One of the best gifts you can give to or receive as a new parent is a subscription box filled with new things each month. It’s like Christmas morning when a box full of surprises shows up every month on your doorstep! If you’re searching for a gift to give, you may want to consider a few things before you set up that recurring charge on your credit card. If you’re a parent looking for something for your child, you probably have a better idea of what you’re looking for. Either way, “baby subscription boxes” pulls quite a variety of results on a quick Google search, ranging from toys and clothing to feeding and diapering. There are a lot of options on the World Wide Web.
Instead of breaking down the best subscription box to sign up for, I’m going to categorize them and rank them for value versus cost so you don’t have to. Besides, if you’re a new parent on this side of the transaction, you’re likely sleep deprived and don’t have the energy to do the research. Subscription boxes are meant to make your life as a new parent easier! So let me do just that.
Playboxes: The Ones They’ll Keep Reaching For
You may have already heard the names Lovevery and KiwiCo. These two reign supreme in the toy subscription market for a reason. They both offer subscription boxes with Montessori-style toys that keep your little ones engaged based on their age and milestones, shipping every two months.
Lovevery boxes start at $36–$40 per month (additional cost if you opt to pay month by month instead of a fixed time frame) and are packed with eight to 11 toys and activities with a handy guide for parents who want to maximize their developmental impact. KiwiCo’s Panda Crate is the more economical choice but is lighter on the toys. It comes with five to seven toys and an activity guide for $42 billed every other month. Plus, KiwiCo doesn’t just do boxes for babies and toddlers—they also have extensions and different options for school-aged children.
As a mom of two kids, ages 4 and 2, I have really enjoyed both of these subscriptions over the last few years. The toys paired with the parent guides are well worth the $7–$15 per toy. They’re not junk that will break or lose interest quickly. Instead, they’re long-lasting, Montessori-style toys (Lovevery) and engaging STEAM-based activities and toys (KiwiCo). Both companies’ boxes offer toys like sensory rattles, high-contrast patterns, and crinkle books for the infant group, and as the child grows, so do the toys in their box. They align with growth windows for development like learning to grasp, object permanence, and even early problem-solving equations that stay relevant as the child changes!
| Age Range | Included | Monthly Cost | |
| Lovevery | 0–8 years old | Toys + books, play guide, week-by-week tips, activity ideas | $36+ |
| KiwiCo | 0–18+ years old | STEAM-based hands-on projects, toys + books, grown-up guide, play tips | $21+ |
Self-Care Boxes
This category is most often gift-driven, considering it generally caters to pregnant or postpartum moms. I was given a Bump Boxes subscription with my first pregnancy, and it was fun to get full-sized products and knickknacks every month that made me feel special in my nesting phase. Think water bottles to stay hydrated, electrolyte packs that aid in nausea associated with morning sickness, frames to put your ultrasound photos in, and more. Thinking back on it, I really enjoyed getting a surprise every month, but not everything was useful. Luckily, I didn’t have morning sickness or nausea, and the snacks were obviously consumable, but I never reordered any of them.
Similarly, you can find other companies that offer the same style of mom-wellness subscription, like Oh Baby Boxes, Cater to Mom, and HeyMilestone.
Most of these self-care boxes are structured as six-week, 12-week, or six-month subscriptions sent as gifts to a first-time mom in pregnancy or who is newly postpartum. This category is definitely more of a “someone thought of me” gift than something you’d purchase for yourself. Trust me, you’ll get plenty of free Lanolin at the hospital when you deliver, and do you really need another water bottle?
| Description | Consumer | Cost | |
| Bump Boxes | Essential products catered to your pregnancy timeline | Pregnancy | $31.50–$49.99 |
| Oh Baby Box | Essential products catered to your pregnancy timeline and postpartum journey | Pregnancy and postpartum | $35.99–$44.99 |
| Cater to Mom | Curated box of full-size recovery and self-care essentials | Postpartum | $31.49–$44.99 |
| HeyMilestone | Choose up to 15 samples | Pregnancy, postpartum, baby, toddler | $24.95–$29.95 |
Feeding: The Category Everyone Should Be Subscribing To
This one isn’t exactly the fun toy or self-care box; it’s more of the “I can check that off my to-do list for an entire month” kind of box. Little Spoon and Once Upon a Farm are definitely the best examples of how checking something off your daily task list can keep you sane. Neither of these subscription boxes is a surprise when it shows up—you fully curate it, either to your child’s preferences or to you just starting the introduction to solids and wanting to try them all. And both of them go beyond the infant stage, offering some options for big kids, too!
Feeding subscriptions are different from the toy boxes or self-care boxes in the sense that they’re helping with an everyday task. There are so many benefits of feeding boxes. You can select exactly what you want or need, add in à la carte items for that box, have it ready to go for busy days, and pause your subscription when you know you’ll have more free time to prepare meals in future weeks. It’s there when you need it, and it doesn’t have to be there when you don’t.
