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Escape Monthly
Cost: $49.95/month (Full Size). $24.95/month (Escape Mini)
Ships To: United States and its territories.
Coupon Code: Use the coupon code “MYESCAPE” to score 20% off not only your first box, but all full-size boxes for the life of your subscription.
My September 2014 Escape Monthly arrived a few days ago and I was quite excited to see if it was worth the wait!
If you aren’t familiar with them, Escape Monthly, which is $49.95/month, is a monthly vacation in a box. Each month you will discover products from a different location. Products consist off local and destination-inspired foods, relaxation and beauty essentials, and the highest quality products that bring the life of the destination right to you. They also offer an “Escape Mini” ($24.95/month) which contains 4 to 5 luxury, locally-made products and a travel brochure.
Escape Monthly ships via USPS Priority Mail. It generally ships around the 20th of the month, however, this month was a bit delayed. All subscribers received an e-mail saying that Escape Monthly was learning that some items take longer than others to clear customs and they they will be working on earlier planning / ordering going forward.
The first look was so-so. Not amazing, but I also really wanted to dig in and see what everything was.
The September 2014 Escape Monthly destination was Puerto Rico and included the following finds from the Caribbean:
~Moon Puerto Rico Travel Guide ($13.22): I went to Puerto Rico once, but only for a night and didn’t really think too much much about it either way. Clearly I did something wrong though (the first thing would be staying in a hotel that looked like it could have been where the movie Scarface was filmed) because I hear people rave about it all the time. I will eventually go back there and will be checking out this book for some tips on what to do!
~Mi Madre Natural Hot Sauce ($2.99): This could not scare me any more than it already does. It looks so.hot. B’s going to have to figure out something to do with this because I just can’t.
~Dulzura Borincana’s Coconut-Pineapple Candy ($1.85): Looking at the package I thought these were going to be like a hard candy. No. They are more macaroon like. They are okay, but I didn’t want to eat the entire package.
~Caribbean Vela Coco Candle ($5): I pretty much love all candles so it’s no surprise I am a fan of this one. It smells so good! My only complaint is that it’s not bigger ;).
~Coqui Pins ($9): These frogs are said to symbolize love and are named after the sound they make which is “co-key”. I don’t know if I will ever wear this pin, but I appreciate the story behind it and liked reading about it!
~El Isleno Plantain Chips ($3): They aren’t my favorite snack, but I do like plantain chips and these were good ones. I thought they were much tastier than the coconut-pineapple candy that’s for sure.
~Yaucono Cafe Puro Puerto Rican Coffee ($1.99): One of B’s favorite things to get in subscription boxes is coffee. He loves trying them all and deciding which he likes best.
~Authentic Puerto Rico Souvenir: I am not exactly sure what this is for, but the boys thought it was cute.
All totaled I came up with a value of $37.05 for the September 2014 Escape Monthly box. I wasn’t overly thrilled with this one and even with the 20% discount I get every month, it didn’t quite hit the $40 price tag. Then again you can’t get all these items in the States either, so that needs to be taken into account. The October 2014 Escape Monthly destination is “London” so I now have my sites set on that one which I am hoping is beyond incredible!
What do you think of Escape Monthly this month? If you are interested in subscribing or just want to learn more, click here. You can use the code “MYESCAPE” to score 20% off not only your first box, but all your other boxes for the life of your subscription. That gets you a discount of $10/month on the regular box which is awesome (it doesn’t look like the code works on the Escape Mini)!
I’ve only been to PR once and that was off a cruise ship for the day. I’d like to go back too and stay for a couple days to tour around. There is so much to do there that I had no clue. Maybe when the boys get a bit bigger and can participate with us.
People just rave about it, but I we clearly didn’t stay in the right part!
I received my box yesterday (the 29th) and the plantain chips had an expiration of 9/28/14. Boo Escape Monthly, boo.
I didn’t even look at my date. They tasted fine though.
I love hot sauce! I think that would be my favorite thing in this box. I didn’t know coqui frogs symbolize love? They’re such a pest here and we’re trying to get rid of them!
We stopped in Puerto Rico on our way to St. Lucia. The only thing I really saw was the airport but I remember the giant iguanas that were all over the grass near the tarmac. HUGE iguanas!
The coffee on mine had a $9.99 price, though that seems high. The mini box had the frog pin, plantain chips, coffee, coconut soap (smells wonderful) and guava cookies.
Mine did too, but I looked it up and did a price calculation!
I was wondering about some of their pricing, they had a book once marked at 19.99 which was full price of 16.99. I just got charged for London, but that may be my last box. Thanks for the info!
