Last month I took part in an annual event organised by Fab from Snail Mail Love called the Secret Pen Pal Scavenger Hunt. The way it works is that each of us is assigned one (secret) pen-pal. Fab provides a big list of potential things to send and we are to choose five items from her list.

We all revealed what we had received on the one day, and it was pretty amazing to see. (It also made me feel a bit self-conscious about the package that I had put together for my secret pen-pal. I mean I tried really hard and spent AGES gathering everything together and making it all... but once I saw what everyone else had done... and once I received the truly beautiful and thoughtful package that MY pen pal created for ME, I felt pretty insecure. Nervous! I hope my pen pal likes it).

If you want to take a look at some of the lovely pen-pal packages, search the hashtag #spsh2016 on Instagram.

The package I received from my secret pen-pal, who turned out to be a super-sweet woman called Joey, was gorgeous. Each item was wrapped in lovely paper with vintage maps, and hand labelled. I had some very enthusiastic and inquisitive help when it came to unwrapping everything, too. You're curious, aren't you! Here's what was inside those packages...

City Explorers' Kit

∧∧ Cute little London-themed paper things

Something not square

∧∧ Fab pen! Lovely washi-tape! Terrible photography!

Something to use while travelling

∧∧ This is the BEST. Just fill with ink or water

Postal freak's kit

∧∧ All the beautiful snail-mail ephemera! I will have to make something for Joey from this and write back to her

A gift

∧∧ Joey added an extra little gift for me, a beautiful necklace that she said reminded her of the Earth. I loved it and so did Scout. Oh BOY so did Scout! This picture is blurry but I included it because will you just look at her face? That is the face of someone who, a nanosecond ago, spotted a sparkly necklace, and is now hoping against hope that maybe just maybe she might be allowed to keep it...

Something seasonal

∧∧ Yeah, these did not last long at ALL