Austin Lloyd "Air and Space" September 2014 Review

I received my 2nd Austin Lloyd box yesterday and like last month, it was a larger sized box so I was excited to see what was in it!

Austin Lloyd is set up a little differently than what I’m used to with Citrus Lane which sends boxes by age, Austin Lloyd sends them by “Play Level” – which in a sense does correlate to age, but isn’t specific to say “18 months” it’s specific to a child who is doing certain physical and cognitive and you should select your box subscription based on that, rather than the child’s specific age.

We received the 19-24 month “play level” box and I was very pleased with its contents – all the items were to their theme “Air and Space”.  Just like last month, everything was beautifully wrapped. In an envelope the included a fun fact about the age/play level and information cards about all the items. They also had a card stating they would accept back anything you didn’t want and/or were done playing with and donate the items to charity (and they’d send you a pre-paid shipping label to use as well). I thought that was a unique touch. Here is what we got:

Rocket to the Moon (Playtime with Little Nye) by Lerryn Korda (~$7.92) EM actually is really enjoying  flipping through this book (at least 5 times while I'm typing this up) - Haven't read the story yet but looks cute. Then again, she loves almost all books, so this doesn't surprise me.

Em playing with both

Mini Air Plane by Kid O (~$5.95) I also gave this to EM right away to occupy her while I type this post and she's been having fun playing with it, so I guess this is a win!

Build a Helicopter by Wonderworld (~$20.01) This will be fun to do together, although I fear EM will want to try to keep taking it apart and putting it back together (she's in that stage with blocks and such). I'm not sure if it's something that is supposed to be disassembled once assembled? Guess we'll find out!

Bathtime Fun Bath Squirters: Space by Alex Toys (~7.68) We've got a ton of squirters in our bath tub already, I'll probably save these for a future baby shower gift OR once ours start getting nasty.

Color Steps by Kid O (~$7.01) EM loves puzzles of all kinds and loves doing shapes so this is perfect for her! This was the only item that didn't really fit the theme unless you count filling the space in the puzzle? 

This month I was able to find all the items online and used that price to get the estimated value of my box below. Several of the items seemed to be pretty overstated on the information cards and that's a little disappointing to be thinking you are getting a higher value item when it's available online for much less (I usually pick the first google search result if not on Amazon). Last month, they seemed to be much more accurate.

Total Estimated Value of Box: ~$48.57 (not including any shipping) --- estimated value according to info card was $78.97

Total Cost of Box: $49.99 (Free Shipping) 

Overall Impression: I love the items but just not sure the "value" is there when I could EASILY find these items for much cheaper online myself. Overall, even if the box was truly valued at almost $80, the subscription itself is just a little too pricey to continue(especially when I already have an annual subscription to Citrus Lane which only averaged out to about $10/month with the great deal I found!). I would never pay $35 for a small wooden helicopter (which was much cheaper on Amazon) and like last month, which also had one $35 item that I would never have bought ($35 for a small toy for a young child just seems like a lot when she'd be happy with a toy from the dollar store lol) I had no intention of continuing my subscription after the 1st month due to the higher cost but missed the deadline to cancel, this time I definitely made sure to cancel in time.

Have you received an Austin Lloyd box? What did you get in yours? Did you like it? You can sign up by clicking HERE.