Kidbox: Back to School size 5 Review

Time for another Kidbox review! My last box was quite a miss, but I had hopes the Back to School box would be better, and they delivered! Which was a good thing, because my daughter just got into size 5 and needed some more clothes.

I've reviewed quite a few Kidboxes now, and my current overall rating for the subscription is 15/20. It's better than the average kid sub, risk free to try (you can return a box you hate with no shipping cost either way,) and has a pretty good discount of 50%, or more, off retail if you keep a whole box. It isn't perfect, sometimes styling seems pretty off, but the risk-free nature means I can send back the misses and try again.

This box was pretty great, I'd give it an 17/20! We kept it all.


For those of you unfamiliar with Kidbox, they are a kid's clothing sub that puts out about 6 boxes a year. Each box contains a nice selection of brands and 6 or more individual items (I've gotten as many as 11 individual pieces.) Sometimes you can get cute accessories as well.

It's very customizeable in terms of how many boxes a year you want. You can just get one box and turn off auto-shipments, or you can order extras of each box - they never send the same outfit twice. I like to keep auto-shipments off and just manually order as my kids grow or if I need boxes for gifts. (If you have three baby showers to get to, it's handy to order one box and split it for gifts!)

Every box has a "buy it now" price of $98, but the contents retail at $196+ so the discount for keeping the box is always at least 50% off. If you don't like anything, you can send it back for free. They also allow you to keep just some of the items, returning the rest, at a lesser discount. While the value isn't really there (one can find a 20-30% off sale pretty easily at a store) it's great for the times when your kid falls in love with one item but the rest of the box is a miss.

Want to try it? Here's my referral code if you want $25 off the buy it now price of your first box: http://refer.kidbox.com/k-Azg

I did notice that this time my box had a sales tax charge of $9.80. I've never seen this before, so it might be a new thing. It's a bit of a bummer as that makes the overall box price $107.80, and it already is on the steep end for kids clothes even with the discounted price. But there would be sales tax if buying clothes in the store, and it's likely something they legally have to do.

KIDBOX has recently come up with another option to "Build your Own" box where you pick out some options from a pre-curated selection at a couple different price points. I haven't tried this yet because I tend not to like the Build Your own options - they look like cheaper versions of the nicer stuff in the style quiz and a lot of their in-house brands.

For the Back to School box, you can also currently add a backpack to a box for $9.99. I didn't need that option.

Sooo, on to the box! (Note: The Kidbox price is the price I would pay to just keep that item and not keep the whole box. Since I kept the whole box at the flat rate of $98, my final discount was a lot more.)

Elizabeth received 10 pieces in her box this time, which was 7 invoice items + 2 "bonus" invoice items. One of the bonus items was a pair of Kidbox undershirts, though my daughter wears them as shirts.

There was no 'freebie' item this time other than the normal crayons, clear Kidbox pencil pouch bag, and Scribbler newsletter. I'm not sure if they just ditched it to save cost or if it was forgotten in mine. In the past I've gotten freebies like beach balls, stroller hooks, an awesome set of playing cards, and paper wrapping paper.

My daughter loves their stickers!


2 PK Kids Club Camisoles (Retail $16.99, Kidbox price $12)

When I'd ordered my box the current promo was supposed to be an essentials pack (socks and underwear) but they instead sent 2 bonus items, which was the promo for the summer box. It worked out, though, since my daughter is 3 and still in diapers - she can use the undershirts way more than underwear!


Elizabeth loves the bright pink one and likes to wear these when it gets really hot. She sometimes wants to sleep in one, too! I'm pretty sure Kids Club is one of their in-house brands. They are a little thin, but they are meant to be undershirts. The sizing seems a little off, though - they are very loose fitting compared to the other 5s in the box, yet one would expect them to have a tighter fit so they could be worn under things.

1 PR Bombas Socks (Retail $12.99, Kidbox price $9)

I was a little disappointed to only get one pair of socks, but wow is the pair they sent nice! It's Bombas brand, and very high quality. Who knew kids needed good quality socks? Her sensitive feet find them comfy, and they are holding up without snagging or wearing out. And the Black/White/Grey design with a bee is very classy. They are a little thick for summer socks, so she wears them on cooler days.

Toby & Company Girl's Swan Purse (Retail $18, Kidbox Price $13)

We got a Toby item in a previous box - an adorable set of unicorn ear muffs that my daughter loves. This cute little swan purse was also an instant hit! My daughter even cuddled and napped with it once, as it's pretty much a plush toy on a chain. I treat it as her church purse so she doesn't lose it. It has a fun cross body chain and is pretty much a portable plush toy. It isn't so much a proper purse as a small pocket - enough for a little trinket or some fruit snacks but not much else. I'm really liking this brand of accessories.

Theoretically, you can 'ask' for a purse in the notes, but I'm not sure if it is a guarantee to get one if you do. They have unicorn purses, circle purses with cherries, and some other options I've seen in various ads. It never hurts to let them know of items/brands/colors/themes you like or don't like. For best results, don't just do the style quiz but email them right after or right before you order with notes.