We used Little Spoon for my second child when she started solids because there was no way I had the time to make dinner for everyone and purée fresh food every night. It was an absolute game-changer when I realized they don’t just have purées, but they also have Biteables and Plates for different stages. Everything came fresh, and with ingredients I trust. There was no more last-minute dinner panic.
Little Spoon
For the early baby stages, Little Spoon offers Babyblends (organic purées) and Baby Cereal (organic rice-free oatmeal). If your baby is ready for solids and hand grasping, they have Biteables (appropriately sized, soft meals) and Baby Puffs (meltable, rice-free puff snacks). They also have a selection for the older kids with Plates, Lunchers, and Smoothies. They pride themselves on expert-backed nutrition you can feel good about, which I love (and do)!
Once Upon a Farm
Once Upon a Farm has a wide variety of organic purées in pouches for babies, including fruits, vegetables, meat, broth, and blends. Similar to Little Spoon, they also have frozen pre-cut meals or meal starters but do not include any meat. Their pantry section includes a range of quick-dissolving unsweetened baby puffs to smoothie melts and different types of oat bars. Their promise is always organic, farm-fresh meals and snacks for babies to big kids.
Why You’ll End Up Keeping It
This category has a real shot at keeping loyal customers because it’s not a product you can ignore, like a toy or a spa treatment. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner happen around the clock, every day, and they do not lose novelty. Think of these boxes as a cheat code for gaining time and mental capacity back in your daily routines.
Subscription prices vary based on which items are included and the quantity. I looked back at my previous Little Spoon boxes, and they averaged about $108 for 28 Babyblends. Searching Once Upon a Farm, 24 purée pouches are around $93. Those are rough estimates and vary even more when you factor in a one-time order versus a subscription and additional discounts when signing up.
That being said, the tradeoff for convenience is definitely the price tag; these are not cheap meal options, and you can make similar things at home for less money. But some things are worth paying a little more for when it can save you time. For me, it was completely justifiable during that busy season of having an infant and a 2-year-old eating different meals.
Gifting vs. Subscription
There is one small caveat when gifting these subscriptions that you may not have considered. Gifting a care package or toy box with an ending is a generous gift and does not require the recipient to manage an account or curate anything, which is absolutely amazing. A ready-to-feed subscription is more detailed, and parents want to have control over what they’re offering their children. It can be a wonderful gift, if wanted, but it does put a task on the parent’s plate (no pun intended).
When discussing the playbox subscription model, the longevity does tend to hold up if the boxes are actually growing with the child. Lovevery and KiwiCo are grow-with-you-type kits geared for development, and each box will continue on from what was learned in the previous box, or to build upon that skill. That tummy time pillow that came in the first box is now perfect to pair with box #3 when they’re learning to sit and need that support.
That all being said, they aren’t something we necessarily need, which is why I would leave this kind of a subscription to a gift. Someone is bound to ask, “What does little Johnny want for his birthday this year?” Instead of sending an Amazon wishlist, suggest a subscription that will grow with him.
Self-care boxes can be worthwhile if the user is always wanting to try new products. But for the majority of people, once you have a skincare routine or found the product you can’t live without, you don’t continue with the subscription because you can just order that singular product instead. This isn’t necessarily a deal-breaker; it’s probably just better off as a gift for a baby shower or even a pick-me-up surprise for a friend needing some extra support. Are they worth it to subscribe to for yourself? Depends on your needs!
In my experience of being a parent who has signed up for each of these categories, I found the feeding boxes to be the most practical add-on to our daily lives. It’s a one-stop shop for nutrition that shows up at your door when you want it and is in your fridge for when you need it. It’s easy to skip, pause, or cancel your subscription, too. More than that, it’s something that will be useful for as long as your child is eating (which, to my knowledge, should be multiple times per day, every day)!
Before you hit subscribe, review the highlights below.
| Cost per Box | Commitment | Longevity | |
| Toy Box | ~$42–$82 | Typically month-to-month with discounts for upfront commitment | Grows with the child as they develop |
| Self-Care Box | ~$30–$40 | Typically month-to-month with discounts for upfront commitment | Short term |
| Feeding Box | ~$93-108 | Flexible, week-to-week | From beginning stages with daily use |
My Honest Opinion
Invited to your boss’s son’s first birthday and stumped at what’s appropriate? Knock it out of the park with a playbox from Lovevery or KiwiCo.
Give the pregnant friend, sister, or niece the self-care box for her baby shower. Either order the first box to ship to your address and wrap it with a sweet bow, or display a picture of what she can expect and include it in the card.
If you’re looking to make your life easier as a parent, or you know someone who would appreciate the gift of less dishes, feeding boxes are the superior choice for subscriptions, in my opinion.
Gift the surprise; subscribe to the solution. If you have one recurring charge on your account after six months, my bet is that it’s the box you have in your fridge.
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