If you want to get back to basics, sending snail mail to a pen pal or someone special will be a fun way to express yourself and give them a little treat. People don’t expect to receive letters in the mail anymore, so when you get a cute card or a letter it’s a nice way to engage with people in real life. These cute and colorful supplies that I’ve rounded up will give you some ideas to decorate colored envelopes yourself as a fun DIY pen pal project.
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Rules for sending snail mail.
You can send patterned and colorful envelopes in the mail, but you need to make sure that the address it’s going to and the return address are clearly legible. Don’t attach things to the outside of the envelope that are 3D and will get caught in sorting machines or ripped off of the envelope. Stickers are fine but make sure that they’re securely attached!
Drawing on the envelope is better than stickers for international shipments, but remember that the post office sticks things to envelopes all the time (printed address labels and stamps are examples!) As long as things are secure and won’t peel off it should be fine, but sometimes it’s better not to risk it!
Who to write to.
I’d suggest starting with sending mail to people who you know already. Even if they live in the same town as you, it’s fun to send people something unexpected in the mail, especially if the envelope is creative. Start with a colored envelope and decorate it yourself using pens and stickers.
Once you get into the mailing routine you might want to receive some cute mail, too. You can sign up to get pen pals in a few places, including some free and some paid. An example of a paid service is Pen Pal dot me
. You can sign up to send postcards to other people who use the service, and you pay for each postcard. It’s a good way to send mail to strangers because it hides your address, but it kind of limits your creativity as far as decorating an actual envelope goes.
You can also join pen pal groups on Facebook, just do a search for them and choose one that has rules about who can join so that you’re not sending personal information to scammers.
Because there are so many scammers out there now, though, it might be safer to stick to sending mail to people you know. And don’t send anyone you “meet” online any money or personal information, never never never. Be safe, and sticking to people you know in real life is usually the safest thing to do.
Colored envelopes to use.
Start with a colored envelope because they’re more fun than plain white ones, and you can decorate them by drawing on them and adding stickers.
Check out these colored envelopes that I found on Amazon, they’re solid colors in a range of shades so you can choose brights or pastels.
Watercolor purple envelopes.
These pretty purple and blue watercolor envelopes have a customizable return address on the back, so it gives you more room to decorate the front.
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Solid colors with a return address.
If you want to go with a solid color with the return address, We have those too. You can see all of our colors here: Colored envelopes with return addresses.
Printed-inside envelopes.
A fun thing that you can do is to use envelopes that are printed with a pattern on the inside, but not on the outside. The person you’re mailing to will get a little surprise when they open it, and it looks innocent until they open it up.
Patterned envelopes.
These cool patterned envelopes are a fun way to send an unexpected letter to someone. They’ll definitely notice the envelop in the mail! There’s a space on the front to write the address, and your return address can be customized on the back of the envelope flap.
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Clear return address labels.
Get clear return address labels that you can put on a colored envelope so that you can see the color of the envelope through them. We have a bunch that we designed to use on colored envelopes, and you can personalize them here: Transparent return address labels.
Watch this video to see what they look like in person:
Fancy clear return address labels.
I designed these clear return address labels with a little floral frame. They’re a little fancier than a basic design and they’ll give your snail mail a little upgrade.
Round return address stickers.
These customizable return address stickers have a purple monarch butterfly, and can be ordered in bulk on a roll in clear, white, or silver backing paper. Use them on the front of envelopes, or on the back as a seal on the envelope flap.
Click here to see cute and customizable notebooks.
Stickers.
Getting stickers to use on your envelopes is a fast way to decorate them without having to draw on them yourself. We have a bunch of stickers sets and individual stickers , and you can get stickers pretty much anywhere. Craft stores have entire aisles of stickers in every theme, so you’ll be able to find stickers that match your aesthetic and the theme of your pen pal envelope.
Unique art stickers.
This frog sticker from Robert Phelps Art is big and bright, and it can be something that you put on the envelop, or in the envelope as a gift for your pen pal. He also has a bunch of other stickers that he made based on his original paintings.
Colored pens.
Get a set of colored markers to draw on the envelopes. Even if you can’t draw, you can do colorful lines or dots to spice the envelope up.
Black pens.
Get a set of micron pens that can draw very fine black lines, they make excellent pens for drawing designs that are detailed. You can also use these for journaling (click here to read about that.) You can see some here on Amazon:
Craft stamps.
There are a ton of stamps that you can use with ink pads, and you can stamp them in black then color in the outlines, or use them alone. This set of floral stamps would make a good start for coloring in, or use them with colored ink pads.
Fun stationery.
Get some colorful stationery to write on, like this frog-themed design. We have it in a few colors in our Zazzle shop.
Cute stationery.
A set of friendship postcards from Ila and Alice is a nice addition to your letter-writing supplies. Choose one that sends a positive message to someone who might need the encouragement.