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Best subscription boxes for holiday gift giving

December 16, 2020 By Amy Hagstrom

Subscription boxes make for excellent holiday gifts! If you’re looking for the perfect subscription boxes for the traveling family in your life, we have you covered. We’ve curated a list of what we consider the best gift box subscriptions for holiday gift giving:

Local Box:

As much as I’m a fan of outdoor gear, Local Box has risen to become my favorite gift box subscription for travelers. Why? This subscription focuses on local products, artwork, food, and music in specific U.S. cities. When you open a Local Box, you truly get a sense of place, and isn’t that what’s at the heart of travel? I’ve tried the Nashville Local Box, Portland Local Box, and Boston Local Box, and each has transported me to that city (or in the case of Nashville, which I hadn’t visited yet, gave me a sneak peek of what I could expect). My favorite feature: it’s possible to buy one-time boxes from Local Box, which is a great way to thank someone for hosting you in their city or treating a friend who loves a particular place. Subscriptions start at $35.

Cellar 503:

Give the gift of wine, but also knowledge of a specific, emerging wine region: Oregon. Cellar 503 is a wine club subscription that celebrates Oregon boutique wine (and most of the wine in this state is of the small batch, boutique variety). Learn about the various Oregon wine regions, from the Willamette Valley already celebrated for its Pinor Noir to Southern Oregon and the Umpqua Valley, where the dry, hotter temperatures produce amazing Tempranillo and even Chardonnay. Urban wineries are featured as well, and each month has its own wine theme, tying selections together in innovative ways. Subscriptions start at $45.

Cairn:

We’ve talked about how great Cairn is before, and this subscription box just keeps getting better and better. They are partnering with stellar brands now, like Cotopaxi and HydroFlask, and since I am very familiar with current outdoor gear, I can tell you with certainty that you get well over the $29.99 monthly box price. In fact, most are closer to $50 in value. I like how Cairn combines valuable items you have already heard of (like the Cotopaxi Luzon) with brand new items you’ve yet to discover, and would never think of trying (like the organic high-energy snack bags I’d never heard of that came in my last box). Subscriptions start at $29.

Blue Apron:

While not a traveler-specific subscription box, I place Blue Apron (and other food delivery subscriptions like it) in this category because they make a traveling family’s life easier. When I return home from a trip, my least favorite chore is restocking the pantry, grocery shopping and cooking. I can schedule a Blue Apron delivery to coincide with my return, and viola! Instant ease back into real life! I like that Blue Apron’s default family meal setting will deliver two meal choices (out of four), but this is customizable: you can now add meals if you know you’ll need more than the usual on a particular week, and you can skip meals as many times as you’d like. Subscriptions start at $69 per delivery, for a family of four.

Bonus: Twist Travel Magazine subscription:

While not a subscription box, gifting a fellow traveler with a Twist Travel Magazine subscription will provide the gift of getting away…from their own living room. As the managing editor for Twist, I know the quality of the content of this magazine for adventurous traveling families to be absolutely stellar: we handpick contributors who really know the destinations and know what traveling with kids can look like. In other words, yes, it can include fine dining, wine tasting, boutique hotels and epic adventure. Gift a Trwist Travel Magazine subscription here.

Adventure and travel subscription box gifts for dads and grads

June 7, 2017 By Amy Hagstrom

Have a dad in your life who loves travel? How about a recent graduate who is ready to start exploring the world? If you want to give something more original than cash this June, consider the following gift subscription boxes and experiential gifts that promote adventure both across the US and abroad.

Travel subscription box gifts for dads and grads:

Cairn subscription box:

We’ve reviewed Cairn in the past, and it’s just as great a value now. Each Cairn subscription box comes with new and innovative outdoor adventure gear, food, and supplies that you probably haven’t seen before. I love learning about new gadgets. Also included in each Cairn box is what I’d call a ‘big ticket item’, worth $25 or more. In the past, the big ticket item has been a hammock, a lantern, or a high quality water bottle. Cairn subscriptions are $27/month.

