The Offline Box: A Monthly Box of Real Things to Do (And Why We Made It)
The Offline Box: A Monthly Box of Real Things to Do
(And the slightly long-winded reason we made it.)
We are going to tell you what is in this box, what it costs, and what it does for you. But first, a confession that we suspect will sound familiar.
Not long ago, the few of us who run this brand added up our week of screen time. The phones do not know us, have never met us, and yet they had eaten more of our week than almost anything we actually love. We did the sums on a Friday night and went quiet for a while.
That moment is where this whole thing started.
So, what is the Offline Box?
It is an actual box that arrives at your letterbox once a month. It is packed by hand and posted anywhere in Australia. When you open it, you will find our own printed magazine, The Offline, with a letter from us tucked inside (not a marketing card, not a “Dear Customer”), a paperback book we have hand-picked for slow mornings, a small packet of seeds for the season with a garden project that works on a windowsill or a balcony if that is all you have, a seasonal recipe that someone might actually cook on a Tuesday, something to make with your hands (watercolours one month, clay another), the Offline Passport, a year-long journal that is just proof of the things you did that weren't online, the latest chapter of the Manuscript, a serialized book our members vote on, and one or two small extras that change with the season.
That is what is in the box. There is no app. There is no membership tier. There is no upgrade.
Why a box, though?
A few reasons, and we will be honest about each of them.
The first reason is that most of what makes life feel good happens offline, and we forget about it because everything that demands our attention is online. A real box arriving in your letterbox is a small, physical reminder. It is the thing on the kitchen counter when you walk in on a Tuesday evening, and it is the thing that gets you to put the phone down for twenty minutes while you cook something or plant something.
The second reason is that information does not change behaviour. Activity does. We can read a hundred articles about doing less, but until we have something in our hands with a recipe on a piece of paper and seeds in a jar, the scroll keeps winning. The box is what gets us actually doing.
The third reason is the quiet one. There are thousands of women out there who are tired of the phone, missing hobbies they used to love, and craving a Sunday that does not feel like a comedown from a Saturday spent on Instagram. We made this for ourselves first, and then we realised we were not alone in it. You are invited.
What it costs
Ninety-nine dollars a month, ships Australia-wide, cancel any time, no phone calls, no guilt. That works out to a bit over three dollars a day. About the price of a coffee, except the coffee is gone by ten in the morning and the box keeps showing up.
A few honest questions you might be asking
"Do I have to be crafty?" No. Most of us are not. The art prompts assume you have not touched a paintbrush since you were at school. The garden projects assume you have killed at least three succulents in your life. We write for actual adults, not for the Instagram version of adults who somehow keep house plants alive and have a hand-thrown ceramic for everything.
"What if I am too busy?" Then you are probably the person this is most for. The box does not ask for a whole weekend. Most of the activities in it take twenty or thirty minutes, the letter takes five, and the point is not to fill your time. The point is to give you a reason to use a small bit of it well.
"Is this just for women?" No. We skew that way because that is who has found us so far, but anyone who is tired of being online is welcome.
"Can I gift it?" Yes, and a few people have quietly done that already, for a mum or a sister or a friend going through a hard time. If you want to send one as a gift just write to us and we will sort it out.
Real life is still here
Quiet. Patient. Waiting for you to come back to it.
We made this small monthly thing because we wanted that for ourselves, and then we wanted to share it. The founding fifty boxes for June ship at the end of this month and there are a handful left at the time of writing.
With love, The Connected au team