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All-in-One Craft Boxes? (Like Shirley's Prepackaged Crafts) - See post #39


RootAnn
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So, I've used Shirley's Prepackaged Crafts on & off since dd#3 was about four years old. Easy-peasy because they arrived with everything you need (except for crayons, scissors, and glue) in one box every month for a relatively inexpensive amount of money. No planning on my part - just pull out the box, pick an activity and go.
 
I went to buy a box for ds#1 for December ... and received the shocking news that they are closed.
 

Shirley’s Prepackaged Crafts has closed.

 
No more boxes for us.

 

I've checked out a bunch of other places (Carol’s Affordable CurriculumKelly KitsLearning Box PreschoolKiwi CrateBabba BoxesGreen Kid CraftsMother Goose TimeGrasshopper Kits, and Little Passports) & can't find anything like it. Anyone have other sites I can try? (No, a book from Amazon isn't what I'm looking for. I'm also not looking for a place where I have to print & pull things together on my own.) 

 

I'm not looking for anything too school-y. I don't need a preschool curriculum. Just some crafts for like three days a week. Not too expensive ($20/month is fine. $60 a month isn't.)

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I haven't heard of this before.  How much were Shirley's crafts?  What type of crafts did you receive?  I just checked a couple different sites and they were $25-$30/month for 4 crafts and a newsletter.

 

Quite frankly, I could do what those places were doing for half the cost or less.  Maybe this is a new calling! :tongue_smilie:

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There were always three crafts per week for a total of 12 crafts in a box for a month. Each month was different because she incorporated religious & country-related holidays - St Patrick's Day, Veteran's Day, President's Day, Christmas, spring, fall, Halloween, etc. There was a loose theme - color, shape & number for each month. There were sometimes a hand puppet or a 3D craft like a crown-ish thing, some cut-and-paste activities, a few were just coloring pages and stickers. There was also a themed "book" for the year that if you did stuff every month you had a 30-40 page book at the end. One year, it was "The Wonderful Way God Made Me" and another was "Children Around The World."  If you needed a pipe cleaner, a straw, googly eyes, a paper plate, or yarn, it was included.

 

She also had a snack idea and a book suggestion for each craft, but I never used those. There was always a certificate in the box centered around catching your child doing something good. Lastly, there was a calendar of that month.

 

All for under $20 per month shipped. (It was cheaper if you subscribed for 3 months, 6 months, etc.)

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There were always three crafts per week for a total of 12 crafts in a box for a month. Each month was different because she incorporated religious & country-related holidays - St Patrick's Day, Veteran's Day, President's Day, Christmas, spring, fall, Halloween, etc. There was a loose theme - color, shape & number for each month. There were sometimes a hand puppet or a 3D craft like a crown-ish thing, some cut-and-paste activities, a few were just coloring pages and stickers. There was also a themed "book" for the year that if you did stuff every month you had a 30-40 page book at the end. One year, it was "The Wonderful Way God Made Me" and another was "Children Around The World."  If you needed a pipe cleaner, a straw, googly eyes, a paper plate, or yarn, it was included.

 

She also had a snack idea and a book suggestion for each craft, but I never used those. There was always a certificate in the box centered around catching your child doing something good. Lastly, there was a calendar of that month.

 

All for under $20 per month shipped. (It was cheaper if you subscribed for 3 months, 6 months, etc.)

 

OK, now the wheels are turning! :P  If I were to give you a list for a possible December box, would you let me know if it was similar to what you would have received from Shirley's?

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Guest indigosoliloquys

I'm new here but have lurked for a long time. I would be very, very interested in something like this! I used to subscribe to Kiwi Crate but it's very pricey.

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Guest megroocam

I am VERY VERY interested in this as well. I am never on this forum but came across this through a web search. :) I used to use Shirley's crafts years ago with my kids who have now all graduated. We adopted a little girl and I wanted to do this with her. Please please put me on the list if you are wanting to make something like this! Can you possibly email me since I'm never on here? megroocam@hotmail.com or if Facebook is easier it's Tandy Sue Hogate on FB. I'm from Alaska and my profile is very public. 

Thank you so much! I'm super excited that you might be starting this! I'd LOVE to help with reviews. I happen to have a few connections in the homeschool world. :) Thanks a whole heap!

