a Wildflower's life

Have you ever opened a letter to find that it holds even more than precious words?
Little treasures like a sketch your friend drew just for you, some tea bags or pressed flowers from far away meadows – It’s little extras like these that add a bit of magic to each envelope.

In this post we‘ll explore the world of letter goodies – those small gifts that can turn your correspondence into a heartfelt celebration of creativity and connection.

Not everyone has the ability to gather, make or buy things to gift to a penpal, let alone the financial freedom to afford extra things, materials and more expensive stamps to send heavier letters.

Personally, I get the same amount of excitement about mail from any snail mail friend, regardless of how “fancy” it is.
I don’t want anyone to think penpaling isn‘t accessible to them because the goodie part doesn‘t feel manageable.
I just love to express myself through adding little treats and occasionally stuff the envelope to the brim!

Wether you add them empty, for your pal to use or you choose to write on one yourself – cards are a great option to send to all kinds of people.

Cards can serve as post cards, decorative pieces or to acknowledge an event like the recipient‘s birthday – there‘s barely an occasion where sending someone a card doesn‘t make sense.

There‘s a lot of beautiful cards out there in pretty much every style imaginable.
You could even check a local store for cards showing something about your hometown.
It‘s fun to see where a letter comes from!

Here‘s another possibility for customisation and creative expression. I like to make my own stickers and adjust the theme and style of them to to suit the current topic, the style of a specific letter or that of my friend ^^

This category is for those who like to dive into writing deeper than talk and emerge themselves in stories of greater worlds.
For the readers and writers loosing track of time and space on their journeys through their own imagination.

Why not help them keep track of where they last paused their travel by sending them a bookmark?

This is another great opportunity to make something yourself if you‘d like, but I like to use that opportunity to broaden the popularity of my personal favourite kind:
Magnet Bookmarks.

A mind that strives for adventure may benefit from a place to log their journey.
Little notepads and booklets are perfect for that!

I like to bind them myself, but for purchasing I found that DIN-A6 fits in most envelopes.

Be warned traveler!
These items may heighten the weight of your letter to a weight much heavier than a standard letter.
If you want to walk this path be sure you‘re ready to pay the price!

Ready made tea bags are pretty straight forward.
You can simply add one or multiple one‘s straight into the envelope and they should be fine.
If a penpal doesn‘t speak your language, it can be nice to add a little note that tells the name in the language you write in.

I use little cellophane bags to safely ship loose leaf tea – about the amount needed to brew a can of tea.

Allergies are a thing! So make sure to never send something to someone without telling them what they‘re consuming when they try it!
I like to add a little label with the name of the blend, brewing time and all the ingredients – translated to the language we use to communicate for my international pals – written on it.

A new addition I made is a few single use tea bags for convenience.

Not everyone likes tea but everyone needs to drink something.
So…
Coasters!

The world of coasters is so much broader than I knew before looking into the category „flat things to give to people“!
The selection of coasters is nearly as broad as that of cards and their dimensions are perfect to be sent in an envelope!

Of course they can also be made.
I like to crochet them and there‘s also plenty of knit and makramee options!

A wonderful way to send some of that whimsical cottage romance or add to the fantasy of victorian elegance is to sew and/or embroider a handkerchief.

I bought some simple white hankies with a pretty scalloped edge to embroider.
For an elegant look, I like to stitch flowers.

Initials are also a nice option but the history of that might be of a more romantic nature than you intend.

While I have never sent pressed flowers myself, they‘re an incredibly popular goodie.

It‘s common to put them in loosely but that‘s actually not the only way!
Try taping or glueing some onto some cardstock to make a card.
You can also add the name of the flower and some information about it, to make it educational and feel like a collectors card.

I had some crumple when sent right in between the pages. You can put them in some folded paper to help prevent that.

There‘s a lot of fun ways to send seeds!

The most classic way is to use seed packets. Those can be ready bought or made at home.

Another fun option is to get growing paper that has seeds inside.
It‘s available as sheets or confetty!

The option I‘m excited to try is pencils with seeds in a capsule at the end.
They can be used as pencils and once they‘re too small to be used, you just stick them into some soil and grow a plant!

Now if you want to take this literally, there‘s plenty of sweets that fit within our dimension limitations.
Just be aware that those have quite a bit of weight!

Taken figuratively, I find the sweetest thing of all is to be given an insight into one‘s world.
Sending printed photos (this can but doesn‘t have to be on actual photo paper) is a beautiful way to share your worlds with each other.
It can be pictures of you, your pets, your favourite place in town, …
The sky is only the limit if you let it!