Masala Baby Girls Bell Sleeve Swan Dress (Retail $48, Kidbox Price $36)

My daughter got a pair of Masala organic cotton PJs in her Dream Box that were great - super soft and stretchy. My next Masala item was a baby dress in a babybox - but it was regular cotton and didn't have a lot of give in the skirt, so it wouldn't work for my toddler who was still crawling; I ended up passing it on. So when this adorable dress came, I wasn't sure whether it would be a love or a meh. Especially since they sent it in size 4, and there was no 5 available if I needed it exchanged! Fortunately, this dress was made of the organic stretch cotton, and the design was great. It fits my toddler well, and has plenty of stretch room to grow. And it's perfect for twirling! This dress has a pretty swan print all over it and goes perfect with the swan purse. So it's a love!



LEE Girls French Terry Skinny Pants (Retail $34, Kidbox Price $26)

These are some very nice warm pants. There isn't really any pizazz, so my toddler gravitated towards the brighter colors in the box, but these will be perfect for fall and winter. My toddler has specifically asked to wear them a couple times this summer, and she likes how soft/comfy they are. Overall, they are a well-made wardrobe staple that should last through all my kids.

VIGOSS Girls Star Print Bermuda Shorts (Retail $28, Kidbox price $21)


My daughter only recently decided that shorts are not a travesty against fashion after all, so I wasn't sure how she would receive these. But she said they were cute and loved the star embroidery. These have a nice length, they aren't "short" shorts. She claims they are big on her, even though the waist is adjustable, so I think the loose fit throws her off a little - she likes leggings and tighter pants. These have plenty of room to grow, and are a good quality, so should last being passed down through her sisters. Durability in kids clothes is the #1 concern for me, so I love it when an item is well-made and cute, too!



LOSAN Girls "The Best Friend For My Dreams" Owl Shirt | Size 5 (Retail $20, Kidbox Price $15)

I was introduced to the LOSAN brand through Kidbox, with a gorgeous sweater dress in my first box, and love it! So I was excited to see it pop up again. Unfortunately, this shirt has words on it. Words/Phrases are one thing I have asked over and over and over in my notes not to get. Mostly this is to avoid anything sassy (like the last box I got that had two items with Rebel Surfer written all over!) but it's also because my daughter is three and only reads letters, not words. However, the words on this are not the main design - a cute shiny owl and shimmery leaves are, and the words are in an odd font so she doesn't even see them as words, more just design squiggles. And the overall design I love. The sleeves are a tad long but rolling them up for now works. I'd asked for longish shirts to fit with her long torso and this fits the bill. :) The colors are great for going into fall as well. My toddler calls it her 'owl' shirt and really likes it. The shirt is great quality.



Miki B Girl's Flip Sequin Heart Tee (Retail $24, Kidbox Price $16)

When Elizabeth saw this bright pink shirt with sequin heart, she lit up and wanted to wear it immediately. The heart sequins had gotten a bit of a crease from being folded in the box, but flipping them back and forth a few times fixed it. It's a little thin by design, so definitely a summer shirt or one to layer over a camisole on a fall day.

Miki B is one of their in house brands. They have a few, at least Miki B, Kidbox Basics, Baby Basics, and Kids Club. As such, 'retail price' is a bit of a misnomer since I don't think they ever actually sell them at retail anywhere. Miki B is the highest quality one of their in-house brands (at least among the items I've gotten) and fits in with the other brands they send. All the ones with 'Kid' in the title seem to be lower quality, and generally not worth the over-inflated retail price claimed. I was a little surprised to see another Miki B item since I thought they'd opted me out after my first box (I actually told them just not to 'feature' the brand so prominently, as in send more than one item in a box from it, but they said they wouldn't send it.) I'm not bugged, though, since Miki B is a decent brand and I hadn't meant for them to stop sending it entirely - the items from the first box that didn't wow me at first are holding up well and have become some of my daughters favorite pieces.

Speechless Girls Sequin Cat Top (Retail $36, Kidbox Price $27)

This top is so cute with it's little cat face embellished design! It's also super soft and feels very high quality. The arms are a bit loose/big, but though I worried it wouldn't fit it the body of the shirt fit great with plenty of stretch room once it was on. 

The one 'downside' is that it is sooo cute and comfy that my daughter wants to sleep in it, which wears down the fabric faster than it would otherwise. She loves this kitty shirt a little too much, lol.

Final thoughts:

I liked all the pieces this month - even the one with words on it was off set by it being a cute design and a brand I really like. There were no big misses, so it was an easy decision to keep the whole box this time. I'm still not sure Kidbox makes sense as a 'frequent' sub - the price point is a bit high for that even if it's 50% or more off retail to keep a box, but there are several elements that make it nice to get once in a while:

- I don't have to figure out how to get to a clothing store or take all the kids on a long shopping trip
- Great as a gift/special treat for a kid (or to pick out just one or two things) or to split up as baby shower gifts. This way I can also pull from the 'gift' budget since I normally don't pay so much for clothing.
- A selection of varied and generally nice brands (Puma, Adidas, Vigoss, Lee, BCBGgirls, etc.) that would be hard to find all on sale at the same store.
- No shipping costs, and risk free as it can all be sent back for free if unwanted
- Styled (roughly) to personal tastes so so
- If you keep the box they also donate clothes to charity

Feel free to use my promo code http://refer.kidbox.com/k-Azg for $25 off your first box if you want to try it. One awesome thing about referrals is that you both get $25 off the next box - so if you have a friend or relative that is interested in trying it as well, don't sign up at the same time. After you get your first box (use someone's referral code for the $25 off) then give them your referral, and then they will get the $25 off their first box while you get $25 off your second box. :)

Referral codes don't work for Babybox and I don't think they work for their Build Your Own boxes, just for the regular Kidbox.