Are Pen Pals Old Fashioned?

When I was a kid I never had a pen pal.  I always wanted one.  I can remember writing letters to my great grandmother and getting some in return, and I loved that.  But I really wanted a pen pal from far away.  Another kid my age from another state that I could befriend through the mail!

One of my favorite memories from my school years is letting balloons go on the football field.  The whole school would gather, with our tagged balloon in hand, and set them loose.  The tag would include our name, age and address.  I would always hope, and sometimes pray, that my balloon would be found and I would get a letter in the mail.  It never happened.  There were only about 2-3 kids every year that would receive a letter in return from a found balloon.  Did anyone else do that in their school growing up?

So, since we had leftover balloons from Ahren's party this weekend,  I decided I'd let my kids give it a try! I made 3x5 cards for them to write their name on and attached them to the balloons.  I think I was way more excited than they were.  We may only get a letter from someone in Shrewsbury (the next town east of us) and Tim thinks we'll get a littering ticket in the mail, but you just never know unless you try!!

 We had one balloon get stuck in the tree.  We're waiting for the next gust of wind and we're sure it will survive!

I will be checking the mail box in the next few weeks to see if we have a new pen pal...or two!