Reviewing Citrus Lane: Was it Worth it?

I mentioned in a previous post that I was going to give myself the gift of Citrus Lane. Since each month’s box o’ presents is a surprise until you receive it, I really didn’t know what to expect.

Well, I received the March gift box in the mail and I figure I’d share my thoughts on its contents.

The theme of this month’s gift box is “Dining Out” which I thought would be perfect for us since we have an addiction to restaurants. In the last two weeks that Jack has been home, we’ve taken him to eat out with us at least 5 times and he’s totally slept through about 80% of it.

So, what did this magical box contain?

• A pacifier made out of organic rubber by Natursutten ($7.95 value)

• One “Itsy Ritzy Bib, Burp and Bath Cloth” ($12.99 value)

• A full-sized bottle of Mommy’s Bliss Gripe Water ($11.99 value)

• A teething toy by ZoLi ($5.00 value)

• Weleda Almond Soothing Facial Lotion and Cleansing Lotion for Mommy ($53.00 value)

• A few promo codes for 10% – 20% of the products in the gift box

• A $10 off promo code for anything at AbesMarket.com

Based on the values given in the accompanying brochure, the gift box has a total retail value of $90.93 + promo codes.

Would I have paid $90 for everything inside?

No.

But I was totally happy to pay the monthly subscription cost of $30.*

Most of the things in the box aren’t things I would have gone out and purchased, but that’s kind of the point. They put together a few things that people love but I might not have known about and send it to me. Brilliant!

My favorite thing so far is the bib/burp cloth/bath cloth – its super soft and a really great size.

It will work out well as a burp cloth while Jack is still small and then snap around his neck to be a super absorbent bib. When he outgrows the bib, it can be used as a wash cloth when giving him a bath. I have a bunch of different kinds of burp cloths from various shower gifts, but I can already say that I like this one best.

I tried the fancy schmancy face wash and lotion today when I took a shower (yes, I totally took a shower today while staying home with the baby all by myself. YAY me!) Did it make me insanely beautiful and take 10 years off my face – um, no.

Here’s a close up of the results (with mostly wet hair, sorry. I showered… what more do you want from me??). My skin looks exactly the same as it always does.

I already religiously use my Origins face wash and face lotion with SPF, which is a bit pricy but nowhere as expensive as the Weleda stuff. I’ll stick with Origins – it smells way better and also protects my skin from UV rays.

We haven’t tried out the pacifier and teething toy since Jack is sleeping. Here he is modeling them though.

I was pretty excited about the last thing in the box, Mommy’s Bliss Gripe Water. Apparently my baby takes after his daddy, because he is super gassy. Not just normal gassy, I mean this kid farts ALL THE TIME. He sleeps great during the day, but most of the night he sits there and just grunts as hard as he can until a toot finally comes out. It’s hilarious, but I could totally use some sleep! I had asked my doctor about gripe water and she said that some people swear by it, so I had planned to pick some up when I had a chance.

I tried it out yesterday and gave Jack a teeny tiny serving to see if it helped. And honestly, I can’t tell if it helped at all. I’m going to try again tonight and give him the serving directly before we try and go to bed, so cross you fingers that we can all get some sleep!

All in all, I think this month’s Citrus Lane box was worth the price. I like the anticipation of receiving a present in the mail (its way better than bills) and trying out products that I would have never known about.

April’s gift box is all around the theme of “Bath and Bedtime – creating a healthy, relaxing bath and bedtime routine”. As you can tell by this picture of Jack’s first real bath (he was just getting sponge baths), he’s not quite a fan yet and we can use a relaxing bathtime routine!

* I actually only paid $20 for the March gift box because I used a promo code. You can use it too. Click here and use code 20TODAY to save 20% off the cost of any subscription.

PS — I reviewed another Citrus Lane box here.