween themed, but had more of an overall fall fun kind of vibe than strictly Halloween.  We still haven't had the time to fully complete this because of classes, internships, work, visiting home, and you know, life getting in the way, but I don't feel like it was such a Halloween thing that if we do it now it would be weird.

First of all, there is this little book.  This has so much more in it than any usual subscription box would that I think your dat might just fall apart without it!

So the first thingI saw in the box was this caramel apple kit which includes everything but the apples supposedly.  It says it makes 10, but I have my doubts... Would I really need 10 though?  Absolutely not, so this is a pretty fun food to add!  You can get these for about $3.

Next there were two packets of apple cider mix, which is always a fun drink!  The thing is, you can get a whole 10 count box of these for about $3 as well.

And then there's the book.  On the left side it detailed all of the extra things I would need for the caramel apples, and then told me to follow the box.  On the right side it gives all kinds of different ways to "spice up" the simple cider mix they gave us, which is pretty cool!

Next there was a small bag of pop corn and a bag of individual sugar packets to make kettle corn with.  I respect their attempt to include everything in this box that you would need, but I would rather grab a measuring cup and use the sugar in my pantry.  I do love kettle corn though, so I'm not complaining!

That being said, they do include step by step instructions for making the kettle corn, which is quite smart and very helpful.

Finally, there was the cruise ship escape game.  My dad and brother are big into the whole escape game scene right now, and I have to say that I just don't really get it.  I don't want to be trapped in anywhere!  But this one doesn't trap you, so I'm open to it.  It has envelopes inside the box with clues and questions to keep the game going.

This gives a brief overview of how the game works, and tells you how to reach the online portion of the game through your Date Box account.  It also lets you know about a Spotify playlist you can find which is half fun lovey dovy music for the making of the snacks, and half suspenseful music to set the mood for this game.  It is a pretty cool little setup.

And then to end the book there is a little page of conversation starters.  Personally, I find this to be kind of weird.  If you are married or dating, you are generally able to talk to your significant other freely and already know most things about them, so the conversation starters don't full make sense to me, but to each their own.

So overall, I can't say I was as impressed with this box as I was the previous one I ordered back a few years ago.  That one had drinks, keepsake mugs, plus a full activity.  This has a one use activity that I can't fully pin a value on, and a couple of snacks I could have bought full sizes of for myself rather cheaply.  So would I have paid $40 for this?  Definitely not.  But am I upset I bought it?  No, it was a fun experience, just not one I will probably be having again.