Austin Lloyd Box Review: engaging surprises for young minds

As a mother of two young children, the majority of my day is spent feeding, cleaning and entertaining my 2 and 4 year olds (not to mention driving them to and from preschool, gymnastics and the library). Between taking care of my kids and household, I don’t have much time to research the latest and greatest in educational toys. I will readily admit that my second child’s toys get FAR less research than my firstborn.

Fortunately, there’s a subscription service called Austin Lloyd that will do all of that work for you and send you a box full of “engaging surprises for young minds” every month. Each box has anywhere from 4-5 educational surprises and typically at least one book. I received the box themed “Zoo Adventures” to review and I have to tell you, I was impressed as soon as I spotted the beautiful white and teal box. I’m a sucker for good design and packaging and Austin Lloyd does not disappoint.

Once opened, the contents were delicately wrapped in a gorgeous teal tissue paper and tied with a soft satin ribbon,  complete with a printed note addressed to Sidney. My daughter is 2.5 and was the perfect age for this box geared for play level of 2-3 years. One unique feature of Austin Lloyd was that there was an envelope containing note cards detailing the products featured in the box, with a description about why it was chosen for the box and even giving the retail value (the total of my box definitely exceeded the cost of a month’s subscription).

Both of my kids LOVED the toys and book contained in our first Austin Lloyd zoo-themed box. Here’s what our box contained:

• Serpentine of Numbers: Zoo by HABA! (a great game that can be arranged tons of different ways and keep the imagination going with all ages) retail value: $32.29
• Jungle Pals Lion Stacking Puzzle (a cute lion puzzle that was fun to make and can even be displayed later in a child’s room as a decorative accent) retail value: $15
• Ready, Set, ABC (flash cards that my 4-year-old loved to try to read and my 2-year-old loved feeling the bumpy skin of the alligator) retail value: $14.95
• “How Do Lions Say I Love You” (a sweet book that is perfect to read at bedtime to your little lion cub) retail value: $7.99
• Total retail value: $70.23

I am very impressed with Austin Lloyd and already know of some lucky kids and soon-to-be-born baby friends who will be receiving a gift subscription from our family. There are several things that set this subscription box above others but the most important to me is that they are unique, high-end toys that you wouldn’t be able to buy with one trip to your local Babies R’ Us. I know that by gifting something like this I won’t have to worry about including the gift receipt for when the child gets 3 of the same toy.

As a busy mom, I need more time-saving services like Austin Lloyd in my life! In fact, they make it super easy to pass along your surprises if you prefer to donate your toys and books after your family has enjoyed them. They’ll send you a free shipping label to reuse your Austin Lloyd box and they’ll take care of donating your gently used toys to community organizations they partner with. My clutter-hating husband LOVES that they do this and wish all companies offered this service! Busy moms & dads need Austin Lloyd in their lives, whether it be for their own children or for gifting to other loved little ones.

You can find out more about Austin Lloyd here:

• AustinLloyd.com
• facebook.com/AustinLloydBox
• twitter.com/AustinLloydBox

 

* I was provided a box for review purposes but my opinions are my own*