June Foodie Pen Pals

How is it almost July? Where did the month of June go? A look back at the calendar explains why it went so fast. 2 work trips, a weekend out of town, a wedding, quite a few social events. Crazy busy! One of the things I look forward to every month is my Foodie Pen Pals box.

This month was filled with delicious treats and a few great pieces of chocolate. I so rarely buy it myself but it was so good. Things were spread out through the 2nd half of the month and Scott and I enjoyed every bite. My pen pal this month was Jessica who is a busy graduate student trying to make the best out of a tiny kitchen. I have been there and really understand!

The Wild Beach Plum Jam was from Vermont and so delicious. A new flavor to me. Sweet and a tiny bit tart. Yum!

If you haven’t joined yet, please do. It is so much fun and I love seeing what others pick to send.

Foodie Penpals

1. On the 5th of every month, you will receive your penpal pairing via email. It will be your responsibility to promptly contact your penpal for a  mailing address and any other information you might need like allergies or dietary restrictions.  (This means you need to send out an email within 72 hours to make contact!!!) I’m not really sure how else to get this through your heads. I get TONS of emails from people saying they haven’t been contacted in a timely manner. Please remember that this is part of the terms and conditions. 3 days is plenty of time.

2. Please be mindful of your matches dietary restrictions if they have them. ie, if they’re gluten free, don’t send them wheat bread…or if they’re vegan, don’t send them bacon…it’s also nice to ask if there’s anything they really don’t like, so that you’re not sending them a package full of coconut stuff if they hate coconut…Consider asking your match if they would like to receive healthy snacks, treats or a mix of both.

3. You will have until the 15th of the month to put your box of goodies in the mail. This will ensure everyone receives their goodies in time to post about them. PLEASE make sure you get your box in the mail on time. Feel free to mail it earlier if you can. It sucks if someone can’t post on the day everyone else does because they haven’t gotten their box yet. 

4. At the end of the month you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal!  I will also hold a linkup party on my blog so that everyone can add the links to their posts and they’ll all be in one spot, making it easy for you to hop around and check out what other people got! Feel free to write your post as soon as your get your goodies if you want, just don’t publish it until the end of the month.

 
5. The boxes are to be filled with fun foodie things, local food items or even homemade treats! The spending limit is $15.

6. The box must also include something written. This can be anything from a note explaining what’s in the box to a fun recipe…use your imagination!

7. You are responsible for figuring out the best way to ship your items depending on their size and how fragile they are. (US participants- Don’t forget about flat rate boxes!) If you’re mailing something breakable, please make sure it is well cushioned to avoid breaking!

8.  If you’re a reader and you get paired with a blogger, you can choose to write a short guest post for the blogger to feature on their blog to show off what they sent you. If two readers get paired together, no one has to worry about writing a post Just enjoy your goodies.

9. BE SURE TO THANK YOUR PENPAL FOR ALL OF THEIR THOUGHT & EFFORT!  Also not really sure how else to get this one through your head. Seriously, this should be a no brainer but you’d be surprised how many people I hear complaining that their penpal never even said thank you or even let them know they got their box.

10. If you’re on twitter, you can use the hashtag #foodiepenpals when tweeting! Tweet up a storm, friends. Don’t forget the "s" on the end- #foodiepenpals, not #foodiepenpal.