The Weekend Box Club - review

A few weeks ago I got this box through my letterbox - what on earth might it be, I wondered.

It turns out to be a "Weekend Box" sent to me, to review, by the lovely team at The Weekend Box Club.  A club that sends out a craft box once a fortnight with things to do and make in it.

So let's review it then  :)

First impressions - fantastic.  Any child would be thrilled to find this on their doormat. Colourful and eye-catching with cute characters  (each have a name and I presume they continue to show their presence throughout the club).

It was a bit of a sod to open though, I really didn't want to tear the beautiful box, but tear it did as it was so well stuck down.

So you tear it open and open it up to reveal the contents.  The box itself has lots of information printed on the inside.  The main body of the box becomes a certificate for completing the weekend box, then there is character information and the companies social networking information, which invites you to pop photos on their pages of your finished crafts.

There are four coloured bags, each with a corresponding coloured information and instruction card.

Now here is a slight niggle - very silly niggle it must be said, but this box screams of quality to me - the print outs are on thick quality card, very professionally done, nicely set out.  The coloured paper bags are quality bags in thick paper, the accompanying cards and stickers for the child are all nice decent stuff.  THEN..... they stick a printed sticker on the front of the bag that has not been aligned properly.   It's not like it spoils it at all, it just looks tacky compared to the rest of the kit.

In the bags you get different activities. Taken from the website....

Something to Cook 
Something to Make
Something to Explore and
Something Green

Each activity is designed to build sensory exploration skills within little ones aged 3-8 as well as help teach them about different life skills in a fun and engaging way


 In my box the yellow bag has an experiment of sorts, the red one is a cooking activity, the green one a game and the blue one a craft.   A great assortment in my opinion, so onto the testing.

Now, as the youngest person in my household is 20, I had to go off and find a child to help me out.

Introducing my friends Granddaughter Ava.  She seemed more than happy to be my tester, and was delighted with the box.  Not even worried about the contents at first - the pretty box was enough.

I left Ava and Grandma to play and waited for the feedback....

Ava enjoyed making the rocking spring bird  and was it was easy for her to make although grandma used the scissors when required. The pot of gold game was very simple to put together and Ava enjoyed trying to throw the coins into the rainbow pot. The sound explorer activity was very difficult to do and needed the use of the internet to see how to make it. Was even difficult for an adult to get it to work.
The sound sheet pictures were good as Ava could identify what made what sound.
All in all I feel it's expensive for the bits of materials that came in the packs and if you have more than one child there isn't even enough for two or more children to do the crafts, it really didn't take that long for Ava to make and do the activities either although she did thoroughly enjoy opening and doing each and earning her sticker for each after finishing each one.

As Ava's Grandma mentions the price, I will let you know that the cost of the Weekend Box is £15.00 a month of which you will receive two boxes (one per fortnight).  You can add extra children in for £4.00 each.

The red cooking activity I held back for my 20 yr old  :)  (and, if I am honest, because the spices smelt divine through the paper bag!)  She still has not made it up yet but I will let you know when she does  :)

My conclusion about this idea is to tell you how much I love it- I think this would be perfect for Grandparents/Aunties as well as Parents - can you imagine going to Grandma/Grandad/Nanas/Aunties house to play with a craft box like this.  What kid wouldn't love that?  It is £7.50 a box, which is on the expensive side of a treat that might only last an afternoon, not a weekend,  but a lot of that will be gobbled up by postage, and it is set out nicely and it is exciting to open.

If you decide you would like to try one I have been given a code for you to have your first box FREE!  (what lovely people :) )

The code is SUE149 and can be redeemed at www.weekendboxclub.com

Do let me know if you try it and what you think.