Review: The Shabbos Party Box!

Awhile back, I was contacted about reviewing a new product for families that love Shabbat but might struggle with Shabbat activities and snacks for their children. This product is a "box of the month" called the Shabbos Party Box! And, before I even start my review, let me just say that they're giving away some boxes, so pop over to their website and enter to win one!

Now to the review. I really like the concept of the box, but I don't know that it's something that I'll buy into long term because I wasn't super jazzed with the contents. It definitely has plenty of nosh and activities for the price, but the sugar-coated goodies aren't really something that we go for in our family. We don't do the "Shabbat cereal" or "you can have brownies for breakfast because it's Shabbat" philosophy, so maybe this box isn't for us.

Our box came with

• Gummies
• Mentos (the fresh maker!)
• Sour sticks
• A flipstick
• Three cards with activities/fun for Shabbat
• Rally Up (a game)
• A magnet

Where was the gift for mom!? 

Okay, now that I think back on this, Little T does love chewing on the Lipstick, and Asher actually uses Rally Up as "peanut butter and jelly" (don't ask) for his babies. I felt bad that I just chucked the three containers of candy, however. Why not something healthy? Or even moderately healthy? Like a bag of veggie chips, natural gummies, or something that doesn't have a million ingredients? That's all I'm saying here. 

Overall, this just isn't for us. I like the idea, and I know it'll work for many people, but I don't think it'll ever be on our Shabbat "to do" list. 

Have you seen this box? Do you think you'd buy it for your family? 

Farmers' Market Sundays in Denver

I'm doing my best to not think about the craptitude that is the situation with Mr. T's immigration, so I'm drowning myself in food, Farmers' Markets, work, cooking, food. Are you catching the theme here?

(In short, Mr. T's UK visa was approved last month, and they asked him to bring his passport in, so he did, and then they said they didn't have it, and then they said "oops, we sent that in error" and now it's weeks later and we still don't have his UK passport or visa. Even though the giant, ridiculous technical outage with the U.S. Department of State supposedly only applies to those who interviewed or applied on or after June 9, 2015 and we applied last year and Mr. T's interview was on May 15, 2015 and ... well ... just another brick in this big, oppressive, miserable wall.)

So we started Sunday out at the Farmers' Market down on Old South Pearl Street, where I always pick up a $10 bag of vegetables from Miller Farms and Asher hangs out and listens to the local tunes while rearranging the chairs.

Today's vegetable take-away:

• Red peppers
• Green beans
• Mushrooms
• White and purple potatoes
• Onions
• Broccoli 
• Spaghetti Squash

Then we ran a few errands (fish and fruit at the grocery store) and went to a birthday party, and by the time we got home around 5 p.m., Ash was pooped and I was poised to prep for the week. 

I steamed the broccoli and green beans, made a Corn and Peach salad, baked some salmon, sautéed mushrooms, and ... what else? Sundays are powerful in my house. It's a make or break for the rest of the week. I also spent motzei Shabbat (that's Saturday night) meal planning for the week. We've got fish dishes, pad thai peanut noodles, tofu sandwiches, buffalo tempeh, Chia Power Donuts from Oh She Glows, you name it. It's going to be a good, healthy, foodful week (I hope). 

How do you stay on track for the week to not fall utterly and desperately behind? Here's a bonus video review of two box-of-the-month club subscriptions (Bluum Baby and Citrus Lane): 

Box-of-the-Month Club Review: Gwynnie Bee and Bluum

In an attempt to get work done I'm falling down the rabbit hole of the internet as I wait for iOS8 to figure itself out because I'm tired. I'm more tired lately than I have been because although Asher consistently wakes up at 6 a.m. every morning, I can't seem to get in a habit of going to bed early in order to accommodate such an early arising. Then again, we did just move houses and I did just spend the past two weeks sick (cough cough, hack hack), and I can't seem to figure out these mysterious hives that have plagued me for more than two months now.

But yipeee! There are glimmers of hope in the cloud of exhaustion and coffee-fueled mornings in the form of ... subscription box-of-the-month clubs! You may or may not recall that I used to work for a gluten-free box-of-the-month club several years ago, but it looks like these boxes have not lost their steam. The market wants variety, it wants to try before you buy, it wants to examine quality, taste, experience before going all in. 

I'll be honest, it's an amazing world we live in when you can order something for minimal cost, wear it as much as you want, and then buy or return. It's like a revolving closet. When it comes to food boxes, the ability to sample something before buying an industrial-size box at CostCo is brilliant. 

I'm currently subscribing to the first-month-free trial for Gwynnie Bee, which is a plus-size clothing subscription box, and the amazing folks at Bluum, goodies for mommy and baby, sent me a box to try out. 

The Bluum box starts at $20.99 and sends goodies for mommy and baby from pregnancy through preschool. The great thing about this box is that it's customized for your baby's age, which means you won't get any toys or treats that Little Timmy can't use for the next year. There are a bunch of stellar plans (monthly, three months, six months, a year), and there's always free shipping. 

By and large I was happy with the box, although the treat that came in (dried snap peas) was not kosher, so unfortunately we couldn't use/eat those. There were two items in the box geared toward the pacifier crowd (a pacifier carrier to attach to a buggy or bag and a fuzzy worm to attach to a pacifier), which also didn't help us because -- lucky for us -- Ash never took to a pacifier or thumb sucking. The Dr. Seuss bowl was a treat after my husband's own heart, and the book was absolutely adorable. Ash took his first own solo bath last night (with me in the room, of course) and absolutely loved chewing on the bath temperature ducky. I also have to offer up mad props for the really clean, colorful packaging. It's nice to know what your'e getting the moment you see the box in your post!

As for Gwynnie Bee, I couldn't have been more happy to find this box. There are a lot of really stellar clothing subscription boxes, but finding one that caters to the plus-size crowd is next to impossible. Oddly enough, even plus-size thrift stores/consignment shops has become quite the rage here in Denver.

How does it work? You subscribe to Gwynnie Bee in one of three ways: get three items of clothing per month, two per month, or one per month. It's a bit pricey, so the one-month free is a genius idea that will tell you whether it's going to be "worth it" or not for you. You fill up your online closet with selections from their bounty of brands, sizes, and styles, and the clothing curators at Gwynnie Bee will package and send your clothes out depending on your subscription. Then, you can wear the clothing item as much as you want or send it back if it doesn't fit and they'll keep sending clothes out to you with free shipping and free returns. 

Talk about a dream closet, right?!

Please ignore the earrings/head covering in the first photo. 

I would never wear that combo, but for the sake of blog photos ...

Of the eight articles of clothing they've sent my way so far, only one dress has really fit well and looked good and one cardigan is just cozy and beautiful. A third item, a beautiful black-and-white dress has the perfect cut (and pockets!), but I need a smaller size. They've been really great about swapping out clothes quickly when something arrived damaged. But I do wish they'd rethink their packaging. One accidental slicing and you've cut the clothes. 

Will I continue paying the $79/month for a three-garment plan? I'm still not sure. It's a great way to try out a ton of different plus-size clothing brands in one easy go, but even with the discounts on purchasing the clothing prices are pretty steep. Designer plus-size clothing is crazy expensive for reasons I just don't understand. 

Do you have a favorite subscription box? Have you been able to find any food-based boxes that cater to the kosher crowd?