Kid Box Review- John's box

After trying out the clothing service for kids, Rockets of Awesome, I decided to try another service- Kidbox.

Similarities:
Both of these companies are services that send you a box with clothing for a particular time of year not monthly like other services. Neither company charges you unless you make a purchase. That's right, no styling fee even if you decide to send every item back. Both have similar style quizzes to help determine what kinds of clothes you and your child may be interested in. Both companies offer free exchanges in the event that an item is too big or small for your child.
Differences:
Rockets of Awesome sends out 4 boxes a year to correspond with the seasons (Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter) while Kidbox offers 5 boxes, Spring, Summer, Back to School, Fall, and Holiday.
ROA makes its own clothing, so there are no other brands which may help eliminate the issues with sizing (all parents know that a size 10 in one brand may fit like a glove but a size 10 in a different brand leaves your kid swimming in it.) This also means that if you come across an item you would prefer in a different color, you can exchange it whereas in Kidbox that is not an option. Kidbox offers many different brands which has its benefits as well as its drawbacks.
ROA sends you a box that can have up to a dozen items in it while KB has less- the box my son received had 7 items and my daughter only had 6.
The price for the boxes is also different. ROA does not charge a flat rate or offer a discount if you choose to keep all of the items. The boxes my kids got had pretty different totals. The KB however does offer a flat rate which works as a discount if you keep all of the items. For example, if I go to my account and review my items, my total is $98. The moment I click "return" on any item, my price jumps up based on the total price of each individual item (still supposedly below retail price)
I also discovered that coupon and promo codes only work if you keep the entire box. So it looks like if you were hoping to use the $10 off your first box code, you cannot use it on one item only which is what I was hoping to do since I really only liked a couple of things in my sons first box.
ROA offers a deal where if a friend uses your referral link, you both get ONE item free in your next box. KB offers a $25 referral but this only works if your friend keeps their whole box. This means they get $25 off making their box $73. After that goes through, I am assuming you will get your $25 credit to use on a full box only as well.
Kidbox also does a monthly giveaway on instagram. To enter the giveaway through Instagram, go to https://www.instagram.com between the first of each month at 12:00 AM EST until the last day of the month at 11:55 PM EST  follow Kidbox at https://www.instagram.com/kidbox, like and share the giveaway post and then post a picture with the correct hashtags listed in the current month’s giveaway post.

Now the items from my sons box!


First off we have this shirt by  U.S. Polo Assn. A fairly basic tee with stripes and a front pocket.

Johns Opinion: The fabric was soft, the fit nice and he liked the pattern and colors.
My take: It is a pretty basic top, and while I get that it is a good brand, there wasn't much else special about it. I did like how John had no complaints and it was a shirt that DID NOT have any characters on it meaning that as tastes change, or as a hand me down, I don't have to worry about what character the kid is into.

Boys Short Sleeve Stripe Top | Size 10/12

List Price $19.00 Kidbox Price $14.00

The price is only so-so. The list price is only $5 more which makes me wonder why bother with KidBox at all for something like this? $14 isn't too bad of a price for a decent shirt but it isn't a smoking deal either. 
Target has a similar shirt on their site for $7.00, even has the pocket. Find it here. 

 He is also wearing a pair of shorts by 7 for All Mankind.
John's Opinion: The fit is comfortable and the fabric soft. They came out of the box with the bottoms rolled up which he undid as soon as he put them on.
My take: I was surprised to find that I liked these shorts on him. John has a few pairs of shorts, but most of them are athletic shorts since we generally don't have occasion to wear nicer ones all that often. The fit was nice on him and I could see them being a versatile item in his wardrobe.

