Stamped, Sealed, Delivered

I was talking with a friend of mine about what she could do for save the dates for her Cape Cod wedding. I suggested, yet again, that it would be super cute if she took the images the BPL has made available of vintage postcards and made her own postcard save the dates. She shot that idea down (yet again).

I remembered that one of the bloggers I read, giverslog, has a feature on fun items she's mailed and one of those was a bucket. I told my friend she should mail a little bucket and ask people to put their wedding on their "bucket list" I thought it would be a super cute idea. I got shot down again. I won't tell you what my friend's idea is (lest it's a surprise for any of you who read my blog) but I do think it's pretty fun!

I've been thinking about mail lately, not just save the dates and wedding invitations (since we've been invited to eight weddings this year they've certainly occupied a certain amount of my thoughts) but fun mail, non-bills and not junk. A friend of ours gave us an "item of the month" for our wedding. She made a commitment to send (or hand deliver) something to us every month that seemed like something we'd want. She said she'd looked at a lot fill-in-the-blank a month clubs and non fit the bill for what she wanted to give so she made her own.

My father has taken to randomly sending me books from amazon that he thinks I'll enjoy. Just last week I got a fun surprise from my aunt. She sent me a package which contained an item that reminded of her the minute she saw it! My friend, Emily, talked about how exciting it was when her sister-in-law mailed them a ball last spring. Their mailman even got in on the fun, tossing the ball through their screen door so the mail was bounced to them, rather than delivered.

It's so fun coming home and discovering a package or a letter waiting for you. I don't know anyone who isn't excited by "fun mail" greeting them at the door. So why is it that we don't send more "fun mail" to those we love?

It's not like the post office makes it incredibly difficult (though, I'll admit, some postal clerks make mailing packages a HUGE annoyance). They even have super fun stamps, like the new Edward Hopper Forever Stamp (unveiled this week in Provincetown, MA), not to mention, the kid-friendly Pixar Forever Stamps and the Sunday Funnies. Some of the stamps have really interesting stories behind them (readily accessed on the USPS website)

Are we so busy that we can't slap some stamps on an item or scrawl two sentences to another person to let them know we're thinking about them? I think it's more than that. I think like my long list of thank you notes, and my long neglected blog we get overwhelmed by the time that has elapsed since the last time we sent something or touched base with a person. It's easier for us to keep putting it off till we can devote the appropriate attention to it.

A new month is about to start and I'm challenging you to send someone you know fun mail, random mail, something that will bring a smile to their face when they get home from a hard day of work. It doesn't have to be lengthy, it doesn't have to be incredibly deep, it can even be anonymous, just send something fun! I promise I'll send the three thank you notes that have been in my purse since February and I'll work on sending the rest of you deserving people the thank you notes I owe you. I'll also try and send out one fun item a month. Are you with Me?!

P.S. I did NOT write this post because my dad works for the Postal Service, though it doesn't hurt :).