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Subscription Box Review: LitJoy Crate Magical Edition – Year 5

LitJoy Crate Magical Edition

Subscription Boxes

Subscription Box Review: LitJoy Crate Magical Edition – Year 5

I very quickly realized my mistake in judging the rest of the boxes off the first one, and went ahead and signed my future self up to buy every single one of these. Until the very end

Box Date: December 2018

I have been getting this box since Year 2, when I designed a bookmark for the box itself. I had skipped the Year 1 box because it was more expensive than any box I’d ever gotten before and didn’t feel bad about it because I had nearly everything in it already, in one shape or another. The foiled paper item happened to be something I had already (Platform 9 3/4 ticket) and the only thing I didn’t have I was able to snag later. So I told myself that I didn’t probably need these boxes. But then I got an artist discount for Year 2 and it. was. MAGICAL. I very quickly realized my mistake in judging the rest of the boxes off the first one, and went ahead and signed my future self up to buy every single one of these. Until the very end.

Fast Forward to Year 5, when I nearly missed the box because they sold out in record time, but I am so very thankful that I have a great relationship with Alex and Kelly and they kindly held a box for me during their “re-stock” after the initial panic with regular buyers missing out. To say I would have been devastated to miss out on the box themed around my favorite book in the series is an understatement. Thankfully, they have worked out the kinks of this accident for next time and have created a VIP list that will give us a chance to buy for 24 whole hours before its open to the public! This makes me very happy and much less stressed. Okay. So. On to the box that I very nearly missed out on!

This is the box in its entirety. It was packed so tightly there was absolutely zero chance of ever re-packing it to close again. This was due mainly to the blanket, which we might as well look at first!

This is a square super-soft fleece blanket featuring Luna Lovegood. It’s a decent size. Pretty standard throw blanket size, so not quite long enough to cover your feet and reach to your chin, but perfect for wrapping around yourself when you’re sitting in your office chair like I am as I type this. The artwork was done by Sarah Conradsen.

This tote had me conflicted until I saw the info sheet on it. What I love about LitJoy products is that they are great with their artists and they are clever and creative, and at first I was surprised that they would simply pull an already established piece of artwork to use on their items. It’s not their style. They’re much classier than that. So when I read that they commissioned an artist to do this piece after all I was relieved and very impressed with the artist for rendering the design in such a way that I thought it was the real deal. The artist is Melody Howe.

Next we have a heat changing mug featuring the door to the room of requirement and thestrals. The door did really well in the change but the thestrals were a little harder to see after the heat was added.

I don’t actually use my bookish mugs for liquid holding (too afraid hubs will break them or leave coffee in them until it molds and ruin them) so color-change mugs aren’t really all that great for me, personally, since they don’t look as pretty on the shelf holding things like pencils or bookmarks. But I believe I’m in the minority here.

We also got a candle featuring Professor McGonagall’s “Have a biscuit, Potter” quote and one of the tastiest smelling non-food items ever! It smells exactly like a cookie—or biscuit as they are called across the pond! There was even a little wax one set around the wick. Super cute! I’ll try very hard not to eat it.

In the Year 4 box, we got these amazing coins in little bags featuring one of the four triwizard tournament dragons. I’m still sad I decided not to complete the set and get the other three when they offered them on their site as an add-on after the fact. But I stand by my decision to be authentic to my props and I’d only have gotten one dragon to face so that is the dragon I got. ANYWAY.

This “year” they also included a coin, but it was the DA coin that Hermione used to contact everyone. It’s not necessarily as authentic a prop if you are considering how the coin actually looked in the book. But I understand the design choice. A date and time etched in where the words are just wouldn’t have the same impact.

This was probably one of my very favorite items in the box. (It’s a tie with the foil print). The orb, the little stand, the note attached… the gorgeous little blue box the orb originally came in… all of it is just perfection. And the fact that the orb actually has the words of the prophecy etched inside it?! I mean, come on. How creative is that? I need to re-do my Potter shelves so this can be in a place of prominence on them!

