Future Explorers' Club vs Letters From Afar

Where they differ

Both are letters and travel clubs. Past that they pull apart: Future Explorers' Club also covers activities, while Letters From Afar adds art & prints.

On price there is effectively nothing in it — £5.99/mo against $8/mo, which works out within a dollar a month of each other. Price is not the deciding factor here.

Shipping is the one that rules a club out rather than in: Future Explorers' Club ships to Worldwide, Letters From Afar to US and 40 other countries.

Future Explorers' Club addresses the post to the child by name; Letters From Afar 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.

What each one sends

Future Explorers' Club

Each month covers a new location through an illustrated letter, plus a craft activity card, a recipe card for local food, a map, a fun-facts card and a puzzle sheet. The envelope is printed with the child's name. A sample letter PDF is downloadable from the site.

Letters From Afar

A monthly illustrated double-sided letter from a fictional traveler named Isabelle, covering a new world destination each month with doodles and fun facts, plus a custom vintage-replica map. Destinations never repeat within a year.

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.