Reviewed by
Sharon
I’ll be upfront and honest about this; the Space Journey subscription box is expensive…but IT IS a real treat. You get a starter kit to begin with and then packages from Geo (the owl) and Atlas (the dog) every month as they visit different planets. The quality of the products is lovely and seeing our son open up and explore his kit and letters has been a real joy. The way it works has been cleverly thought through and I can honestly say that this is a gift that does keep on giving.
For an initial payment of £35 for the starter kit, you then pay £12 a month for 9 months for each planet pack. You can tell that becoming a mum has addled my brain as it took me a while to realise that’s why there are only 9 monthly packs and not 11 (!). There is also a part of me that loves that Pluto has still been mentioned – poor Pluto! If you prefer you can pay up front for everything which is £145. I think this is likely to be out of the reach of most people when it comes to subscription boxes but where I do think this is perfectly placed is for a Christmas gift (starter pack) followed by 9 little monthly treats.
The Starter Pack
The Space Adventure Kit comes in a really lovely old-school style suitcase (seriously I am thinking of ways I can steal it for myself) – just look at it!! Inside there is a mission log book, an astronaut passport, a travel ticket, an astronaut in training wristband and a very large map of the solar system. It also includes an activity sheet, stickers, photos and information about planet Earth to help your son or daughter learn more about our planet before their pack arrives. What I really love is the little letter that comes with it too, addressed to your little astronaut and with a little pawprint from Atlas. It feels really personal and it’s something our son really loved (plus he is also OBSESSED with dogs at the moment).
We’re actually going to put the map up in Ellis’ room as he loves the planets and the quality of this is great. Everything in the pack is printed on good quality paper or card and as long as you can swallow that initial payment then you won’t regret it. This review is a little longer than usual as I decided to wait until the Mercury pack had arrived before posting it up on here. There is nothing worse than having your expectations set high with the first box and then finding that subsequent deliveries don’t really come close. Thankfully this wasn’t the case.
The monthly pack – Mercury
In this pack there was another personalised letter, two photos, a Mercury fact card, more stickers and activity booklet, another travel ticket to add to the collection, and our favourite bit, the space sunglasses! These are genuinely very cool and were definitely our son’s favourite part. What I really love is the fantastic mission log book (that came in the starter kit) and that has sections for you to use some of the stickers to add in the photos that Geo and Atlas have sent so that over the rest of the year you can really build up a fun fact file of all the planets. It comes ring-bound and is really lovely. It will also definitely come in handy when he starts learning about the universe and all the planets at school!
The box itself is listed as being suitable for children aged 4 to 10. Ellis is only four so whilst he did enjoy them a lot, I think he is a little too young to fully appreciate the work and thought that has gone into them – however he definitely appreciated the magic of them! I’d say that you will probably get more value out of it if they are nearer the middle/older end of that spectrum, and it would be absolutely perfect for maybe a 7 or 8 year old; still young enough to believe that the packs are actually coming from a dog and an owl who are travelling in space but old enough to appreciate the information, the goodies in the kit and also learn something too.
By Mary 
By Evelyn 
