Unboxing: Review of OwlCrate December 2019

“Tales of Trickery”

OwlCrate rounded out its excellent year of boxes with a box dedicated to trickery … “Tales of Trickery” was the theme and gave some clever nods to other stories of deception. Here’s what was included:

As always, I start with my favourite item in the box which has to be the book sleeve. I have wanted an OwlCrate book sleeve for the three years I’ve been a subscriber, having just missed out on the September 2017 box (I of course got all other boxes that year … but I digress). This padded sleeve features a quote from Sorcery of Thorns – a book I really enjoyed in 2019 – and was designed by Chatty Nora. I really like the woodland design and the sleeve itself is nice and padded.

Caraval inspired ear muffs. These ear muffs are much appreciated by this Canadian girl when I need to protect my ears from the chill but don’t want to ruin my up-do (read: messy bun). The ears are a cozy, soft material and provide fairly good warmth. They do run a bit big so I have to constantly slip them back on … but a minor complaint. I guess I just have a small brain 😀

Mount Ruin woodwick candle by Novelly Yours. This Grace and Fury inspired candle is a delicious combination of fire and cinnamon chai and smells so so good in the jar. Sadly this candle has very little throw when burning. I am waiting a few weeks to let it cure more to see if that helps. Otherwise this would’ve been a home run for me.

Sky in the Deep hand warmer. So this is … different. This little package features a gel pack (with a quote from Sky in the Deep designed by Kit Cronk Studio) that can be activated to warm up and then slipped into the cozy sleeve provided. It can be used to warm hands or, as the package suggests, muscle knots. (Just saying – those would have to be some small knots!) I appreciate them trying new things but this one was a bit of a miss for me … especially since my gel pack is broken and cannot be activated. I know I could contact OwlCrate for a replacement, but considering I likely wouldn’t use it, I decided not to bother.

Enamel pin design colouring book and bookworm coloured pencils. This was a really clever addition – a colouring book featuring all 2019 enamel pins to colour as you desire … but even better are the awesome quality pencil crayons with little bookish hashtags on the ends. I love this special addition!

The enamel pin this month was designed by Read and Wonder and features a castle that I assume plays a part in the book of the month … which is The Guinevere Deception by Kiersten White. The book came with an exclusive colour (more greens and teals – which I really like) and signed, with an author letter.

Overall Rating: A-

• Book Sleeve: 3/3

• Caraval ear muffs: 3/3

• Woodwick candle 2/3 (just has zero throw when burning, hopefully this improves with time)

• Sky in the Deep Handwarmer: 1/3

• Colouring book + Pencil Crayons: 3/3

I liked this box and I think OwlCrate had an overall really strong 2019  – providing us with a wide spread of bookish goodies that are consistently high quality. While this box had a few misses for me, I still think it was wonderful to get some unique items (not easy to do after 4 years of book boxes for team OwlCrate). Overall an excellent, wintry box and I’m excited to see what surprises are coming in 2020.

Note on Rating: I rate each item out of 3 possible points: 1 for quality, 1 for usefulness, and 1 for if I personally liked the item/fandom. I then assign an overall letter rating for the whole box.