The Curiosity Project- a little review

Cast your minds back to mid-November if you can, remember our little blog post about how much we we’re loving The Curiosity Project? Well, this is probably slightly over-due, but I thought I'd share my thoughts on how the project panned out for me and owner, Kia here at Kikis Boutique.

The first thing we had to do was wait eagerly to find out who our recipients were, this would be the person we would be sending our curiosity boxes to. Normally the sender is only given the gender and address of the recipient, but this year Tiffany, creator of The Curiosity Project, decided to add a personal statement section to the entry form as well. This meant that we got to learn a little bit about our curious recipients and made the process of putting their box together easier. I received my email while I was shopping in Southampton and couldn't contain my excitement! I was actually in Paperchase, to be precise, and my boyfriend had wondered off. I proceeded to run up and down the aisles shouting his name because I was about to burst and needed to tell someone, anyone, about my wonderful recipient! Her name wasn't given (you keep that private) but she was from Wales and has an 11 year old daughter. She works in vintage design, with the 50's being her favourite era. She referred to herself as a 'terrible hoarder' with a love for all things weird and wonderful. I thought she sounded absolutely fantastic because she reminded me so much of myself! I thought, this is going to be so easy... and it was!

For the next couple of weeks I filled my boots collecting knick knacks and curious bits and pieces to fill my lovely lady's box with. It was so much fun. I rummaged through local charity and vintage shops and added a few homemade touches too. I collected sheets of funky looking Irregular Choice tissue paper which had been discarded by customers in the shop and used them to cover an old shoe box. It was really effective.

Silly old me forgot to take a picture of the inside of the box but the recipient uploaded her own photo's when she had received it. Inside I put: an old fashioned game of nursery rhyme snap, a vintage teacup and saucer, 4 knitted Christmas decorations, some little wooden pegs with holly on them, a sachet of reindeer food (oats and glitter), some indoor sparklers, a set of jacks, a tea themed tote bag, and a vintage silk scarf.

I was so thrilled with my recipient’s reaction to her box. I was in London at the time and as Tiffany was uploading new boxes regularly, I was glued to my blackberry, waiting for mine to pop up. When it did I was so pleased everything was loved so much. Here's what she said:

"What a lovely surprise, I received my box this morning and it has made my month! When I signed up I imagined that I would photograph the steps of opening it but I got a little over excited, forgot about the camera and opened everything like a kid on Christmas morning! Everything in the box I LOVE and suits me to a tee!"

"I collect tea cups so this one will take a prime position on the shelf. All year me and my daughter have been collecting random Christmas tree decorations at craft fairs, the Christmas pegs and snow men are amazing and go perfectly with the rest of our collection."

"The stunning scarf WOW it’s gorgeous I think I may wear it on Christmas day and will definitely be getting involved in a game of jacks!"

"I would like to say a big thank you to my curious friend and wish them a very merry Christmas and an amazing new year! X x x"

It was such a nice feeling to know I had made somebody's day. Now all I had to do was wait for my own box to arrive from another random, curious person. I waited... and waited... and I'm still waiting now. I could be really bitter about not receiving a box, but I'm not, I'm actually feeling very optimistic. After a certain date I had to contact the kind people at the project to inform them I hadn't received a box. They were most helpful and contacted my sender who was very apologetic and promised to send me something soon. Unfortunately I still haven't received anything but I can't fault how helpful the team behind The Curiosity Project have been. They're still in the process of chasing my box up now and have offered to supply me with my senders email address. I'm unsure what to do with this information and may just leave it be. It was such a great experience taking part in the project and I would definitely do it again, and plan on doing so next Christmas. I won't let something small like not receiving a box in return get in my way because it genuinely is so lovely knowing that you've made somebody else’s day.

Fortunately, Kia DID receive something in return and was over the moon with the care that had been put into her Curiosity Box.

I would definitely recommend taking part in The Curiosity Project. It really is such a fun process and having the chance to see your recipient’s reaction is just brilliant. I will keep you updated on my mystery box, and if you'd like to take part in the next project you can find all the details here.

Stay curious!

Love,

Miss Kay x