Hi!
I have a question. When you send a letter to your penpal, do you put any special little things in the envelope? For example, stickers, a bookmark to a book or tea? If so, what do you put in the envelope? Any of what I wrote here as examples or something else?
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Hi Tamika!
I have few penpals. I include coins, banknotes, stamps, bus ticket, small toys, stickers, tea, coffee, washi tapes, perfume, ready to eat food, something very much Indian etc to my penpals, according to their taste and interest.
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I’ve sent stickers, bookmarks and tea.
I’ve also sent newspaper articles, comic strips, extra postcards, stationery items (notecards, letter sets, washi tape, etc), chocolates, etc. And for one penpal, when she was planning to visit my area, I sent travel brochures. 
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Hi tamika!
I send stickers, tea bag and something else “thin”
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Stickers, teabags, sticks of gum, postcards, stamps, holiday ornaments, a little craft kit, a brochure from somewhere I’ve traveled, interesting magazine or newspaper article – anything relatively light and flat-ish works best so I don’t have to deal with customs forms.
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Aw, everyone is so generous. 
A boring, but necessary word of caution: check the recipient country’s postal restrictions! Tea is a common request by Postcrossers asking for extras, but beware–you could end up like @Mundoo and have your postcard confiscated due to its containing dried plant material:
Tea is included in many countries’ lists of prohibited material, and @pdotk, I would be wary of perfume samples, too, as they are flammable. 
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@PinkNoodle!
Yes, you are absolutely right about perfumes. But the ones I am sending are non-alcoholic and powdered ones, like talcum powder. Like in Australia, in India also most of the mails go into rigorous check to avoid drug trafficking.
As you said, the senders should be aware of the postal rules of their country as well as the recipient’s country.
Cheers
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No I don’t, at least not international.
Since July 2019 it is forbidden to send anything else but documents in envelope abroad. No goods!
We have to use at least a package / parcel now.
So from 3,70 € for a letter up to 500 g worldwide it’s 4,89 € within Europe and 8,89 € outside EU.
This is up to 2 kg but not insured and a simple package could take ages to reach its destination.
I feel really sorry for this but I don’t have the money to send out anything else but stamps, used bus tickets or any other flat papers a recipient would be happy to receive.
Also tea bags could be tricky, I know some people who tried and got their letter back because of this.
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I love taxidermy plants, so I always put my recently made specimens in envelopes.
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Yes, anything thin although it is forbidden in a letter in Germany. 
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When I still had penpals I used to include little gifts like small chocolate pieces, bookmarks, stickers, souvenir etc. just to share something small, but I guess I had bit bad luck with my penpals as I never got any gifts back (which of course was fair as we never agreed on more than letters) and they never mentioned the surprise on the letters, so eventually I stopped with that. If I would do penpaling again, I would probably ask first if the penpal wants to exchange small gifts too, so then it is more fair and nobody needs to feel guilty about not being able to reply for surprise gift or wonder if the gift went for waste.
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If my penpal likes to read I will send recommendations for books to read. The library sometimes prints out lists on bookmarks or in a pamphlet. I use tea bag sleeves to tuck small “goodies inside”- like stamps, a printed quote, an interesting tag from clothing or food. But I do try to consider their interests.
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I don’t have pen pals, but when I send a postcard in an envelope. I always include a small calendar and/or bookmark. If someone likes stamps, bus tickets or purchase receipts then also something like that.
But now I’ve read here, got the idea times a sticker or Washitape bei zulegen. If someone likes something like that.
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I love exchanging gifts with my penpals!! We swap, sticky notes, stickers, tea, bookmarks, photos, postcards and other little things.
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I like to send postcards, stickers, bookmarks, small maps, information brochures about my town…a local restaurant writes a kind of newsletter for people at their tables to take and I’ve sent a few to my pen pals. They’re full of useful and fun information. I have a Japanese pen pal and we send each other random little odds and ends, too.
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I usually include used stamps if my penpal collects stamps, and I include tea bags too (pre-sealed). I would usually put the tea bags in between my letters so that it would not seem too obvious or get stuck at customs.
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I must add various stickers stampers A penpal mail should look like a mini gift package.
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exactly that’s how a lovely mail should be also a 2 way exchange with lovely goodies.
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For my penpals according to tastes and interests of each, I send :
- scrapbooking stuff : stickers and die-cuts (handmade or not), washi tape samples, paper, sequins, ribbon, tags, flipbook, 3D foam square double-sided adhesive, adhesive dots, doilies paper
- used stamps
- postcard (handmade or not)
- stationery stuffs : sticky notes, letter paper, envelopes, bookmark, memo pad, notebook, paper clips of cute shapes, address label
- photos
- magnet
- keychain
- book
- cosmetic sample
- tag with music I listen to or book I read or brush lettering quotes
- folded card (handmade or not)
- coffee stick / tea bag
- chocolate bar
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I send my letters with goodies all the time! Stickers, washi tape samples, some postcards, letter set, memo notes. Something flat items will be good! It will make them happy and it is not very expensive!
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