I’ll admit, I am a stationery fanatic. I love testing out extremely overpriced mechanical pencils, looking at notebooks that are too perfect to use and obsessing over washi tape. The purchase of a new aesthetic sticker set or multi-ink pen is the only thing keeping me motivated in the mundane online school. 

I decorate my workspace with boxes of stationery and while in Zoom, I will re-organize my stationery to keep me entertained. I understand that a normal person may only need one black pen, but the variety of tip sizes, grips, smoothness, ink color and length are excuses for me to own seven black pens in my pencil case.

All of this meant that I had to try out the Maido in a Box stationery subscription box service for a month. The subscription box service, which includes at least five quality stationery items per box, can be purchased individually each month for $35. The subject of my trial: a greeting card.

Items

1. Tombow Dual Brush Pen Art Marker in neon green 

I used this pen to add creative flairs onto my greeting card. While I love the color of this pen, there isn’t anything unique about it — plus, the neon trend is over. 4/5 stars

2. Tombow Fudenosuke Brush Pen in red 

I used this for the calligraphy heading on the card. Unfortunately, I’m still a beginner at calligraphy, so the heading looked like a failed cursive attempt. 5/5 stars

3. Kodomo No Kao Rubber Stamps  and a blue VersaColor Stamp Pad  

While I love the unique animal designs, slapping 20 blue cats onto cards can get repetitive. 4.5/5 stars

4. Pentel Colored Pencils in a set of 12 

I don’t know when I’ll ever use colored pencils unless I want to use colors to label the chloroplast for biology — which just gives me anxiety. 2/5 stars

5. Fluid Watercolor Pad with 15 blank pages  

Writing on artsy paper makes me feel better than using scratch paper from my math notebook. 5/5 stars

6. Kuretake ZIG Wink of Stella Glitter Brush Pen in clear  

I think I pressed the pocket of glitter too hard, which is surprising considering that I haven’t exercised since March. 3/5 stars

My card turned out a little messy but I loved trying out all the items in the box. The free gifts included ink, a market, a blue dot pen, stickers, and practice calligraphy sheets. 

When unboxing all of these items, the thrill of not knowing what’s next felt like it was the back-to-school season again. Each item is a creative fresh start so I would recommend the box for anyone new to collecting stationery. Overall, I’d give it 4.5/5 stars.