Dear Little Thing vs Zip's Mailbox Club

Where they differ

Both are letters and art & prints clubs. Past that they pull apart: Dear Little Thing also covers nature, while Zip's Mailbox Club adds activities.

On price there is effectively nothing in it — £14.99/mo against $19.99/mo, which works out within a dollar a month of each other. Price is not the deciding factor here.

They arrive on different rhythms. Dear Little Thing comes monthly; Zip's Mailbox Club comes twice a month. More frequent post is not automatically better — it is more to keep up with, and for some children the wait is part of it.

Shipping is the one that rules a club out rather than in: Dear Little Thing ships to Worldwide, Zip's Mailbox Club to US.

Zip's Mailbox Club addresses the post to the child by name; Dear Little Thing does not. That sounds minor and it is the detail people mention most often — the envelope being visibly theirs is most of the appeal for a younger child.

Zip's Mailbox Club expects a reply — there is something to write back to. Dear Little Thing is one-way. A write-back club is the better one if an adult will actually sit down and help; if not, it turns into a pile of unanswered post.

What each one sends

Dear Little Thing

A handmade monthly letter written as if from a shy hedgehog, with short stories, drawings and small forest-themed keepsakes. Mailed from the United Kingdom with free worldwide shipping.

Zip's Mailbox Club

Two envelopes a month from a character called Zip: an illustrated personalized letter with a monthly Mailbox Hunt and a collectible crew card, then a mid-month envelope with a coloring page, a paper game and a letter the child can pass on to a friend. Every package includes a reply card, envelope and stamp, and what the child writes back is worked into later letters.

Which one to pick

We are not going to pretend there is a winner here — they are close enough to be on the same shortlist, which is why this page exists. What we would say is that the choice usually turns on the household rather than the club: how much adult time there is, whether the child reads independently yet, and whether you want post that asks something of them or post that simply arrives.

Read the full listings before deciding, and follow through to each club's own site — prices, terms and gift options are theirs to change and ours only to record.