Petit Mail

What's in the box: One full colour, double sided story postcard on thick cardstock in a hand-addressed envelope, with occasional extras like stickers.

Petit Mail is a small Canadian snail mail subscription that sends one story postcard a month to children from about age three to early reader. Alison Butler, a mom who wanted an affordable mail subscription for her own daughter, created and writes it, and that personal touch shows. Each postcard is packaged, stamped and addressed by hand in a bright envelope with your child's first name on it and sealed with coloured tape. Some months the envelope also has an extra stamp or doodle. The postcards are full colour, double sided and printed on thick cardstock. Each one has a short story built around a theme such as art, science, engineering, nature, reading or imaginative play, and it's meant to inspire an activity you do together afterward, like putting on your own puppet show. Some months include small extras such as stickers. Canadian and US subscriptions cost $7 per month with postage included, and international delivery is also available. That makes it one of the more affordable ways to give a young child the thrill of getting their own mail. The trade off is size. This is a single postcard, not a box of crafts or books, so how much you get out of it depends on parents following through with the suggested play.