Several months ago I backed a Kickstarter for a goth-themed subscription box. I’d looked at some subscription boxes in the past and thought that they could be fun, but could also be a complete waste of money. However, I had a little extra cash when I came across the Goth Box project and decided if I was going to give this fad a go, I might as well help a beginning business.
Unfortunately, this project has not gone smoothly and hit some moderately sized delays. Rewards were shipping, but sporadically and with little communication from the creator. While I was waiting, I would periodically run a websearch to see if anyone else had posted about what they had received and found very little, which is why I’m posting here. Maybe someone else who is waiting as impatiently as I was will find this interesting!
When it arrived, the box was wet and damaged. You can’t really see the hole because of the layers of paper, but it went through the box as well.
The packaging was really nice, with creative custom labels and tags, plus this nice packing list, which reassured me that nothing had jumped ship through the hole. The picture at the top shows the contents of the box, minus one item.
The cause of the soggy box was a poor choice of packaging around a glass bottle of fancy butterscotch soda. The bottle was pretty much pulverized and the soda had gotten most of the box’s contents wet and sticky. Luckily they were washable, but I could see that ruining items in a future box. It did pretty much destroy the lovely labels that the creator had made.
These were my two favorite items in the box. I have a fondness for decorative boxes and this little decorated coffin-shaped box is now my new bracelet box. The bloody fang necklace made me laugh and is very lightweight. I think it will be a fun piece to wear, although I don’t wear jewelry often.
Ultimately, I don’t think the subscription box trend is one I’ll be following, and I think this particular service is even more unlikely. Most of this isn’t stuff I’d have picked out, and some of it isn’t stuff I’ll use. The shipping uncertainty, lack of communication from the company creator, and poor packing are issues that might be temporary, so if I hear about them improvement I might be tempted to try a Goth Box again one day.
