How to send Spring in a Bottle.

Here are pictures of the spring flowers I sent in the mail.  I found some tea bottles that just begged for something beautiful to be put inside and mailed!  After taking the labels off and washing out then drying the bottles I tried to think of what to send.  Flowers!  Maybe tulips.  When I went to the grocery store floral department I saw some lily buds.  Good.  Then I saw little bundles of daffodils that had not yet bloomed!  Cheap and perfect for the season!  I asked for some florist paper and hurried home.  I put some scrunched paper, about a quarter of the sheet, into the bottom of the bottle and made it as flat as I could.  Then I cut the daffodils until they were short enough to fit in the bottle with 1-1/2 to 2" left to the shoulder of the bottle.  I put 3 in each bottle.  I put a few drops of water in the bottle, just enough so it won't splash around.  I then plugged the top of the bottle with another 1/4 of the florist paper.  I made sure there was just enough of the paper to catch in the lid when I screwed it on - I didn't want it to get knocked too far down into the bottle as below.

Now you can put a label on one side of the bottle, and a return address.  I took it to the Post Office to mail it, even though I knew it was less than 13 oz.  I couldn't fit enough stamps on the bottle to mail it (5 first class stamps) so I needed the little print out they use instead of stamps.  The clerk was the same one who had accepted the last bottle I mailed to may Dad, a green plastic bottle with a rubber duck and a note inside.  She wanted to know how that bottle had approved and I told her how much my Dad had enjoyed it!  She put the postage on and assured me it would stay on with no problem.

It arrived at Dad's in bloom and perfect shape.  I don't know what his mailman thought, he'd been able to just leave it in the mailbox.  The one I sent to my Aunt Katherine arrived at the same time her meals on wheels arrived and everyone oohed and aah-ed over it!  She had fresh flowers with her lunch!  I got a wonderful call from her the next day!  I also sent a daffodil bottle to my sister Suzanne in Denver.  It had stayed out on the porch overnight and froze - but thawed out and bloomed beautifully for her!

So all my flower bouquets all arrived in good shape and full of yellow cheer.  I'm glad I sent daffodils this early in the spring.  I'm sure they handled the freezing weather much better than the lilies would have.  I'll have to make sure to send weather appropriate blooms when I send the next ones.

Use this as a start and use your own creativity to personalize it for whoever you're sending it to.  I think a little glitter would be wonderful.  I hope you have as much fun with this as I and my family did!  

What's going on back there?! Don't make me pull over!!

Hi!  My name is Sandy and I'm from a family of 12.  We traveled a lot, believe it or not!  We had station wagons, vans (Dad called one of them the Paddy Wagon) and even buses.  We camped at State and National Parks because they were only $5 a night back then.  We stayed with relatives, they must have really loved us!  Just think about it, a carload of kids moving in for a few days!  Do we all have stories to tell!

We looked back at all the pictures as we got older and dubbed our Dad "Travelin' Bob".  He was tickled, if a big bear of a guy in overalls and chewing tobacco could be considered tickled.  He liked the name and it stuck.

Well, Travelin' Bob has gotten older.  He hates to admit it, but his traveling days are just about over.  Our family is spread out all over, literally from coast to coast.  We get together twice a year for the family reunion in the summer and then near New Year's for the winter.  But it's still hard to spend time with our Dad often enough.  A few years ago, when he could still travel a little, we sent him on a Staycation during the the winter months.  Our family sent him things that would make him feel like he was on a tropical cruise.  He loved it.

Then we sent him on a trip to a dude ranch last fall.  Again, it was a hit.  He can't travel at all now so I've been trying to figure out a way to entertain him from a distance.  I've looked all over the internet for ideas and found a few.  But I wanted MORE!  So I'm adding to what I found.

I hope to be able to help people keep in touch through the mail.  I love getting mail and sending mail.  It's a wonderful way to stay in touch, along with phone calls and texting and skyping!  Next I'll put up some pictures for the first trip.