Boys Khaki Shorts | Size 10

List Price $45.00 Kidbox Price $32.00

The price here is pretty ridiculous. I gotta ask, who pays $45 for a pair of simple shorts for a kid? Aside from the obvious issues of how fast 10 year old boys grow, there are also the concerns about stains and kids being tough on their clothing. I would flip out if my kid stained or otherwise destroyed a $45 pair of shorts. Granted, I wouldn't let him play in them, which begs the question, why pay that much for something that they can't wear all of the time and that I have to safeguard against all kinds of foods and juices and grass stains? While knocking $13 off retail is nice, $32 is still too much for this item in my opinion.
A quick search through Target.com and you can find a very similar pair of shorts for $12.99. Right now Target is running a 20% off of all shorts deal and I have the Target Redcard, which brings my total to 9.88. Find the shorts here.


 Next up a top by Penguin, a simple short sleeve shirt with a pocket.

Johns opinion: It is comfortable and he liked the colors and the pocket. The fit was nice and he had no complaints about the fabric

My take: I don't like this shirt. I don't know why exactly, perhaps its where the color change happens or perhaps its because it reminds me too much of these old 80s bedspreads I've seen in old family pictures. It just rubs me the wrong way.

Penguin boys short sleeve tee

List Price $22.00 Kidbox Price $16.00

The price is okay, again $16 isn't too high nor is it a great deal for a basic tee.


Next up, a pair of Joggers by 7 for All Mankind.

John's opinion : The fabric is nice and so is the fit...that is until he gets to the ankle. He does not like joggers because they are too tight on his ankles.
My take: I don't particularly like the fit and cut of these pants nor do I like how thick the band is at the ankles. Paired with the blue and green 80's throwback doesn't help me like them either since I flashback to old pictures from he 80's and early 90's. This outfit seems very dated to me, can't you tell?

7 For All Mankind

Boys Lightweight Joggers | Size 10

List Price $49.00 Kidbox Price $35.00

 Yikes. $50 for these? They aren't anything fancy. Not dress pants in the least, just your run of the mill, around the house, maybe hanging out with a friend type pants. I'm glad to see kidbox knock $14 off, but even at their price I am not buying it. They seem to me more like sweat pants than something i'd pony $35 up for. 

This next pair of pants is also a pair of Joggers.

Johns opinion: He actually didn't mind the bottoms of these joggers which he (and I) were surprised by. The problem was the fit. The waist and hip area was HUGE. He looked like he could have carried a watermelon in those things! He did like the fabric and color however.

My take: The fit was enough for me to not like them much, although an exchange would be possible I guess. I just found it odd that both pants were supposed to fit him-because these were a medium instead of a 10 and from a different brand they fit way differently on him.Which is one of the issues parents will probably run into using Kidbox versus ROA. The band around the ankles looks looser and thinner than the other pants which is why he didn't mind them.

Paper Denim & Cloth

Boys Twill Joggers | Size M

List Price $52.00 Kidbox Price $36.00

 Once again the price is crazy high. Glorified sweat pants for $52? Come on. and yes, $36 is still too much. I recently picked up a pair of pants that is almost exactly the same in cut aside from the jogger fit. And it had cool pockets. My price: $14 at Target. It is on clearance right now, but even the original listed price is a  lot cheaper at $16.99. Find them here.

In this next picture I had him put the shorts back on while he tried on the last 2 items in the box

Johns opinion: He really liked the hoodie. He liked how lightweight it was, the color and the fit. He also liked how the fabric felt, when I had him try it on he was not wearing a shirt on underneath adn was happily surprised that there was no rough texture on the interior (in his experience, thick logo's means itchy layers on the inside. )
My take: I also liked the hoodie since it is the type of clothing we wear a lot of in the Oregon Willamette Valley area. Its perfect for spring days and summer nights when things get a little cool (and mosquitoes come out). 

