Holiday Gift Idea - Birchbox



Not my actual Birchbox, but this is what you could expect to receive



I am a sucker for freebies.  As a kid, I begged my mom to buy me a book that listed companies you could write to and/or send a self addressed stamped envelope to in order to get some sort of silly freebie - from pencils to bumper stickers to activity books.  (clearly, this was before the age of the Internet)  I spent hours one summer mailing all kinds of letters nicely asking for free things from various companies.  (do kids even write letters anymore?)  It seemed like a fruitless task until mail started rolling in, months later.  But I appreciated every single things I got. 



And maybe that's why I'm such a fan of Birchbox, which is essentially a free sample fulfillment service.  For $10 a month, you get a goodie box filled with samples mailed to your house from Birchbox.  I've only gotten one box so far, but in it, there was nail polish, candy, perfume, a night cream, and an exfoliating scrub that I liked to much I immediately bought a vat of it when my sample ran out.  (Hello, La ROCCCA Champage and Shimmer Acai Sugar Polish)  As someone who works in marketing, I think it's a genius idea.  The La Rocca scrub I bought last month retails for $37.50 a tub.  Or more than I'd ever pay for a product I'd never tried.  (even though it's completely natural and cruelty free)  But after getting that little sample, I was hooked!  I was able to get a discount on the product for being a Birchbox customer, got an additional discount for making my first Birchbox product purchase, and got free shipping.  Overall it was a big win.  And well worth the $10 I paid to get a couple samples.

The other nice thing about the Birchbox boxes is that you earn points for doing various things on the website - from buying your monthly box to writing reviews to referring friends.  You can convert those points into cash to buy the products you try.  And...most importantly, maybe, you can buy someone a subscription to Birchbox as a gift. (sorry friends and family, I'm already taken care of on this, but you just might be getting a Birchbox from me!)  For the time being Birchboxes are only available for the ladies, but...it's a newer company and I bet they'll expand into the realm of mens product eventually.