Explore Local subscription box:

If you have a dad or grad who loves the idea of exploring the country but can’t quite get everywhere (yet), OR, if they’re planning a trip to a US city, an Explore Local box is a great way to learn about the country. Each Explore Local box is packed with local products from a particular US city, allowing you to get to know that location better either before a trip, after, or in case you can’t make it there yourself. We tried the Nashville Explore Local box, which was filled with artisan brands of popcorn, honey, soap, and cards all locally made. Plus, you can include a kid add-on if dad will be bringing kids along on the journey. Explore Local subscriptions are $35/month, or $45 with the kid add-on.

Try the World subscription box:

Have a foodie dad or grad? They’ll love the Try the World box, which features a different country each month, with gourmet goodies and unique food items ready for tasting. We tried the Korea box, which included Somyeon noodles and kimchi, plus suggestions for how to prepare them (essential!). There are also boxes for Greece and India currently. Try the World is available for $35/month.

NatureBox:

If dad or grad will be hitting the road and exploring this summer, NatureBox has subscriptions boxes of several sizes to keep them fueled with healthy snacks. This is a great box to keep giving to grads after they leave for college, too. We tried the medium-sized box, which lasted us about a day with teens in the household, but SHOULD last through a long weekend road trip. Each box has a selection of nuts, dried fruit, snack mixes, and trail mixes. We’ve liked everything we’ve tried. NatureBox starts at $30/month.

Gift for outdoor adventurers: Cairn subscription box review

November 8, 2016 By Amy Hagstrom

I adore subscription boxes. Maybe it’s the thrill of getting regular packages in the mail, or the fun of never knowing exactly what’s going to be inside, but we’ve tried several varieties, from kids’ craft boxes to snack boxes. By far the best we’ve seen, however, for our crew? The Cairn box.

Named after one of my favorite sights along mountain trails, the trusted rock cairn, Cairn boxes contain goodies of the outdoor adventure variety. Subscriptions are $25/month, and even at a glance, I can tell the items sent have a value of at least that, or more, every time. You never know exactly what you’ll get, which is part of the fun, but Cairn does guarantee they’ll include things from the following five categories:

Gear: this could be a headlamp, a backpacking food container, a carabiner, etc.
Apparel: wool socks, a beanie, lightweight gloves, etc
Food/Energy: maybe a new hydration supplement, an energy bar, or a dehydrated snack
Skin care: perhaps a tube of sunscreen or lip balm
Emergency/Medical: think first aid items, fire starters, and the like

Could I go out and buy these types of things for myself for $22/month? Maybe, but I wouldn’t know what to get. This, to me, is the point of subscription boxes like Cairn: it will introduce you to new products and cool stuff you didn’t know existed. For me, Cairn is a teaser…a chance for me and my hiking sons to say, ‘Whoa, I didn’t know they made battery packs like this,” or, “Now this is an energy bar I’d actually eat.” Or, perhaps we find an item or two we’d never use again. Either way, it’s fun, it’s experiential, and it’s adventurous.

Here’s what we found in our first Cairn box:

LuminAID PackLite 16 ($25 value): I’d actually been eyeing this lightweight, waterproof, solar-powered LED light for some time now. It easily clips to backpacks and inflates to be a great lantern for backpacking trips.
Pocket Outdoor Survival Guide ($10 value): I haven’t looked at this yet, because my 16-year-old took it immediately and began reading. He’s an avid hiker and backpacker, and I’m glad he’s brushing up on his skills.
Kate’s Real Food Grizzly Bar ($3 value): I’ve reviewed Kate’s Real Food bars in the past, and have recommended them ever since. I know this product well, and can vouch for the quality. Well done, Cairn!
Mancha by Nazqiz ($2.50 value): this corn snack made with heirloom chulpe corn is completely new to me. In my opinion, this is what Cairn is all about…being introduced to new products.

In our most recent box, we received:

Uco Leschi Lantern and mini flashlight
Urban Gear tool (the kind you can put on your keychain)
HumanGear GoTubb (those little water-resistant containers perfect for packing small items)
GoToob (the squeezable kind)

As noted above, I was already aware of several of these outdoor gear products, but as a reviewer, I’m more in touch with the outdoor industry than most consumers. I imagine Kate’s Real Food, UrbanGear, and LuminAID is new to most people.

We learned about new gear from Cairn in time to outfit our son for his PCT trip last summer. It’s easy to gift a Cairn box, perfect for holiday giving!