Subscription Boxes
Subscription Box Review: LitJoy Crate Magical Edition – Year 6
My favorite parts of these boxes happen to be the strangest things
Box Date: September 2019
Theme: LitJoy Crate Magical Edition Year 6
As usual, the Magical Edition has exploded from its box, filling my Harry Potter prop shrine with more fantastic goodies, and allowing me some useful items to show my HP love even more while out in the world!
First of all, this spoiler brochure is fantastic. I missed out on the Year 5 one, so I had to ask my sister to send me pictures of hers. But this one was thankfully not forgotten. It doubles as a useful prop item, so I really appreciate having it.
So the locket was an essential item to include for year 6, and I love the they included the letter. The snake S portion is pretty faithful to the movie version, though the rest of the locket differs. It’s still a nice piece. The only thing I would have liked to see was the letter not on something so perfectly cut. Or else rolled up on a longer version. It fits the box perfectly, but it’s too pristine to be used as a prop in its current state. Perhaps some creative folding and aging on my end will fix this. But really, this is a small complaint. So no (imaginary) points deducted for this one.
I love the artwork on this tote bag. I also love that it’s that fake leathery feeling texture they use in most of their bags. I have a lot of tote bags and I really gravitate toward the LitJoy ones like this because they feel so much more durable, and I’m usually packing them full of books for a long car ride/vacation, so I want them to be able to hold up. So far my others have held up really well, so this will certainly be added to my roster of frequently used tote bags!
I can’t even with this. I actually own a pygmy puff from Universal Studios, but I’ve always thought it was much too big. So the fact that this is a tiny one makes me happy. This fits in the palm of your hand and the little cage that goes with it is super cute and will be 100% stolen by my daughter the moment she notices it. I think that might be okay, though. I’ll make her adopt it and write her name on the adoption certificate, which is such a cute little extra! Also, the box design is fantastic and will definitely be living on my Weasley prop shelf from now on!
This little music box plays the friendship song from the movies—hopefully you know the one I’m talking about—when you crank the handle. I love that Fawkes is featured on it. t’s a cute little item, but one that I’m not overly attached to. I will probably let my daughter have this since she’s got an obsession with music boxes and such right now. She’ll appreciate it more than I will.
I have said this before probably, but I’m not much of a fan of fake books. Something about them always disappoints me. This is beautifully designed, and cleverly houses the Felix Felices bottle, which is a really cute take on it, so I appreciate the fake book for that. And the texture is a nice added touch. So this might actually manage to me disguised as a book… as long as you don’t look at the pages. They’re set way too deep for it to be a real book, so that gives it away. But otherwise it’s well done. This may be the only fake book I’ve ever gotten that I didn’t immediately dislike. So bonus points for that! As for the bottle of gold beads, a part of me really wants to melt them into liquid. I’m sure that would backfire, so I won’t. But I’m just making note that I wish it was actually liquid and not beads. The stand is a lovely touch, though. The shape of the bottle is perfect and of course would not be able to stand on a shelf, so the stand is necessary if I want to display it outside of the book. I’m torn, though, because it looks really good tucked into the book.
The fact that this candle looks like a little perfume bottle is a nice touch. I know it’s actually a love potion, but the look of it ties so nicely into the other witchy products the Weasley twins created, so it just totally nails it for me. It also smells fantastic. Fruity and inviting. I love it.
This pin is so clever and fun! I love that the pensive “water” part actually spins. So cool.
Adding to my growing collection are three new magnetic bookmark characters! These are really fun, but I’ve never really loved the style on some of them, so I’ve given quite a few of them as gifts to my nephew who is still reading through the books for the first time. He enjoys them and actually uses them, so it works out well. I tend to just display my magnetic bookmarks. Anyway, these are all cute and funny little additions to the collection, showcasing some funny moments in the book!
Sometimes in boxes there’s an item that feels like it was a stretch or a kind of “throwaway” item. For me, it was this tiny mug. I think it’s funny and a clever way to address this moment in the books, but it’s really not very useful. It’s too small to be an actual mug, and it isn’t really up to prop caliber, so I doubt I’ll display this. Most likely, the girls will get a hold of it and start feeding their dolls from a tiny beer mug. I appreciated it for the laugh, but now I don’t know what to do with it.
I have seen a lot of my family members switch from the pop sockets to the ring style phone stands, but I’ve never thought to switch. This one has me tempted. It’s so cool! If I didn’t depend on my pop socket doing a few things that the ring couldn’t, I’d already have switched over. But the great thing is that this actually works as a good prop, so I don’t mind not even using it on my phone. It will grace my Dark Arts shelf and be great there!
As usual, we have more cards for the deck that is completed by getting a few each month and in special boxes. We also have a special gold foil card that I got by participating in a game on Instagram. It’s cute, but I decided not to participate in the one for year 7.1 because I don’t have a clue what I’m going to do with it, as it doesn’t belong in the deck like the other cards. It’ll make a nice itty bitty art piece, and it was free, so I’m happy enough with it!
This is a cool and sturdy little wooden bookmark. I love both sides, but my favorite is the unbreakable vow side. I love this type of bookmark. It’s just cool and totally usable!
My favorite parts of these boxes happen to be the strangest things: I love seeing what foil item they come up with! They do one for every box, and I was super curious what they would come up with for this year. I love this invitation! It’s a fantastic prop and so well executed, as always! They have actually never disappointed me in this area in all of their boxes so far. Two more left and I can’t wait to see what they come up with!
This Dumbledore portrait print is gorgeously done. I feel like he’s going to wink at me and leave the frame any minute. This is perfection and will have a place of prominence on my Dumbledore bookshelf!
This was a fun moment to highlight. I love the artwork on this book sleeve and I love the quality and texture of this book sleeve. It feels malleable and sturdy enough to handle some rough usage. It’s pretty tall and skinny for one of my HP hardbacks, so I’ll probably not be able to use it for the actual sixth book. But that’s okay. It’s nice to have varying sizes in book sleeves and this one will be good for my taller graphic novels.
This was an add on item and was sent separately. But I couldn’t *not* get it. It’s a gorgeous notebook that will be added proudly to my replica class books. I love that they included foiling on this pieces, and it matches the fake book artwork style and the artwork from a notebook from my own subscription box, because they were all done by the same artist, so I have a bit of a “collection” going. It’s lovely!
This was also an add-on item. This artwork is gorgeous and will get priority placement on my HP wall. The colors and the energy of the moment are done so well. I’m surprised they didn’t just include this in every box, because I highly doubt many people chose not to get this. Of course, maybe that was the plan. Sneaky sneaky, LitJoy! 😉
OHMYGOODNESS THE BOX! You guys. This box is amazing. I am incredibly sad that some mail employee punctured the top of mine. The artwork on this is fantastic. I have no idea how I’m going to display it, but it’s happening. Somehow. Maybe I can fix the puncture. Either way, I don’t keep boxes often, so this counts as more bonus points for this box!
Summary
Overall, I am really pleased with this box. It has been up to the same standard set by the previous boxes and the next one I’m sure is going to be amazing as well. They had a LOT of add on options for 7.1 that really messed up my budget but I couldn’t not get them because they were amazing so I’m excited to see what’s in the box if the add ons are that good.
