Starting your period: A Teen Parcel Review #amonthlything

It has probably not escaped your notice that Chatterbox is growing up….

She is turning from a young girl into a beautiful young lady. I know what pain, as well as joy, can sneak up on you as you grow up, and despite my best efforts, I’m not going to stop it from happening…

As she enters “tween-dom”, I will have to join the many others that are embarking on “those conversations” with their kids – something that parents all love to do, right?

Luckily enough, we were recently sent a Teen Parcel from the people at Pink Parcel to review, and this has given me the perfect opportunity to start to discuss the beginnings of “becoming a lady” with my daughter.

What is it?

The Teen Parcel is given to a daughter at the onset of their periods to make them feel special at a unsettling time for them. They are aimed at 13 – 18 year olds, and contain:

• Towels or tampons,
• A sweet treat
• Beauty goods
• A drink to pick them up.

Our parcel included:

• Tampax Pearl tampons,
• Clean & Clear treatment for spots from Johnson & Johnson including spot control cleaner, spot control moisturiser, and fast clearing spot treatment
• A Teapigs chocolate flake tea bag
• Binky rather marvellous glittery nail varnish which my daughter loved, as well as a voucher for 10% off their products
• A bracelet with the Pink Parcel logo on it
• A packet of Haribo sweets, another big hit with my daughter.

All of this was presented in a delicate pink cardboard box, with smaller, more discrete boxes inside containing the sanitary products, and the gifts. In addition, the parcel comes with a small black bag which can be used to put your sanitary products in while you are on the move.

The service operates as a subscription, with each parcel £9.95 on a monthly basis.The first parcel is only £5.95. It is also possible to cancel at any time, so you don’t necessarily have to commit to longterm use. You provide the information on which brand of sanitary products you would like to use, and the date that you are due. The parcel arrives in time to help you out. Considering the goods included and the brands partnered with, this works out as great value, particularly if you consider that the parcel comes with 20 tampons which on their own would cost you a reasonable percentage of the total cost of the parcel, even from a supermarket.

What did we think?

My daughter is nine, so still a little young to understand the full story about periods. In fact, she expressly said to me when we started our discussion that:

I don’t want babies, so I don’t need my body to get ready.” 

A good point, but sadly, our bodies aren’t designed for us to be able to switch these monthlies on and off, which I imagine is rather disappointing for many a teenage girl, and their mums for that matter….

The parcels provide an excellent opportunity for an open discussion with our daughters though, at a time when parents may be awkward. We all know our children are going to have questions about periods, but we might be reluctant to answer them, or not be able to pick a suitable time to do so. After a daughter’s periods start, the arrival of a package like this provides a perfect opportunity with a common focus for us to talk to our teens about their fears, and answer questions. The parcels are nice for them to receive at a time which is both exciting for them, but also just a tad frightening.

My daughter’s opinion on what she would like to receive in the parcel was that:

“It would be nice to be pampered.”

The contents of the parcel certainly “speak” to the teenage market, with beauty, sweet treats and a little bit of bling. The beauty products we had were from a great brand, but were focused on one of the more annoying sides of teenage beauty issues – spots. Perhaps it might be nice in some of the packages during the year to also include treat products, such as an unusual shampoo? The Haribos went down a treat with my tween. I imagine that older children (and ladies – ahem) might be given chocolate *hint, hint.* If a girl can’t have chocolate on her period when can she?

The design of the box was discrete, and the addition of a velvet bag to place your sanitary products in is a great idea. I wish I had something similar as a teenager due to a rather unfortunate incident with a friend pulling out something from my pocket that I would rather have left hidden *typical me*.

Overall, Chatterbox loved the idea of receiving something regularly to help her through what can be a painful time for many teenage girls.

She did comment:

“Why does it have to be pink?”

She has a point, it would be a great idea to be able to choose a colour within the ordering process. A pale blue (for girls like my daughter who can be a bit of a Tomboy), purple, yellow or silver would work well. I am guessing that steering well clear of red might be a good idea though ;-). It is easy to forget that tomboys and less girlie girls get periods too! I do appreciate, through running this site, that though this sounds simple, it probably isn’t in terms of production and practicalities in site development.

Overall 8/10

This is a good concept for a time in a girl’s life when they would love to be made to feel secure and safe. The company has partnered with some excellent brands for the products, such as Haribo, Johnson & Johnson, and Teapigs. You can also see on the site what brands you are likely to receive in the current month’s box, though this does need to be in a clearer colour font on the site. The brands on offer for sanitary towels need expanding too, as there are only Always ones available. However, I am sure that this will come in time. It is also good that you can stop the subscription for holidays or when times are financially hard. A £9.95 commitment, particularly for families with more than one daughter, could be tough. If the company offers reductions for those ordering multiple subscriptions, this might help too.

Overall, I would be happy to get a Teen Parcel for my daughter when the time comes; its a lovely, pampering gift, which will make the “time of the month” less of a moment to dread, but even a time when they get excited to see what is in their next parcel. The subscription allows you to buy and then forget about the practical side; which, knowing me, I may very well do anyway :-D.

It may be prudent in the future to offer a gift set for girls at the onset of periods too, just as a one off present from mother (or father) to daughter. This would give an alternative to those that can’t commit longer term, but want to mark the occasion.

The company does seem to offer an alternative for us ladies; bit late for me, but I am pretty sure that when I was “enjoying” the time of the month, a little parcel like this would have helped considerably.

The focus for the company at the moment is more on the beauty market with the boxes for us “more experienced ladies.” Which is, given their market, totally fair. I’d love to see another box in the future with items like bubble bath, some iced biscuits, a discount code or two, chocolate, possibly a good book, or even something a little naughtier like some wine or pink bubbles. My daughter gets her tomboyish tendancies from somewhere, so false eye-lashes, and Elizabeth Arden products are great for many, but I’d much rather have a book, a choccy bar and a really nice glass of wine. This applies with bells on when Liverpool are playing at home….if I had something like this to looked forward to, my period might even have become the highlight of my month!

If you want to join in and get some info on periods and how to chat to your daughter – join in with the Twitter Party on 27th November from Pink Parcel and Tots100; there are prizes up for grabs, and it’s at 8pm. See you there!

Do you have a tween? Is this something you would consider? Do you have a teenage daughter who has started her periods? What do you think?

We have been provided with the product and compensated for this review. All our opinions are honest and true though, and I really am avoiding talking about periods with my daughter. She’s still a baby to me ;-)

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