Mailbox Melodies vs Pipsticks Kids Sticker Club

Where they differ

Both are activities and stickers clubs. Past that they pull apart: Mailbox Melodies also covers music, while Pipsticks Kids Sticker Club adds postcards.

On price there is effectively nothing in it — $19/mo against $19.95/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: Mailbox Melodies ships to US, Pipsticks Kids Sticker Club to Worldwide.

Mailbox Melodies addresses the post to the child by name; Pipsticks Kids Sticker Club 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.

Mailbox Melodies expects a reply — there is something to write back to. Pipsticks Kids Sticker Club 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

Mailbox Melodies

On the 15th of every month Ms. Chelsea mails a themed envelope with your child's name on the front: an original music-class experience she writes and records herself, on CD plus a digital download that works on a phone, Yoto or Toniebox, an illustrated booklet with the lyrics and what each song is teaching, stickers, and extras like crafts and art.

Pipsticks Kids Sticker Club

A monthly pack of fifteen hand-drawn sticker sheets, including a puffy sheet and a scratch-and-sniff sheet, plus a reusable storage pouch, a color-in postcard and an activity booklet. Designs are exclusive to subscribers, and members can skip a month or cancel any time.

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.