Toby Mail!

Growing up, Halloween was a BIG DEAL in my house. My mom would pull out all the stops when the month of October rolled around. Years later, it's evident that her holiday spirit really rubbed off on me.

If you remember, when Toby was little, he had a mailbox we would use to put his personal mail in. It was just a tiny wooden mailbox and he quickly outgrew it. He didn't, however, outgrow his obsession with the U.S. Postal Service, UPS, or FedEx (probably because whenever they arrive there is, likely, something for him delivered.)

Ahhhh, he was so little :(

Recently we decided that since he gets mail pretty regularly (our families often send him cards/letters because they know he loves getting mail- and my mother gifted him subscriptions to three monthly kid's magazines) we decided we better upgrade his delivery service.

Halloween was the perfect time to do this because I was able to work in the idea of The Great Pumpkin. The goal is to use this mailbox much like his other one except he will also, occasionally, get prizes in it- year round. And, most importantly, his letters from Santa and the Easter bunny, etc.

When he woke up this morning and saw the mailbox for the first time he said, "Hey! Something funny is going on around here!" It was adorable and he was BEYOND excited.

His letter from the Great Pumpkin. (Drawing courtesy of my talented husband!)

His mailbox came from Home Depot and was under $15! The letters were under $2!
The Great Pumpkin left him a letter and gifted him a new set of personalized Halloween  magnets for his PlanetBox lunchbox!

The magnets on his lunchbox

The letter from The Great Pumpkin came complete with pumpkin-y fingerprints.
Toby was so excited to see the messy prints on his letter!

We were able to drill it into the wall by his bedroom door after he went to bed without him waking!

The only thing we changed from a traditional box was make a red paper laminated "mail flag" because I imagined he would come around the corner and clip the standard aluminum flag with his head. So, we just used red card stock and Velcro'd it on - so it's not dangerous.

This morning I stopped off at the Dollar Tree to pick up a few things to stuff in his mailbox between now and Halloween (to add to what I previously bought, because, well, I'm insane.) Blame my mother. It's all her fault that I go nuts during _________ (fill in any/every holiday.)

So, there you have it. A pretty inexpensive and personalized way for your kid to get mail (and prizes- hehehe.)