Lindsay, over at The Lean Green Bean started this penpal exchange program a few years ago, and apparently it has just taken off. Basically, you sign up by the 4th of every month. Then Lindsay randomly matches you with another participant. You email back and forth with that person to find out likes, dislikes, allergies, etc. Then you go foodie shopping! The spending limit is $15, although I will admit that I went over that. Ok by me, I wanted to send good stuff!
You have to postmark your box by the 15th, and let your penpal know when you've received their box. It's up to you to figure out the best/cheapest way to mail your box. I just sent mine priority since it came with tracking and delivery confirmation. Important! Then anyone with a blog waits to post about it until the 30th of the month. This isn't an automatic renewal type of program, so if you want to keep doing it, you have to remember to sign up for the next month again.
This was my first month, and I was paired with veteran foodie penpal-er Gigi from Texas. She sounds like so much fun, and a real foodie at heart! I sent her a box full of Minnesota-made goodies, and she reciprocated with a box full of Texas love! Wanna see?
I opened the box to find these fun post cards. The "Kisses from Texas" is for Emily, and the San Antonio card had a description of each item.
.JPG)
2. Alamo Crackers - shortbread cookies: how fun!
3. Wild West Cookies - cinnamon graham cookies in "wild west" shapes.
4. Minestrone Soup Mix
5. Italian Seasoning Mix
6. Hawaiian Nut mix - seriously so good! I could not stop eating this!
7. Garlic chips - basically dried garlic cloves in some kind of seasoning. I was a little doubtful about these to begin with, but they are quite tasty!
8. Green bean chips - the same as the garlic chips, but these are a little sweet too. Travis and I love them!
9. A cedar grilling plank. How awesome is that?!
Gigi also included a few pamphlets about things to do in San Antonio, including a map of all the wineries. Yes please! Perhaps I will have to schedule a trip there sometime soon?
The downside of Foodie Penpals is that you can get an unresponsive match. My first penpal didn't email me back right away, so I was rematched with Gigi. Apparently the same thing happened to her. Then my first penpal finally did email me. I figured two would be twice the fun, so I chatted with her and sent her a box as well. She said she sent my box on the 15th, but it never showed up. :( Majorly disappointed!
In any case, I will do this again. It was so fun, and I'm loving all the little treats!
Have you heard of Foodie Penpals? Is this something you'd consider doing?
I had a foodie penpal this month too!!! It was so fun to put together. Plus, it's awesome to get new foods in the mail to try. I'm sorry you never got a package from your first penpal. That stinks! The package you did get looks delicious though. I love the wild west cookies!
ReplyDeleteYea, I was pretty disappointed about that. The woman never emailed me back either, when I asked about tracking info or if the box was returned to her. Kind of rude if you ask me! I spent more than $15 on her box, too. :(
DeleteEverything has been really good from Gigi's box! The cookies are my daughter's favorite. Big surprise, right?
Wow, that really stinks about never getting a box from that one person. This is my 2nd month doing the penpal exchange and both times my first penpal did not work out. The first time, the person did not respond to my email and the second time, the person ended up saying she couldn't participate. Not sure why people want to sign up for something like this if they are going to be unable to follow through! Oh well. I'm glad you got re-paired up with someone and got an awesome box from her :)
ReplyDeleteI totally agree! Especially because this other person did email back and forth with me quite a bit. Then radio silence. Oh well, next month will still be fun!
DeleteWhat Hawaiian nut mix sounds amazing!! It stinks when you have a negative blogger swap experience, but at least you got one great box of goodies :)
ReplyDelete