Fred's Box - an exciting kids' mystery box subscription (review)

When Fred's Box recently got in touch to ask if we'd like to review one of their monthly mystery subscription boxes for kids, I was intrigued. Firstly, because it was a brand that we'd never heard of and, secondly, because kids have such eclectic tastes that I wondered how they would manage to cater to everyone. Pierre had a different question - who's Fred ? Well, that one was easily answered because he has his very own page on the Fred's Box website - he's a 7-year-old boy who loves receiving things in the post (and the colour orange) and he set up the company, with a little help from his mum. He sounds like a right character and I'm sure he'd hit it off with Pierre immediately if they were in the same room !

This possibly also explains why, as soon as Pierre opened the box and excitedly peeled back the (orange) paper, he burst into a round of "wows" and "look Mum's" ! With Minions and fidget spinners and collectibles, it was like receiving a box put together from a wishlist of all Pierre's favourite things.

As it's the holidays and we were having a lazy morning in bed watching TV, Pierre tipped the whole lot out on the bed and went through the contents, carefully examining everything.

He was instantly attracted to the fidget spinner and the Bumpeez intrigued him, so we looked at all the different ways of playing with them in the enclosed leaflet - bouncing them off the wall, playing "darts" with them on the floor, playing catch with a bounce in the middle, stacking them (obviously you'd need a few more than two for this particular game !) ... You can't see from this photo but they are Minions-themed Bumpeez, which went down well.

Pierre is currently obsessed with his enormous collection of Pokemon trading cards, so the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cards (or are they Hero Turtles now? I can never remember !) were given the seal of approval.

He was also very taken with the slappy wristband, especially as it has a cool hashtag on it (yes, I'm quoting Pierre here !).

There were lots of other things that disappeared before I got to take separate photos of them (which proves how popular they were, as they were shared out between both 8-year-old Pierre and 12-year-old Juliette and squirreled away in their bedrooms) - some blank postcards and a pencil (a nice little holiday project there !), a superhero Ooshie (that's the little figurine in the bottom right corner), a Minions keyring and a reading book, The Planet of Bones, which is perfectly adapted to Pierre's reading level.

I was very impressed at how well-suited it was to Pierre's age and interests, but that is the joy of Fred's Box - they tailor it all to suit your child's profile, taking into account their age, sex and reading level. They explain on their website : "In each mystery subscription box, there will always be an age appropriate reading book, a pack of trading cards, an Ooshie (collectable mini figures which double up as pencil toppers for the over 5's), 4 x Crayola funky shape crayons (for the under 5's) a Fred's Box coloured pencil and sticker, 4 design your own postcards, plus between 2 and 5 mystery gifts."

For the toy collector, Fred's Box also has an Ooshie Subscription Box where you will never receive the same Ooshie twice so you can collect the entire 40 of each theme without having to buy endless packets and do lots of trades with your friends. I think that's a brilliant idea ! In this box, you will also receive a Fred's Box pencil, sticker and 2 design your own postcards.

There is also an option to order a twins box or a box for 2 children, called the Mojo Box. This works out cheaper than buying two separate boxes. One final great idea - all Fred’s Boxes fit through the letterbox so you never have to wait in for it.

Fred's Box costs £11.99 + £2 postage. You can opt for a one-off box or a rolling subscription.

for more information : http://fredsbox.co.uk

Diclosure : We received a box in order to write an honest review.