Tag: fun mail

Friday Favorites- Mail Order Mystery

Mail Order Mystery

My kids have always enjoyed a good book, and now I am so excited they love a good mystery! Getting to piece together clues and connecting characters and plot twists is something they really enjoy. So when I heard about Mail Order Mystery I needed to know more! I contacted them directly for a chance to review and try out a subscription and they very generously said yes.

You can select a theme for your mystery experience and we selected The Enchanted Slumber. For six weeks we were excited to run out to our mail box to see if a new package arrived. Inside were letters, documents, mysterious objects and clues. My kids became so engaged with the story before the final story was ever revealed!

The very first letter included an official document notarizing the authenticity of the sender, a Knight. Our knight in shining armor encouraged us to practice our knightly skills, which my kids took very seriously every night before bed. They also loved the wax seal on the letter. This small detail blew their minds and really drew them to find out more about how wax seals are made. This took us on a new fact finding mission and sparked a new discussion about knights, castles and medieval life.

Mail Order Mystery Letter

As the weeks progressed we received puzzle pieces engraved with “ancient” symbols we had to decode. My kids could not wait to gather around the kitchen table after dinner so we could help them solve the riddle! We wondered how these clues would all add up in the end!

Mail Order Mystery Sample

I won’t share much more about what we received because I don’t want to spoil the fun. But I will share that my kids were so pleased by the entire experience! They truly enjoyed the final installment where everything was revealed and all the clues were laid out in the story.

Here is how it works:

Visit Mail Order Mystery website, sign up for your mystery and pick your start date. There is also a treasure hunt I can’t wait to sign us up for! You can preview what items will arrive each week, but that might take away the fun of the mystery.

An email will arrive sharing with you when the first package is shipping, and again when the last package is shipping. This way you know when to expect the mystery to begin and end.

Enjoy checking your mail!

That’s it! Brilliant right?

The mysteries are geared for kids ages 8 and up, or for kids ages 6-7 with help. My girls are just shy of turning six, but really enjoyed making this a family activity. None of the stories are scary, or limited to a specific gender audience. That means boys and girls alike will enjoy these stories.

I think this is an amazing gift idea for your niece or nephew, grand kids or the kid who already has everything to play with. A fantastical experience of the imagination that lives on well after the last sentence is complete! This was such a great experience for my family!! We truly LOVED it!

Financial compensation was not received for this post. All honest opinions shared, and spell binding adventures taken, belong solely to The Whatever Mom. This post does not contain affiliate links. 

 

The Whatever Mom is a twin mom learning to let go of perfection. She shares her real life struggles with parenting through her blog and contributes her time and talents as a writer to Hudson Valley Parent and Masshole Mommy. When she isn’t writing you can find her chugging coffee, folding laundry and not judging other parents. Don’t forget to subscribe via email so you never miss a blog post again! You can also find her work featured on Mamapedia 

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How to start your own city swap

With summer winding down I took a look at our summer bucket list. It was fun counting up all the things we have checked off. What a busy summer it has been! It feels like we just made our list yesterday and I can’t believe how quickly this summer has passed!

One special bucket list item we still have left on our list is starting a city swap. I was inspired by those posts from Little Passports that keep popping up in my Facebook news feed. You can choose a monthly payment option which starts around $15/month to receive an explorer kit with info about another country. These kits are geared toward 5-10 year old kids. Nothing for the preschool crowd. But, even preschoolers love getting mail. So, a friend and I decided it would be fun to for our kids to swap facts about the cities we live in. It’s a more personalized way to get to know the world outside of our home town; it’s like having a pen pal but with a twist. (And no financial commitment).

Here’s how I started:

I made a list of important city traits. For example, I live in a former port city so the Hudson River and our light house is a special part of our local culture. Art, music and food are all very important in our city as well. We made a trip to our library to narrow down some information about our city. The girls and I found these great activity guides with facts and educational games about our local ecology. We also found some post cards featuring local art and additional pamphlets to share. Such a fun way for our friend to learn about our city!

Now that we had a few fun things to include in our swap, we decided to introduce ourselves to our new little pal by sending a message in a bottle.  (Keeping with our port theme).

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We recycled a seltzer bottle by rinsing the inside and stripping the label from the outside. Once the bottle was dry we added our letter and fun facts about our city.

Next, we made a trip to the post office to determine the amount of postage needed to send our bottle. Did you know you can send almost anything in the mail? The woman at the post office said she once received an actual coconut! For some fun, inspiring ideas for sending your own happy mail check out this cool blog www.giverslog.com 

We brought our bottle home and added our stamps. We left it in our mail box for the postal carrier. Wonder what he thought of our silly package?

pen-pal-blog 3

Our next package will include a special surprise. Another short informational pamphlet about one of our favorite hikes, AND these little “water chestnuts.” Thousands of these little black, spiky things liter the shoreline every summer. The locals call them “cow heads.” Since my friend and her son live more inland we thought this might be fun to share. It will definitely seem unusual. These little things are iconic in our hometown.

Again, we recycled something we already have. This time a spice jar. I rolled up the pamphlet and inserted the chestnut shells inside.

spice jar

Here are our first two packages before labels and stamps.

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This little project has definitely sparked some creativity and challenged our imaginations. The girls love assembling the packages the most. They also enjoy visiting the post office and seeing how everything there works.

Our next few packages will include some local art, maybe some local music and some sweet treats from our favorite chocolatier. Each item we include will of course need a creative package to carry it through the mail. The idea is to share things that make our city so special while getting to know a new friend and the city he lives in. These packages are geared toward tots so the info has to be short, simple and fun.

This is a really fun, creative way for young kids to send and receive mail; or for older kids to keep in touch with friends they met at summer camp, or far away friends and family. As a bonus it’s just fun to get something so unexpected in the mail.

What are some fun things you have sent in the mail?

 

 

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