The best subscription boxes you can get delivered in Sydney

There’s something incredibly therapeutic about creating order from chaos, one tiny piece at a time. Puzzle Post will send you a new jigsaw every month, tailored to your preferences such as themes and difficulty level. They also offer puzzles for kids and will happily exchange a puzzle if you already own it. Choose between an ongoing or limited subscription (one, three, six or 12 months), which will set you back $29-$65 per month depending on the puzzle size.

Got a green thumb or aspirations for a veggie patch? Easy Come Easy Grow sends you three herb or vegetable seed packets each month, along with growing instructions. You won’t just be raising tomatoes, either. The company likes to keep things interesting by including less common items such as purple carrots, kohlrabi, Chinese cabbage and even baby watermelon. Best of all, the seasonal, edible plants can be cultivated in containers if you don’t have a garden. Choose between a one, three, six or 12-month subscription; the cost is $11 per month with discounts offered for longer-term subscriptions.

It’s going to be a while before overseas travel is on the cards again, but at least your tastebuds get to roam far and wide with Treat Crate. The monthly snack box contains a selection of sweet and savoury nosh all sourced from that month’s featured country. Past boxes have covered Turkey, Malaysia, Serbia, Taiwan and Colombia; there was even a special-edition Aussie box to support local businesses over 2020's lockdowns. A rolling subscription costs $41 per month, with discounts offered on three and six-month subscriptions. 

East 33 is one of Australia’s largest distributors of premium Sydney Rock oysters, sourced from a collection of family-run producers in the Great Lakes region of the NSW mid-north coast. This bounty of bivalves are usually supplied by East 33 to the swankiest fine dining establishments in Sydney, but while many of its usual restaurant punters are locked down, the company is taking out the middlemen by supplying freshly shucked oysters direct to hungry Sydneysiders. You can order them for next-day delivery but if you'd prefer to set and forget, you can also get a monthly subscription, and get the best seasonally available oyster dropped on your doorstep every month.

Never ask for a book recommendation again (but give them all the time). WellRead curates quality fiction and non-fiction titles for its monthly and bi-monthly subscriptions, with a strong focus on new releases to avoid sending you something you’ve already read. Unlike some book subscriptions, you can’t specify your chosen genres, so it’s best suited to someone who is keen to read widely and stay abreast of what’s current in publishing. Rolling subscriptions are $35 per title; there’s also a kid’s subscription for $29 per book.

Condimental is a subscription for people who understand that the right pickle, preserve or sauce can be the difference between sustenance and gastronomy. The seasonal subscription box includes five craft condiments made by Australian artisans and restaurants, along with an artist-designed info card with recipe suggestions for how best to use that Lankan Filling Station acharu pickle, that Fancy Hank’s barbecue sauce or that Olsson’s smoked red gum salt. The open-ended subscription costs $68 per box and is delivered every three months, which should be ample time to get through that jar of pickled, jerked beans.

Queensland-based Yarn Together provides crafty types with monthly inspiration in the form of a knitting or crochet project. Aimed at beginner and intermediate crafters, each box contains a skein of hand-dyed Aussie yarn, a crafting accessory and a different pattern to teach you a new technique. There are also YouTube tutorials to accompany each pattern in case you need instruction, and a private Facebook group where you can ask questions and, yep, share a yarn. Each month you’ll weave a 30cm square, which can be used for your own creations or sewn together after 12 months to create an Afghan blanket. The open-ended subscription costs $29.99 per month.

If you love trying new products or experimenting with your look, give the monthly Bellabox a twirl. Each box costs $19.95 and contains at least five sample-sized items spanning cosmetics, skincare, haircare, bath, nail products and fragrances. The brands range from high-end (Clinique, Givenchy) to local and boutique (Works Melbourne, Nak, Rasasara Skinfood), and many of the products are available to purchase through the Bellabox website if you want more.

Australia’s longest-running beer subscription is a solid place to start if you're in search of some sub'd suds. You’ve got three choices here: $39.99 a month lands you a six pack (three limited releases and three favourites) while $69.99 and $89.99 both score you a dozen, with more premium and rarer goodies thrown in the mix. Expect detailed tasting notes, a range of styles from all over the world – and best of all, you’ll never find a repeat. If you're partial to a craft ale, the inventory list is now 700 strong, and you can begin making a dent in it by subscribing to their beer club. On the 15th of every month (or quarterly), expect 8 beers from Australia’s tip-top breweries, along with detailed and illustrated tasting notes for $59. If you’d rather double your pleasure, $99 will get you two of everything in the box.