Hey guys!
I’m filming this over the Canadian Thanksgiving long weekend.
Tomorrow is October 9th which is also World Post Day and I love snail mail so I was inspired
to make a video all about it.
Growing up I had multiple pen pals.
I don’t know if people still have pen pals but at one point I even had a secret pen pal
and we were writing each other without knowing who the other one was so it was really fun.
And there’s still this romance to me about sending and receiving actual mail because
there are so many loving steps involved.
So you select your notepaper, you write it out - the handwriting says a lot about you, I think.
Maybe you decorate the envelope, you take it to the post box, you have to make sure
you have the right stamps, and then somebody hand delivers it to the door.
So I just think there’s something really special about it and I know when I receive
things in the mail it totally brightens my day and I think it really does have a wonderful
effect on whoever is the recipient.
So it’s a nice way to kind of send love and kindness out into the world and it’s
really easy and an inexpensive way to do that so why not, right?
I’ve shared my obsession with beautiful stationary before and so I wanted to share
some of my ideas to maybe inspire you of what you can send in the mail that’s a little
more unique and where you can find it.
Thrift stores are an amazing place to look for things that you can’t find anywhere
else that are usually not made anymore.
So you can find letter writing kits or postcards or envelopes, random paper - there’s always
something to be found in a thrift store.
I found these great Holly Hobbie cards with notepaper and envelopes - a whole kit.
I think it was, like, a dollar for twelve of them so it’s really good value and it’s
something that you just won’t find anywhere else.
Ok I didn’t find this at a thrift store but it’s definitely retro because I’ve
had them since I was like eight years old.
I don’t know how I haven’t sent these all out yet
but they’re these really cute envelopes with cats all over them and I guess I’ve just
kept them because they remind me of having pen pals.
So I keep them in my letter writing box.
Dollar stores or places like Target are also a great place to buy cards in bulk that makes
it a lot more economical because I know, especially if you’re sending things overseas, postage
can add up after a while especially if you’re sending out multiple cards so buying them
in bulk really helps with that.
These are from Target from their dollar section.
These all comes in packs of eight for only a dollar so you’re really getting a lot of bang for
the buck and they’re really cute.
You know they have thank you cards and ones that are just blank but any dollar store will
have some sort of stationary so it’s a great place to look for good deals.
Another place I like to look for cool stationary is actually my local Asian supermarket.
I’m a big fan of Japanese stationary in particular because I find it’s usually really
good quality and has really unique designs kind of like this.
So you can get envelopes that have these lovely little details on the inside so when people
open it there’s a little surprise or if you want more of a set you can get notepaper
with matching envelopes.
I was actually lucky enough to be in Japan last summer and I picked up a lot of stationary
which I’m still using to this day and it’s just some of the best.
Another thing I love about Japanese stationary is that it tends to be more unique in terms
of size and shape so this is a really good example.
It’s notepaper and you’ve got your little place to write whatever you want to say on
this side but this looks like a beautiful kimono or yukata and once you’ve written
whatever you want to write it comes with a little belt.
So you would fasten this around and then fold it and there’s a way to actually fold this
whole thing and then you’re meant to put it in this little plastic bag that has waves
and beautiful birds or fish on it and I just think it’s a neat way
of sending something totally different.
Wouldn’t you be stoked to get this in the mail?
I know I would!
I think that’s so cool.
Another example of the cool sizes of Japanese stationary are these really cute little envelopes.
This one comes with its own notepaper.
This you can put anything in that you want and some of them are small enough that you
could literally just write something like ‘Hi’ or ‘I love you’ and I just think
getting something in the mail where you know someone went to all that trouble just to say
‘Hi’ or ‘I love you’ or whatever it is you want to say makes it so much more special
that they took that effort just to say something as simple as that.
Snail mail is such a good time to send something really zany and a bit childish maybe and just
fun because often the mail we get is in a white envelope, it’s from a bank, it’s
from someone who needs you to give them money.
It’s not that much fun.
It’s a little bit boring.
So I think sending things like this, which is also from Japan by the way, is really fun.
It’s going to spice up someone’s mail box for sure.
This is the Little Twin Stars characters so you’ve got the envelope and the notepaper
on this side but there’s no way someone’s going to open their mailbox and see this and not smile.
One of my absolute favourite things to send to people all around the world are postcards
and you shouldn’t just think of postcards as something that you send when you’re away
somewhere traveling, although that’s nice too.
I think postcards are a great thing to send anytime.
It’s a quick way to say hi to someone, tell them a little bit about what you’re doing,
ask how they are and when they get it it’s a bit of temporary art for them.
They can put it on their fridge, on their bulletin board, and it’s a little reminder
for a longer time that you were thinking of them.
So I love postcards.
These are some that I picked up in Beijing when I was there last summer.
It’s got the subway or these beautiful ones.
I mean I would even frame some of these honestly if I got them in the mail.
I also like, of course, looking at thrift stores for postcards so sometimes you find
things that are really unique and I think they’re fun to send to people.
You can find really creative postcards, too, that are a little bit different from ones
you might normally find.
These are some that are holographic which I thought were really neat,
scenes of comic books and stuff.
So you can find so many different postcards and there’s going to be one that’s just
perfect for someone you know.
I also like to add little touches to the envelope so that before someone even opens it up they
can see that love that you’ve sent it with and my favourite way of doing that is with washi tape.
I have a huge drawer full of this stuff and it’s a nice way to just add a little something special.
Inspired by World Post Day, I want to send you some mail.
So the first five people to leave a comment down below will get some paper mail from me.
Tell me your favourite thing about snail mail and I hope you’ve been inspired to maybe
send something to someone you love and brighten their day.
I hope that you enjoyed watching this video as well and give it a thumbs up if you did.
I hope that you’ll subscribe if you haven’t already and I’ll see you in my next video!
Hey guys!
Today I want to talk about my top five favourite podcasts I’m listening to right now.
I go through these phases of listening to music and audio books and podcasts.
Right now I’m in full on podcast territory so here are my five favourites right now.