They’ve always told you not to talk to strangers, not to get in someone else’s car… And while I don’t suggest disobeying these sacred words of advice, I also don’t recall anyone ever telling me not to send a gift to somebody I didn’t know; to a perfect stranger. The magazine that makes people smile, Oh Comely is hosting its second year of The Perfect Strangers Project, and I’ve just signed up for the “joyful risk of giving without the guarantee of getting anything in return.”
The premise is simple: anyone who signs up to the project, no matter where you are in the world, gets paired up at random. Then, you put together a care package full of surprises and ship it off in the mail to a perfect stranger. All that’s left to do is cross your fingers and hope something arrives for you too. From a modern-day message in a bottle to a wintry treat, the contents of the package are carefully – and wittily, might I add – chosen and advised upon by the Oh Comely team. Last year, participants shared photos of their surprise parcels on social media with the hashtag #OCswapbox…
“Swap a letter, swap a package, find a friend.” This is surely one way to make snail mail fun.
To become a part of the project, sign up here before November 10th to receive details of your swap partner. To see examples of how people got creative with their parcels, check out The Perfect Stranger Project’s Facebook page.
[Photo credit: via The Perfect Strangers Project]