It’s time for another subscription box review! I took a few months off between my last and latest subscription box, and then let a randomizer choose which from my list that I wanted to try. And yeah, I was really happy that it chose the Cat Lady Box for the fall months! I thought there might be some good fall-themed items in here.

The box costs ~$40/month, depending on the size of shirt you request, and if you do month-to-month or a lump subscription sum. (Note: there’s an up-charge per size once you reach plus-sizes, grr.) There’s also a Crazy Cat Lady version, for about $5 more, to include two cat toys with each box. I went with this latter one and paid about $45/month. My first box arrived in September.

September – Purple Box
In this box, I received a shirt, pen with cat-head top, an iridescent mug, a small trinket dish, and two catnip toys for the cats. There was a sneak preview of the box ahead of time that showed the mug, and the word was that while the box was purple-themed, it would also keep the autumn time of year in mind. That last part wasn’t true – there was nothing fall-themed at all in this box. But setting that aside, here’s my review.

First, I’m still wondering if I’ll use the trinket box or give it to someone for Christmas. I don’t keep trinkets out and I don’t wear a lot of jewelry, so I’m not sure this is the gift for me. Second, the mug is really cute, but before my box even arrived, the company sent out a warning email that despite packaging, the mug is not microwave safe and will get very hot, including handle, possibly even when hot drinks are used (but def in the microwave). So I was a little worried about using it, tbh – nothing like burning yourself on your mug when you have your coffee, yeah? (I haven’t used it. I tend to drink more iced drinks these days.) Then there’s the pen, which as far as I can tell works like a normal pen, it just has a big cat-head on the top. The shirt was a bit big on me as I chose a size too large and will adjust for October, and it’s honestly a little silly in a middle-class-middle-aged-white-woman kind of way. I’ve never worn these kinds of shirts before, but it’s a good bum-around tee.

The best part of the box was the catnip toys, though. The kittens went crazy over them! Gherkin doing bunny kicks on the carrot, Angus drooling over the crown…we had to buy some extra catnip toys to make sure all the cats had one, ha! These two were soaked within minutes. Not sure two toys was worth the entire box cost, but hey, they were fun. I do hope next month’s box is a little better for me. Box score: 2 of 5 stars.

October – Black Cat Box
In this box, I received a sweatshirt, a concrete planter, a black cat puff keychain, and two catnip toys.

So. Once again, I have to admit to not being terribly impressed, especially not for the price I pay. The sweatshirt looks like it’ll be cozy this winter, but it’ll be awhile before it cold enough for me to find out. Plus the Notorious BIG theme is a bit…meh. The planter, which has cat ears, was already broken when I pulled it out of the box, part of one ear torn off. I’m not sure what I’ll do with the keychain, because it’s too bulky for actual use with keys. And just like last month, the best part is the two catnip toys. The kittens took turns wrestling with them, which always makes me feel like I need to go out and buy more catnip toys for everyone else…

Honestly, I decided after this box to unsubscribe. Because the renewal auto-renews on the 14th and I received my package on the 14th, I was too late to cancel the November package. At least I’m helping nonprofits while buying this! Box score: 2 of 5 stars.

November – “Be Meow Guest” Box
This box consisted of a t-shirt, a cat-shaped soap dispenser, a couple pot-holders, and two catnip toys. Of the boxes I’ve received, this is probably my favorite. Mostly because the shirt is really soft and high-quality fabric, in an awesome color, and 100% cats > people. (Note that the picture makes the shirt look this awful brown color, but it’s not. It’s actually a really beautiful heathered rust color.)

Other than the shirt, here’s how I rank the two human items. The soap dispenser is porcelain (or whatever pottery-fired cheaper version of porcelain – point is, it’s not cheap plastic or anything) and is kinda cute in a silly way. I’m still deciding if I’m going to use it in my bathroom or give it away as a gift to someone else who also loves cats. The two pot-holders  both have different patterns and seem like fairly tradition-quality pot-holders. In other words, I wouldn’t use the to pull things out of the oven – I use my homemade cotton crochet hot-pads for that, they’re better than anything I’ve ever gotten manufactured, even an Ove Glove! – but they’ll be good for setting down hot dishes onto. And they’re both pretty cute.

As always, the cat toys were the star of the show. This month, they were shaped like a green bean (complete with little stringy end, ha!) and a candle with feather flames. The cats, especially the kittens, were sniffing around the box the moment we brought it inside, and they couldn’t get their paws on those two toys fast enough. I got this photo of them after things had calmed down a little. Nimi had stolen the green bean and Ghostie was still playing with the candle, while Gherks and Angy both looked up at me like I was disappointing them for life because they didn’t have a toy. Ha! Box score: 3.5 of 5 stars.

I did cancel my subscription in October – too late to stop the November box, but I won’t receive more. And I’m okay with that. This doesn’t really seem exactly like the right subscription box for me even though I’m quite clearly a crazy cat lady. Plus there were just too many issues with broken/dangerous items, and the shipping always took more than 2 weeks through Fedex, etc. It just wasn’t worth the money. On the other hand, I think I’ll definitely buy my cats some new catnip toys once a month from here on out. For years, we avoided anything with catnip in it because our first cat got really aggressive whenever he was around it. So our older cats weren’t really exposed until maybe the last year. It’s really fun to be able to do that for them, and to see a more normal reaction to catnip.