Reviewed by
Mary
Mila & Pheebs create stationary and activity boxes for children. They contain a mixture of stationary, crafts, stickers, and fun items, based around a different theme each month. It’s £10 per month plus £2.99 P&P.
While I love anything craft/stationary related, this particular subscription box is aimed at children. My six-year-old daughter Little C is crazy about stickers and arty creative things, so this is a perfect match for her.
(Usually she helps unpack the box and tries everything out, but this month I wasn’t able to include any action shots. Next month!)
This month’s theme is Super Safari. The weather is hotting up, so it’s easy to imagine ourselves in the veldt, or alternatively visiting the zoo!
The box is nice and flat, and fits through the letterbox perfectly. It’s pretty sturdy, and because it’s so flat you’d have a job to actively crush it. Also the contents don’t tend to be particularly fragile, so the chances of any kind of damage are minimal.
The menu is on the inside lid of the box. On top is their lovely newsletter.
The newsletter is beautifully and cheerfully designed. It contains the perfect amount of fun and interesting information for small children. The jokes never fail to make little C chuckle, and the fun facts are perfect to engage little people.
It’s always fun to see what’s under the newletter! Lots of bright colours, stickers (always popular) and I see the monthly eraser!
Two pencils this month: a regular pencil (I’m always glad for our electric pencil sharpener!) and one of those modular ones that has multiple swappable tips. Both have fun patterns.
The little tiger notebook is adorable. The pages have a faint version of the cover picture, so can be used as a regular notebook or a colour-and-decorate the animal book!
The stickers are, as always, lovely. I love the sweet, slightly cartoonish animal figures. The elephants are particularly appealing!
This is one of the craft kits. You can add the colored dots to the pages or you can colour them in as you like! I like that you can be as conventional or crazy as you please with these.
The other craft kit is a collage, and includes a generous amount of feathers to make a bright and cheerful parrot picture. While you need to use a gluestick of some kind, there aren’t many homes with children that don’t have a pritt stick around somewhere!
Mila & Pheebs boxes always include blank greetings cards. This is one of the things I love about their boxes, because I’m a great believer in cards and I always encourage Little C to write and make them. These four are terrific animal-print designs.
Mila & Pheebs also create their own colouring pages and word games. Younger children might need a little help with the criss cross and wordsearch, but it’s always nice for parents to get involved as well! It’s also a great way for kids to practice their literacy skills. Little C is especially keen on wordsearches so this is always a welcome inclusion.
I’ve saved my favourites for last.
The scissors are really rather good. They are kid-safe blunt-ended scissors, but the blades cut cleanly as well. This is a pleasant change from most inexpensive scissors made for children. They also seem to work equally well with left or right hand. This is great for us because Little C is lefthanded, and most scissors don’t work for her.
Each Mila & Pheebs box includes a gorgeous little animal eraser. How cute is this little lion? So kawaii! We never use them because they are too lovely, and keep our growing collection on a bookshelf.
On to conclusions. This is another lovely box from Mila & Pheebs. I’m amazed how well they manage to come up with new themes every month!
I like that there is a combination of specific crafts and general fun stationary items. Little C loves notebooks and stickers, so she always has a lot of fun with this box.
Including the writing activities gives it a sneaky educational dimension while keeping it fun. It’s also a great way for younger children to learn new words and animals.
Like most subscription boxes, part of what you are paying for is someone to do the work for you! Could you put this together yourself for the same money? Probably. But throw in the time (and probably travel cost!) it would take to find everything and tie it together in a theme, and there’s no comparison.
This would be a great box to take when going away for a few days, or to have stashed for a rainy weekend. If you’re feeling generous it would also make a superb party bag!
With the long summer holiday round the corner, the more activities you have the better, especially for days when you can’t quite face going to the park or getting in the car for another day trip to keep the kids entertained!
The lovely lady who runs Mila and Pheebs AND has twins is clearly an uber-mummy! I, however, am not, so having everything beautifully put together in an attractive and thoughtful package is perfect for this slightly more lazy mummy!
By Evelyn 
