Champion of Postal Cheer, Act 1
March 20, 2013 § 6 Comments
In the first few days of January, several of my friends posted similar status updates on Facebook. They ran something like this:
The first 5 people to comment on this status will, sometime in this calendar year, receive a handmade/homemade gift from me. I will send it out when the mood strikes me and, with luck, it will reach you at the perfect time.
The catch is, you have to make the same offer to all your friends.
The first time I saw it, I thought, Interesting, but I’m not a fan of chain-letter-esque stuff.
The second time I saw it, I thought, I really like the idea of making and sending out-of-the-blue gifts.
The third time I saw it, I thought, Wait a minute, there’s no reason I can’t make this offer to send gifts without a you-must-do-this-too stipulation.
So, I rewrote it a bit–changing the stipulation to an invitation–and posted it.
The response was enthusiastic and I quickly found myself committed to make and send things to a variety of people.
Last week I finished my first gift.
Then I filled it up with small goodies.
And I packaged it in an envelope made from a poster I’d plucked out of the recycling bin at work. (The back of the envelope shows Frankenstein reading Gone with the Wind.)
I was rather gleeful when I posted it off. Sending mail is as much fun as receiving it, don’t you think? If you’ve been looking for the perfect way to be a Champion of Postal Cheer, I highly recommend committing to send random gifts to random friends throughout the year.
Scribbling Glue 
I saw those same posts and thought of responding, but got lazy and didn’t do it. It is a lovely idea and I think your gift is wonderful and I’m sure the recipient will love it! I participated in the Month of Letters challenge last month and have quite a few penpals – sending random gifts to them sounds like a lot of fun. Thanks for the inspiration :-)
Thanks, Jackie! Did you have a happy Month of Letters? I started strong, but went off track mid-month. What I sometimes forget about myself is that I’m more productive (and happier) writing or making stuff in concentrated bursts rather than taking a set in stone Must Do This Every Day approach. The randomness of this making stuff project is part of why it is so much fun for me. I hope you have fun coming up with tiny random gifts to send your penpals.
I love this idea. Your recipient will be delighted to receive such a cute handmade gift.
Thanks, JarieLyn! Part of what I love about the idea is that it’s so open to creative interpretation. This time I sewed something, but who knows what sort of making I’ll try next…stay tuned! :)
Scarlet meets Frankenstein. LOL.
The poster was just too fun for me to let it be recycled. :)