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Ok everyone.  I think I've got December hammered out.  There are 12 craft items in the following themes:

 

General color/shape concepts:  red, star

Christmas (secular)

Christmas (Christian)

Bears

 

Each activity will come with an instruction sheet and sketch/picture of the finished product.  There will also be additional suggestions for activities and a booklist for each theme.

 

Since this is a rather recent endeavor, I'm offering an introductory price in exchange for comments and feedback on the crafts and ideas for improvement for future shipments.  The cost will be $15 for December (which will be mailed out Wednesday, November 27th) and most likely $20/month after.

 

I'll be sending a pm for those that have expressed interest in this thread, but feel free to pm me if you are interested and happen upon this thread after this post.  Thank you.

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Ok everyone.  I think I've got December hammered out.  There are 12 craft items in the following themes:

 

General color/shape concepts:  red, star

Christmas (secular)

Christmas (Christian)

Bears

 

Each activity will come with an instruction sheet and sketch/picture of the finished product.  There will also be additional suggestions for activities and a booklist for each theme.

 

Since this is a rather recent endeavor, I'm offering an introductory price in exchange for comments and feedback on the crafts and ideas for improvement for future shipments.  The cost will be $15 for December (which will be mailed out Wednesday, November 27th) and most likely $20/month after.

 

I'll be sending a pm for those that have expressed interest in this thread, but feel free to pm me if you are interested and happen upon this thread after this post.  Thank you.

 

My PM is not going through, I don't know what I'm doing wrong :) Could you please send me the info for purchasing the December crafts?

Thanks!!

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I am interested in your craft boxes. Just not for this month of December as it is hectic with us right now. I also have friends who has been asking for something similar that is affordable. If you ever set up a Facebook or an etsy site. I would love to send the links to my friends.

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For those of you having trouble sending PMs, hover over her name with your mouse. A box will come up & one of the things in the box will say, "Send message." Click on that & you can send her a PM.

 

I think it'll take her a bit to figure out what works - but if we give quality feedback on the crafts, this might be a great jumping off point for a home-based business opportunity. 

 

Thanks for being willing to put something together, Kristin!  :hurray:

 

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I will paypal funds... Are we locked in to a recurring payment after this month?

 

Not at all!  I hope to get to the point when I do a subscription for 3, 6, or 9 months, but nothing like that now.  If you like what your package and want to order a shipment for January, I will have a cut off date that you need to order by.  I'm thinking by Dec. 20th for January.

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Sorry that I haven't checked WTM all day.  I've been getting the orders I have out.  I will pm those that can't reach me in a few minutes.

 

I do want to address a couple of questions...

 

I think the activities would be appropriate for any child in the 3-5 range.  The color/shape theme is just some open-ended crafts using a particular shape or color.  Even if the child knows the information, they should still enjoy the craft (and book list and activities if you choose to do them).  Early 3s may have trouble with some of the cutting, but I sort of figured that a parent or adult would be close enough to help out if needed.

 

I do plan on starting a FB page.  I really have just been bombarded with getting everything ready and out the door that I haven't planned that out yet.  I hope to do that this weekend (may be limited by my mother's dial-up connection speed :lol:).

 

I wasn't able to get picks of the finished crafts sent with the packages today, but I just got them uploaded so I'll post them here.  My kids did them completely on their own.  I wanted to see if the directions were clear enough for them to follow.  The only one that isn't shown are the Goldilocks & the 3 Bears stick puppets.  DD10 got tired of coloring and the one that was finished got eaten by my crazy daycare kid. :glare:

 

Pics forthcoming-right after pm's.

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OK, so I can't get the pics on here.  I've tried hyperlinking, attaching, cutting and pasting my photobucket link and it's just not working.  I think my exhaustion is taking over.  You will most definitely see pictures when I get that FB page going.  Sorry for the delay.  I'm headed to bed and I'll be up early in the am working on it.

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We got our bag on Saturday & ds#1 was very excited that he had new crafts! He did the angel topper yesterday.

 

Kristin - Some of us definitely needed a picture on how that one was supposed to turn out!  :lol:  

 

That's funny.  For whatever reason, I still cannot attach photos.  I'll try to send one to your email tonight when I get home from work.  Too funny about the angel.  I was having a hard time describing it, but my kids did it fine.  It's probably because they "know" my language.  LOL!