LUCKY

Boys Long Sleeve Hoodie | Size M

List Price $32.00 Kidbox Price $20.00

The list price is high but the Kidbox price is reasonable. In fact, at this moment I am trying to decide whether or not to keep this particular piece. John really likes it, and I had thought I could use my $10 off coupon no matter how many things I kept. It looks like that is not the case, so I am trying to figure out if this hoodie is worth $20 or if I can find a similar product for a lower price somewhere else. Target did have something comparable, but it is on clearance and available only in XL. Sale price is $7.48 but the listed price is $14.99. Sure, $5 isn't much, and if that were the only thing missing in a kids wardrobe I'd say "No big deal." but if you are trying to redo, update, replace, or otherwise make numerous purchases, saving money on every piece adds up in the end.

Last but not least..

Johns opinion: He says that its "nice" and the fabric is soft. He really liked it quite a bit. 

My take: I like the look on him. The V-neck is a nice change from the typical crew neck tee. The color is nice and the buttons look classy rather than cheap. The cut of the tee is such that it doesn't hang off of him like the other shirts did. 

LUCKY

Boys Short Sleeve Henley | Size M

List Price $26.00 Kidbox Price $19.00

The list price isn't too far out there and neither is the kidbox price. This was also one of those pieces I considered keeping, and I probably would have kept it and the hoodie (both by Lucky) if I had been able to use my $10 off code 

 Target has Henley tee shirts, but nothing exactly like this. Prices range from $7.99 to $9.99, the tops have stripes, different color sleeves, and also a striped front pocket.

 

Bottom Line:

• Kidbox Total Price
  $172.00
• Keep The Whole Box
  - $74.00
• 
  
• You Pay:
  $98.00
   
  At first glance, Kidbox seemed like a better deal. But when I compared prices I was surprised. The pants from Kidbox were about $10 more than the pants I received in my ROA for John. The tops from Kidbox ranged from $14-$20 (counting the hoodie) while the ROA box had a tee for $10, a polo for $20, a sweatshirt hoodie (thicker than the one in the Kidbox) for $24, a long sleeve tee for $22, a button up dress shirt for $25, a glow in the dark tee for $16, a football tee for $18 and a cardigan for $28.  There was more variety in type of clothing (tee, long sleeve, and dress clothes) than in the Kidbox, but there were more expensive items-mainly the dressier button  up and cardigan. If I were to compare apples to apples, the price range on the ROA shirts that are similar to the Kidbox stuff, I'd say the range was $10-22. 
  While the prices aren't much different, the things to keep in mind are that you get a discount with kidbox  if you keep everything, bringing the total down $74. That's a lot of money. My ROA box cost way more than that ($256) BUT there were 12 items instead of 7.

Let's do some math!

 If I divide the total Kid box price of $172 by 7, and look at the average price per item (without the discount you get for buying the whole box) is about $24.50. Times that by 12(the number of items in the ROA box) and you get $294 making Kidbox more expensive per individual item. Now, I am assuming that the kidbox total price varies from box to box, but let's just say it's a 40% discount if you keep the entire box . (I got that number by dividing the $74 I "save" by the total price and I actually got 43%, but I'll round down) So if I discount the $256 total from ROA by 40% I get 102.40, which means the comparable price would be $153.6.(256-102.4) Yes, it's still more than the Kidbox, but you get more stuff so it makes sense it would cost more to keep everything.

 The kidbox average price per item WITH the discount would be $14, while with ROA it would be $8.50 if they offered a similar discount for keeping everything. 

So, I guess it comes down to what you budget for. If you like the idea of a $98 flat rate for everything, then kidbox is for you. It also is nice that they donate to charity when you keep and entire box and referrals knock $25 off (whole boxes only!) As far as variety, number of items to choose from, and sometimes cheaper prices, ROA is a better choice. It also is nice to have items all made by the same company so that ALL sizes 10s should fit the same, and it allows for color exchanges. 

If ROA decided to offer a discount for keeping every item, I think they'd be the winner hands down in this comparison. 

 

My review for Natalie's Kidbox will be up soon.

I also sent out for another clothing box, this one just for girls, called Kidpik. I ordered one for Natalie and one for her little sister Lizzie who is 3. When I get those boxes I will also post a review.