For some reason, I was always under the impression that snail mail was confined to letters and postcards. But then, a couple weeks ago, there was a brief conversation on the Facebook page about unusual mail and someone mentioned that she once received a water noodle in lieu of a letter.
Really? Well, that’s interesting.
Within a few days, I had my own unusual surprise waiting when I went to pick up my mail: A pink bouncy ball with a letter written on the side! When the woman who delivers my mail handed it over, she had a look of total and complete surprise. Something tells me it’s the most unusual piece of mail she’s ever seen too.
But it got me thinking .… If you can mail a pink plastic ball as a piece of snail mail, what else qualifies as letter writing material? And so my walk through the cheap toy aisles began. I’m collecting a list of fun things I can buy and send to people when they need a fun little pick-me-up, and here’s what I’ve come up with so far:
- Frisbees
- Balls of various sizes
- Plastic buckets and baskets
- Plastic piggy banks
- Various sand toys
I’m not sure what the regulations are regarding size and weight, but I plan on picking a few fun things up to mail to variety of people in the coming weeks, and I’m sure I’ll learn what works well and what doesn’t. If you have any tips on mailing unusual items, I’d love to hear them!
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i once received a motorcycle tire with a mailing tag wired to it…another time i got a motorcycle handle bar with mailing tag wired to it.…so there must be a lot of leeway in terms of that they will deliver
So funny! Just a piece of equipment with a little tag. There’s no end to interesting mail!
We mail straight-from-the-tree coconuts without boxes via snail mail. It’s a hoot. We love our jobs! We also send them in boxes for those that want our artwork more preserved. Yeah, they can get dinged up traveling ‘all natural’.
I’d love to get a dinged up coconut in the mail! If I ever have the chance to send a coconut via snail mail, I’m going to do it!
I used to do a Ravelry exchange where we sent our packages in 2 liter soda bottles. I asked a coworker to bring one in, I washed it then used an exacto knife to cut a door in the bottle. I then filled the bottle with yarn and tea and a few other items. I taped the door closed, and brought it to the post office. They gave me odd looks, but they put the postage on the bottle, and it was received at the other end. I received a similar bottle in my mail.
I’m currently on the lookout for other items that might be fun to mail. I was thinking of using an adorable little clutch I purchased then discovered it was too small to fit my wallet and my phone. I could write the address onto an old piece of cloth with a sharpie then sew it on. I think I’d probably need to sew the zipper closed, and they would require me to tape it.
In fact, I think I will do this RIGHT NOW! Thanks for having this old post for me to remind me! I just found the site and was skimming through some of your posts.
It would be so much fun to get a clutch in the mail! I can’t even imagine all the tiny goodies you could send. What a brilliant idea!