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I'm interested in this too starting in January but I'm not sure how to go about ordering.  Thanks!

 

 

I'm interested too!  If it's too late for December, I'd like to buy the box for January.  Please let me know how to order.  Thank you!

 

 

I was just thinking about trying to do something like this via Oriental Trading and such. But I don't really have time, so I'd love to try yours! Looking forward to the Facebook page.

I've closed December, but I'm putting the final touches on January.  I'll get the FB page up to snuff and will pm you with details.

 

Thank you everyone!

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Wow! Your sites look great. I love the pictures on Facebook. And I think that your blog looks professional. It is very well written. I was actually entertained by it. I nodded my head in agreement of those scenarios. And I love that it wasn't all sale pitch like.

I can't wait to start sharing the link with my mommy friends.

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Wow! Your sites look great. I love the pictures on Facebook. And I think that your blog looks professional. It is very well written. I was actually entertained by it. I nodded my head in agreement of those scenarios. And I love that it wasn't all sale pitch like.

I can't wait to start sharing the link with my mommy friends.

 

Thanks so much! :blush:

 

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I wonder if shipping to Canada would be prohibitively expensive?

After doing a little checking, I think that I could ship to Canada for an extra $5 shipping charge.  That may make the package too cost prohibitive to our Canadians, but it looks like it will cost $10-$11 to ship. 

 

I don't know what the options are to purchase something similar in Canada, so I'll definitely offer it and if it suits someone to pay the extra, then I'll mail it! :)

 

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Do you have any projections on how heavily weighted toward holidays boxes may be? I'm interested, but secular and we do not observe any of the religious holidays. Just trying to figure out if I'd have to remember to duck out around Lent, Easter, Christmas, and pretty much any day named after a saint ;-)

 

It's not a problem nor a criticism. I know even many secular folks do some version of these holidays. Just need help in deciding whether it is a fit for us or if I should keep finding crafts on my own!

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Do you have any projections on how heavily weighted toward holidays boxes may be? I'm interested, but secular and we do not observe any of the religious holidays. Just trying to figure out if I'd have to remember to duck out around Lent, Easter, Christmas, and pretty much any day named after a saint ;-)

 

It's not a problem nor a criticism. I know even many secular folks do some version of these holidays. Just need help in deciding whether it is a fit for us or if I should keep finding crafts on my own!

It will probably vary month to month, but I plan on posting a list of themes each time on my blog/FB page.  That way you could decide if it would suit your needs or not.

 

January's themes are

 

New Years

Chinese New Years

Martin Luther King Jr. (crafts are along the cultural acceptance/we are unique line)

Winter

Mittens

 

I plan on doing Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, etc. but for these boxes, I will probably try to stick with hearts, shamrocks and leprechauns and not focus on the saint aspect/history.  I do plan on doing saint packs, but that is something entirely different. :)

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  • 2 weeks later...

This looks great. I ordered jan. as a birthday gift for my dd. Going forward, how do we add the sibling box? I couldn't figure that out because it wasn't applying discount when I added a second one.

Sent you a pm.  I think I got everything up to snuff this morning.  Let me know if you have trouble. :)

 

 

If anyone is interested, I finished a Jan-Mar saints and feast days craft kit as well.  The order tab is also on the blog. Have a blessed day!

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Sent you a pm. I think I got everything up to snuff this morning. Let me know if you have trouble. :)

 

 

If anyone is interested, I finished a Jan-Mar saints and feast days craft kit as well. The order tab is also on the blog. Have a blessed day!

What's the target age on the saints and feasts?

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What's the target age on the saints and feasts?

I plan it so that 3-5 yo could do the crafts with parental assistance (help cutting and following directions depending on the child), but I think that most of the things I planned would work up to 8 yo and maybe even older if the child wanted to embellish the original craft.  I plan on my soon-to-be 11 yo doing the crafts and helping 6 yo DS do them as well.

 

 

Examples:

tissue paper mosaic of Mary, Mother of God

 

playdough and popsicle sticks for St. Peter

 

Paper plate craft for conversion of St. Paul

 

Handprint dove for Baptism of the Lord

 

 

 

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