If you’re in The Hygge Nook, you should have seen one day last week that I came home to a double dose of hygge niceness. Both my subscription hygge boxes came at the same time! And I had fun at the time posting them on Twitter and Instagram and Facebook, with Olga (she’s the black and white one) and Lorelai (The Mohican Haircut) giving me a hand. They are incredibly cute.

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But I owed everybody a better look at the boxes and, since they came both at once, it makes sense to do a side-by-side comparison.

The boxes were both bought by me; neither was sent to me for review and all the views are entirely my own and unbiased.

Living Hygge send their hygge in a box out for £13.95, including postage for UK delivery and £18.00, p&p included, for worldwide delivery.  I had a box of theirs last month and wrote about it in There’s Just Something About Boxes in the Post . Deborah and Sam lived in Dartmoor, so if anyone is used to cold, wet, bleak, damp and dismal weather, it would be them. I’m subscribed monthly, but cancelling the subscription is easy, and if you do you will be asked (in a nice way) for feedback to help them hone the boxes to suit the needs of their customers.

Hyggebox were new to me this month. Sally and Gabby have the story of how they met on  the About Us page of the website as well. The standard hygge box is £20.00, which you can pay as a monthly subscription or there is an option for a weekly box as well. They also offer a Dansk Deluxe box for £35.00 a month. I went for the standard box, as being enough to pay for a subscription box at the moment…

In the following photos, Living Hygge are on the left and Hyggebox are on the right.

The Living Hygge box comes wrapped in brown paper in the post. Hyggebox use the box itself as the postal container.

Inside, the boxes look very similar. Little packages, tissue paper, a letter and a few pretty touches.The sort of post that’s fun to get and unwrap.

The contents of the Living Hygge box laid out. There is a handmade card with envelope, twigs and embroidery thread for making a friendship bracelet, a small fairtrade notebook, Hoogly tea (rhubarb and vanilla flavour!!), two blue candles that are half size and really cute, a handmade origami box containing four small pieces of fudge handmade in Cornwall, and a cute little touch of a personalised wooden heart. The letter explains the reasoning behind the box (every box I’ve had so far has a theme) and this month’s theme was nostalgia; the pad to make notes to help you remember, the tea scented with a traditional sweet flavour, the thread to make a friendship bracelet and remember school days. All the way through the letter urges us to “take your time, slow down…. notice the little things…. have a positive outlook.”

At £13.95, it’s a good value parcel. Like I said last month, it’s wrapped up carefully and puts you in mind of a RAK or swap parcel. I like the themes behind the box, and will be getting another one at least for the next few months.

The Hyggebox also contains a variety of things. Clockwise from top left; Grated chocolate (both white and dark) and mini marshmallows to make a hot drink… so essentially hygge… a wax melt and a small nightlight candle by the moon and the butterfly. This is a delicious scent, but don’t ask me which one, I’m useless at smells! The blue paper parcel is Sun paper, used to capture the image of woodland items by laying them as flat as possible on the paper and exposing to the sun until the papers turn very pale. I haven’t used this yet, but I intend to this weekend. The wooden discs are coasters to use in the house. I like them, but my fiddling fingers is going to pyrograph a pattern on them as well, before I use them in the house. The card is a glossary of useful Danish words to go with the box, so words for trees, forest, etc. And the weird packet has dried mushrooms in, to use in a soup or stew or pasta dish. I’m making a risotto soon, so that’s where they’ll be heading, but the letter has a recipe for posh mushrooms on toast.

There was also a chocolate hedgehog, but that didn’t last past the first opening of the box (not the guinea pigs. That was the daughter.)

The theme of the Hyggebox was nature, and you can see they have found items connected to nature, with a particularly good wooden gift. The letter urges us to remember the core values of Hygge — lighting, indulgence, intimacy and cosiness. Again, the wrapping was very reminiscent of a RAK, and just fancy enough to appeal.

OK. Here they are side-by-side and upside down. I don’t know why either. In this photo the Living Hygge box is on the right and the Hyggebox is on the left. I’m happy with both these boxes as a one-off trial for a couple of months; I want to see what they come up with for Christmas and January before I decide which, if either, I keep up. But if I were in the market for a one-off present for a hyggely friend, I think this month I’d go for the Living Hygge box. I just feel, at £6 less, it offers the better value and, this time at least, felt more personalised. Either that, or use the ideas and create your own box, even more hyggely and you can personalise it to the nth degree!

All the creative people behind the box services are on Twitter… you can find them and follow them easily… and also belong to The Hygge Nook on Facebook, a group for anyone who loves hygge or wants to find out more about it. They’re all committed to the hygge cause, and open to creating special gift boxes. Drop them a line and see what they say!

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If you want to connect more with me (thank you x) then find me on How to Hygge the British Way on Facebook, as @AngelKneale on Twitter and as British Hygge Jem on Instagram. I’m happy to make new friends to add to the oldies but goodies I have already!