Was pretty disappointed in this one, Especially since I bought the Living Social deal and redeemed it in August when it showed the Paris box, but found out the next day they were sold out 🙁 I wouldn’t have redeemed for PR if I knew
I wish I had saved my LS voucher for London next month!
I agree with you and Chrissy!
BOO!!!
I loved the hot sauce…in fact I got the box yesterday and it’s already almost gone. It’s not really so hot but very good.
I sometimes I think mild salsa is too hot!
Pretty sure that little souvenir thing is a mortar and pestle. Not positive but that is what it look alike. They are used typically for grinding herbs.
its for grinding plantain! to make mofongo and sometimes the chips you just ate
Your “Authentic Puerto Rico Souvenir” looks like a mortar and pestle to me!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortar_and_pestle
I thought that but it was just so little!
I think the mortar and pestle is for grinding spices into powder or making pesto type of thing. I’ve never used one but it might be interesting to try out. It seems like this box was more authentic than some of the others have been.
I would agree with that! Other than the book, I would imagine most of the stuff would be hard to find here.
My souvenir was a bottle opener with “Puerto Rico” on the handle.
I’ll probably get a little more use from it that I would the mortar & pestle… 🙂
Ha! I’d agree with that!
I was only so so with this box. After my first box (Paris) this was rather a let down. We liked the items but there was no wow factor. We will be buying more candy from this box. In the Paris box we ordered more of everything. My bonus was a tiny cheap straw hat. Maybe it goes with those awful tiny plastic shoes that were in another box earlier this year. My guess is some doll is missing fashion accessories from their wardrobe. Not impressed with the freebie.
I will give it one more chance. If London is a bust, that will be my last escape. I will then watch for unboxings and order anything that looks interesting.
I loved those little shoes. LOL! But I don’t know what I would have done with a tiny hat. I hope London is incredible.
I was happy with the box but I only paid $4 for it (got it through a Rue La La deal and I had a random credit there). I gave the coffee away because I hate coffee (but hey, since I only paid $4, it was no big deal). I did cancel, because the full-price box is just not in my budget. I liked the coconut candies. Haven’t tried the other food items yet.
For $4 you got a deal! I love when I have those random credits!
My emails from them always read you have $0.00 credit to use or something like that. It makes me chuckle.
How do you unsubscribe?? I couldnt find it anywhere on their website…only that you could and you had to confirm it. But how?
I emailed them to unsubscribe. Be prepared though- I had to threaten to post a bad review to get them to agree to cancel. They kept sending me emails trying to convince me to stay a customer. Very frustrating. I’ve never had a company argue with me so much about unsubscribing.
This will be my last box for awhile with the upcoming travel and dental bills. I did not care for the Puerto Rico box although my younger son loved the frog pin. My souvenir was the straw hat. I can’t complain because I’ve enjoyed all my boxes besides this one. I will be checking out their offers for London and hope to buy a great product. Sad to miss London, but traveling is nice 🙂
This is sad, but when I opened my box, I jumped back when I saw the frog…..it looked a little too realistic. I agree that this box wasn’t as nice as Paris. If London isn’t amazing, it will probably be my last.
This was my first and last box. I don’t need a guidebook, and being in black and white it wasn’t very fun to look through. I won’t eat the hot sauce, coffee, or plantain chips, and the coconut candy was not my favorite. I tried one and didn’t finish it. The only two things I liked were the pin that I have no idea what I will use it for, and the way too tiny candle. I also don’t like how they’ve set up their giveaway now- basically made it a popularity contest to get more online presence. It was not worth the $40 I paid for it. Maybe $10? Ugh.
And, after getting the awful box, unsubscribing was very difficult. I had actually been planning to have my husband subscribe to get the London box, but after having to argue with them and threaten them before they agreed to cancel I’m not interested in going through that again.
Ironically, I liked this box. I might be the only person that did. lol…
My husband and I opened it up on the couch Monday afternoon & agreed that “this looks like a box full of stuff that we’d come home with if we went to PR.” And it totally is. Random souvenirs, candies, coffee… that’s the kind of stuff we’ll come home with. In many ways, I liked it better than the Paris box.
I know, I know. I’m hearing the screams of “WHAT?!”. Hear me out. I had literally just come home from Paris when this box showed up on my doorstep. I felt that the curators could have put a lot more thought into what went in the box. There are plenty of amazing French candies and treats that cannot be easily purchased in the US, outside of an import shop, and it felt like while many of these things were French, most could be bought here in the states with little trouble. I wanted a magnet or keychain or a mini-Eiffel Tower (which you can buy wholesale for 20c each) to tie the concept together.
I bought the 3-month deal from Living Social, so I don’t feel cheated in any way, but I’m going to think long an hard about resubscribing after London.