How can you not include the “I must not tell lies” bit in a box like this? With fake tattoos now being so easy to design and make yourself, it would have been a crime not to include this! This particular version was created by Seventh Skin.

This ministry of magic sticky note holder is super fancy and super fun!

For some reason, I thought it should have been purple or navy blue, but I can’t put my finger on why. Regardless, this is a really fun and useful prop!

This one made me laugh out loud. I didn’t even have to see the engraving to know what it said. It’s stuff like this that makes this box just so spectacular. Little almost inside jokes and details from the story that just come to life in unexpected ways. I will never use this spoon. It is actually the perfect size for baby food, which is where I’m at in my life, but I don’t think I want to have to put this one in the dishwasher. It’s really too nice for that.

Every Magical Edition crate has included a set of three character magnetic bookmarks from Nerdy Girl Designs. These are very quirky and fun. But it never fails that there is one I like better than the other two in the pack every time. This “year” the winner is the Thestral. Though I do appreciate the Grawp and Kreacher representation!

The foil pieces have never ever ever failed to impress me. Year 1 was the Platform 9 3/4 ticket. Year 2 was… I’m blanking what it was and that’s going to bug me. Year 3 was the Knight Bus ticket, which I thought was so incredibly clever and was really not all that surprised when I saw their exact design hijacked and copied (poorly, in my graphic designer opinion) and used in another box. Year 4 featured a ticket to the Quidditch World Cup, and now this! Ron’s OWL report!

The foiling is subtle, but the wax seal is a very cool touch. And the back of the card is really cute and funny. Those extra little touches, y’all, I’m telling you! Totally killing it.

This was another item that made me laugh. On the scale of usefulness, its a solid 0. But who cares? It’s small, it’s fun, it’s going to live on my prop shelf as decoration anyway, so it’s perfect!

I will be honest, it took me a second to figure out what this was without the info booklet! At first I thought maybe it was heat changing also, but then my deduction skills kicked in and I realized that pin banners are all the rage, and that of course is what it was. Which was really clever! This is actually the first pin banner I’ve gotten in a box that I actually plan to use. (I have rainbow coordination plans for all my non-potter pins, so the other banners just haven’t cut it).

This lapel pin. It is perfect. Event the fact that it’s one of those chain-attached double pins makes it that much more Umbridge-y. Just that extra bit of prim. That to make this type of pin work you have to have your collar buttoned up quite high! And the fact that it’s pink with a bow and a cat-faced Professor? It’s perfect. I hate that character so much. But still. The pin is perfect.

Here are the next trading cards in their ongoing collector series. I have yet to miss a single one, and these are really fun. Artist Gabriella Bujdoso has been doing a fabulous job with the artwork for all of these cards. I have been really impressed by her interpretations of the characters. Though, I will say that the Umbridge card paints her as far too attractive. Change her outfit and quill to green, blonde up her hair and give her glasses and I think she’s a perfect Rita Skeeter. But Umbridge was squat and toad-like. So this is the first one that hasn’t really worked for me.

LitJoy has started offering add-ons to their boxes, and there were three options this time around. I chose two. One was this pygmy puff pin which I had been dying to get my hands on since they debuted them at BookCon. Which I missed. Because I was VERY pregnant and my doctor said NO. *sob*


This is my other choice for add-ons. It is a replica list of the DA that they made that very first day the club got together. I think this is a great little prop. The only thing that would have taken it from great to AMAZING is if it had been a linen-type texture paper rather than glossy. Even matte would have lent more authenticity to it. But that’s a tiny picky thing, and I do not regret adding it to my box.The other add-on item was a luggage tag featuring artwork of Grimmauld Place. It was adorable artwork, but I have like seventeen luggage tags I never use because I never travel haha

Summary

Overall, I was very satisfied with this box and I can’t wait to see what Year 6 has in store for us!


Reader, Author, Bookstagrammer, and Mom; Alexis runs Nerdy Post, a fandom artwork box as well as serves as chief editor and writer on Drop and Give me Nerdy.

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