Who doesn’t LOVE to get some good mail? You’ve got to admit it so fun to check the mailbox to find a card or package just for you!
Our neighbors surprised my kids one day with a cute shoebox they had decorated like a little mailbox. They asked us to leave it out on the doorstep and let us know they had one on their doorstep as well. From that point on our children have taken turns delivering the latest art work, notes, paper airplanes, treats, little toys or any other creation they have come up with to each other’s mailbox. We leave the “surprise” in the mailbox, put the flag up, ring the doorbell and run as fast as we can back to our house to hide around a corner to listen for their reactions! I love that this is teaching my children to think about others. My kids love to get a good reaction so they try to think about what our neighbors would really like to get in their mailbox. Not much is more satisfying than to hear our little neighbor boys check their box and exclaim, “YES!” or “Mom, Look!”. I’ve been so grateful for our neighbors’ kindness and pleased with my children’s thoughtfulness. Our neighbors are so good at this game. They’ve left some delicious treats, coloring pages, stickers, notes asking us about the first day of school, well wishes if they know we’re sick, games, dollar store Elmo and Cookie Monster socks and so much more. Each little thing is like a little treasure for my kids. They LOVE it! My kids now hope that no one is at the door when our doorbell rings because that means we got some mail!
We started these mailboxes about 3 years ago, just as my little spiffy kid was learning to write. It was great to see him want to write more so he could put a note in the neighbor’s mailbox. My kids love sharing our treats, crafts, and notes with them. We had fun one saturday at the end of summer leaving a bag of water balloon grenades with a note that summoned them to “battle” in our back yard. We instructed them to come at a specific time with their grenades filled. They came through our gate and we all had a great time in a water balloon fight. We played in our “water park“after and chatted and ate ice cream sandwiches. They were so nice to humor us in our request.
We have had a blast with these mailboxes and its been such a fun way to interact with our great neighbors.
(Just in case you’re wondering…when the shoeboxes became tattered from the weather we graduated to these little mailboxes that you can find at craft stores and now instead of one there is one for each of my kids)
