Windsor·Audio

Amherstburg women turn gift ideas for kids into subscription service

Shopping for kids is a little easier, thanks to a new subscription service called Fun-In-The-Box, the brainchild of three women from Amherstburg.

Fun-In-The-Box was a 2018 Canada Post E-commerce Innovation Awards finalist

Michelle Vandenbrink, left, Lisa Homenick, centre, and Danielle Moldovan launched a local enterprise called Fun-In-The-Box last fall. The business went on to become a finalist in the 2018 Canada Post E-commerce Innovation Awards. (CBC News)

A group of Amherstburg moms have created a new subscription service to make shopping for kids a little easier.

Fun-in-the-Box is a subscription gift package for kids up eight years old. Each box is catered to a child's specific age and contains unique items such as personalized name tags, shortbread cookies, decks of cards, science kits — the list goes on.

"Originally, we had this fun idea where we wanted to do a business where we could bring products to moms in a different way," said Michelle Vandenbrink, one of the women behind Fun-in-the-Box.

If you don't want to commit to a monthly or annual subscription, Fun-In-The-Box offers one-time birthday boxes. (CBC News)

Vandenbrink​ said she first brought up the idea of a gift box for children because she was a customer of a monthly, fitness-based subscription service. ​

When Vandenbrink looked at the fitness box, her friend, Danielle Moldovan, thought it would be a good model to adapt for children.

Eventually, Fun-in-the-Box was entered into the 2018 Canada Post E-commerce Innovation Awards. The business didn't win, but it did become a finalist in the Most Disruptive Start-Up Award category.

Hear more from the founders of Fun-in-the-Box on the CBC's Windsor Morning:

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