Laughing 1000 Miles Away - Creative Postcard Ideas
March 9, 2020 4:07 PM Subscribe
My sister moved away about 5 months ago to further her career and hates where she is. I want to start sending handmade postcards. I'd love to hear your creative (and funny!) thoughts on how to send her a laugh.
I'm looking for any ideas for either the image on the postcard or the content on the back. One thought I had was silly quotes from tv shows I know we've both seen. I also had a fleeting thought of a series of postcards with some sentence that would end in a punch line....where each card would only have a few words on it and it would be a mystery until the final card arrived.
The laugh could also come from the image on front.
I bought a stack of large blank index cards, have some goofy stamps, and a book with ideas on paper decorations.
We don't do sappy or sentimental. Making each other laugh is the way we handle crap times.
I'm looking for any ideas for either the image on the postcard or the content on the back. One thought I had was silly quotes from tv shows I know we've both seen. I also had a fleeting thought of a series of postcards with some sentence that would end in a punch line....where each card would only have a few words on it and it would be a mystery until the final card arrived.
The laugh could also come from the image on front.
I bought a stack of large blank index cards, have some goofy stamps, and a book with ideas on paper decorations.
We don't do sappy or sentimental. Making each other laugh is the way we handle crap times.
I’ve seen greeting cards made with real vintage photos with sassy captions added. You could do that, with photos from your own family if possible, except I think you’d want to scan the images and print them onto the cards because affixing photos to the cards wouldn’t survive mailing.
posted by lakeroon at 6:25 PM on March 9, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by lakeroon at 6:25 PM on March 9, 2020 [1 favorite]
Knock knock jokes. Either send an SASE for a reply if you want her to have to send you a "Who's there?" or send each line on its own postcard every day, so the joke plays out at the speed of mail.
The incredible shrinking letter: making an envelope is pretty simple. Start with a normal envelope and make gradually smaller envelopes until you've made one that fits a card for a doll. Write "Hi! love, sister" on the card, and seal them up so she has to open each ridiculous envelope after another.
Very dumb jokes also work: Front: image of buttercup. Text: I knelt to pick a buttercup. Who left buttocks lying around?
Picture: cows in a field. Text: These cows won an award. They are outstanding in their field.
The more work you put into something dumb, the funnier it is!
posted by blnkfrnk at 7:18 PM on March 9, 2020 [3 favorites]
The incredible shrinking letter: making an envelope is pretty simple. Start with a normal envelope and make gradually smaller envelopes until you've made one that fits a card for a doll. Write "Hi! love, sister" on the card, and seal them up so she has to open each ridiculous envelope after another.
Very dumb jokes also work: Front: image of buttercup. Text: I knelt to pick a buttercup. Who left buttocks lying around?
Picture: cows in a field. Text: These cows won an award. They are outstanding in their field.
The more work you put into something dumb, the funnier it is!
posted by blnkfrnk at 7:18 PM on March 9, 2020 [3 favorites]
Postcard idea: an image mosaic, where each card is one section of a larger picture
If you are open to sending non-postcard mail, that gives you some fun options:
* message in a bottle - Put a letter and/or fun stuff (candy? confetti? small toys?) in a plastic water bottle. Seal it & slap on an address label & stamps.
* weird stuff - I once mailed a half-eaten pancake in a plastic baggie to a friend. I stapled & taped the baggie closed, then put an address label & stamps on the baggie. No envelope required. You can also mail things like flip-flop sandals, colorful kids 9" plastic balls, etc. Just write your message directly on them with a sharpie.
posted by belladonna at 6:13 AM on March 10, 2020
If you are open to sending non-postcard mail, that gives you some fun options:
* message in a bottle - Put a letter and/or fun stuff (candy? confetti? small toys?) in a plastic water bottle. Seal it & slap on an address label & stamps.
* weird stuff - I once mailed a half-eaten pancake in a plastic baggie to a friend. I stapled & taped the baggie closed, then put an address label & stamps on the baggie. No envelope required. You can also mail things like flip-flop sandals, colorful kids 9" plastic balls, etc. Just write your message directly on them with a sharpie.
posted by belladonna at 6:13 AM on March 10, 2020
I used to send postcards to friends with "A haiku about this postcard." I was doing it in the late 90s when those free postcard/ads were all over the place in cafes and stuff so I always had a supply of weird cards to write about. It was a fun ten minute writing exercise and my friends enjoyed the randomness.
posted by tangosnail at 7:40 AM on March 10, 2020
posted by tangosnail at 7:40 AM on March 10, 2020
Puns, where the image on the card is the pun word. Like:
Lettuce never loose touch!
Do you carrot all for me?
I just can't bear this separation!
Weirder/surreal puns:
Image: oak with eggs hanging off the branches or tree sorting from an eggshell; text: “Mighty yolks from little acorns grow.”
Image: moon with a duck in it; text: the duck side of the moon
Punpedia is good for ideas.
posted by carrioncomfort at 12:44 PM on March 10, 2020 [1 favorite]
Lettuce never loose touch!
Do you carrot all for me?
I just can't bear this separation!
Weirder/surreal puns:
Image: oak with eggs hanging off the branches or tree sorting from an eggshell; text: “Mighty yolks from little acorns grow.”
Image: moon with a duck in it; text: the duck side of the moon
Punpedia is good for ideas.
posted by carrioncomfort at 12:44 PM on March 10, 2020 [1 favorite]
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You can buy or make a postcard address lines stamp for the blank side, and then it becomes easy to run them through a printer on one side and stamp for a postcard.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 5:46 PM on March 9, 2020