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Box of Blessings
Cost: $31.95/month ($29.95 + $2 shipping)
Ships To: United States
Coupon Code: “RAMBLING10” to save 10% off your first order.
International Blessings, who kindly sent me this Box of Blessings to review, states that their mission is to empower 3rd world artisans by selling and promoting their handmade products, which then helps to create sustainable livelihoods and eliminate poverty around the world. Each Box of Blessings will have 3-4 pieces of jewelry or other handcrafted products made by impoverished people around the world. There will also be information about the items (where they came from, who made them, how they are changing lives, etc) and information about the poverty fighting cause that will receive the 10% donation that month. This month’s cause is “Project Have Hope” which you can read more about here.
Box of Blessings ships via USPS and took only a few days to arrive. All boxes ship the first week of the month and are only available to those in the US.
I have never received a Box of Blessings before, so I was really curious to see what would be included. The box was small, but good things come in small packages right?
Box of Blessings includes information cards about each item in the box along with a card about the partner this month. There was no theme, but the October 2014 Box of Blessings included the following items:
~Fiori Stud Earrings (Peru): Not only are these gorgeous, but they were handmade in a shop in Peru that supports workers and their families. These are better than department store quality. Just fabulous!
~Cotton Scarf (Guatemala): The fact that this scarf is handmade (with fair trade principles) on foot looms makes me love it. The information card doesn’t say, but I wonder how long something like that would take?
~Paper Bead Link Bracelet (Uganda): I actually received a very similar bracelet to this a few months back and have wanted another ever since. Well here it is! It’s made from rolled paper and the craftsmanship just blows my mind. Incredible!
I couldn’t do a cost breakdown on this box because I couldn’t find all of the pieces online. The box is $31.95, and breaks down to just over $10 per item which I think is beyond reasonable.
What do you think of Box of Blessings? If you are interested in subscribing or just want to learn more, click here and use the coupon code “RAMBLING10” to save 10% off your first box.
What a great box! That scarf is lovely. I’m a weaver, and weaving a scarf can take a while. You have to do the math to get the threads spaced just right and to make sure the scarf is long and wide enough, measure out the vertical (warp) threads, put the warp threads on the loom, tie up the foot treadles which work the shafts and help create the pattern, and only after all that do you get to weave. Then there’s the finishing and tying of the fringe. Production weavers have it all down to a science and usually weave multiple projects on one warp, but for me, a scarf like this would take at least 8 hours to create, start to finish. And that’s not accounting for time I’d spend fixing the inevitable mistakes! 🙂 It’s definitely quite a process, but it is great fun to see fabric form before your eyes. $10 or so for a handwoven scarf is a steal.
Also–and…uh…I’m getting kinda geeky at this point–I’d guess that yarn is probably hand-dyed with cochineal. It looks it’s been dyed with a natural dye to me, at the very least. Very, very cool!
That’s not geeky! It’s neat to learn about!
Do you know where I can get those earrings?! It doesn’t look like I’d be guaranteed the same box if I ordered.
No. Sorry. I couldn’t find them online.
Hi Loren! I’m Sarah, the creator of this subscription box. Many of the products are also available at our online store which you can find via our website, http://InternationalBlessings.com.
These particular earrings are not yet listed. But send me an email at sarah@internationalblessings.com and I will let you know when they are or we can work something else out! THANKS
I just saw this, it’s very cool that you replied to me!