During quarantine, sending mail is a great way to connect with friends and family. I’ll also show you an easy way to create a shipping label at home.

An easy way to send love and create a shipping label at home

I think all of us are eager to send love to friends and family while we can’t see them. So today I wanted to share about one of my favorite traditions — Mail Mondays — and show you a really easy way to create a shipping label at home using your PayPal account.

Plus I’ll show you how to schedule a pickup from your postman so you can send all sorts of love without ever leaving the house.

Here are some ideas for what to send in your care packages

On our Mail Mondays, we usually put together a little gift package with some homemade or store bought goodies. But you can make it as big or small as you’d like. These are a few ideas of things to send:

• Have your kids draw some pictures and send them in the mail (requires only a stamp!)
• Write a note in a greeting card and send it in the mail (requires only a stamp!)
• Bath bomb to a friend who needs a little relaxation time
• Face masks
• Nail polish
• A packet of seeds for your friends or family to plant this spring
• Homemade trail mix and a note encouraging them to get out in the sunshine this week
• A gift card to a restaurant so they can do curbside pickup
• Your favorite book (you can use Media Mail to send this and it’s very inexpensive! Qualifications are listed here.)
• A journal
• Some favorite treats
• Hand lotion
• Holiday decorations
• Favorite snacks
• Lipstick, chapstick, lipgloss
• Cozy socks for wearing at home

There are so many more ideas than this, but hopefully this gets the ideas flowing.

Now it’s time to ship it.

An easy way to ship from home using PayPal

You can still send packages without going to the post office! If you have a paypal account, there’s a really easy way to create shipping labels directly from home.

Go to https://www.paypal.com/shiplabel/create/ and after signing into your account, you’ll be prompted to input the “ship to” address. Add it in.

see the screenshot from my computer below.

Now you’ll have a options to create the shipping label: 

• Carrier (I always choose USPS)
• Service type (First class is best if your item is under 1 lb. Priority Mail is best if it’s over 1 lb).
• Package type (I’m almost always packing it in my own package, so I choose “package/thick envelope”)

see screenshot from my computer below

Here’s how to measure and weigh your package at home

For the “Package/Thick Envelope” option, you have to measure and weigh your package. I use my KITCHEN SCALE to weigh the parcel, and use a measuring tape to measure the height, length, and width.

Then “Calculate Shipping Cost.”

You can always go back at this point and switch your shipping to a different speed and see how that affects the price!

Once you’ve settled on a good speed and price,  choose “Confirm and Pay.” It’ll deduct the cost from your PayPal account and give you a PDF shipping label. Print it out, attach it to your parcel, and you’re done!

Schedule a pickup using USPS services

If your parcel is small enough to fit in your mailbox, great. Or maybe you have one of those blue mailboxes close to your house. Drop it in there.

But if not, you can easily schedule a pickup at USPS.com.

Put in your address and confirm it’s available in your area, then schedule which day you want it to be picked up and where the package will be so your mail person can find it.

If you have the mail person pick it up during your regular mail service, it’s free!

One more really easy and inexpensive option to send happy mail

I hope this makes you realize just how easy it is to send some happy mail to people you love!

OR if you want to make it even easier…try BrightBoxes! They’re an incredible little company who sends care packages at crazy low prices. They start at only $5.

Check them out HERE and use code “MERRICK” for a free add-0n!

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photos by Aubrey Stock