Young boy shocked after receiving first birthday card – nearly nine years after it was first sent

A birthday card that went missing in the post for nearly nine years was delivered to a young boy just after his ninth birthday – but no one knows why it went missing for so long

The father of a young boy who received a birthday card in the post nearly nine years after it was sent says they were “surprised” to receive it.

The situation began when Alfie Wilson’s dad, Richard, noticed a post card from Royal Mail explaining that they were holding a card addressed to Alfie but it didn’t have a valid stamp. He payed the £2.50 charge to have the mail delivered and was shocked to find that when it did finally come, it was a first birthday card – for his nine year old son.

The 57-year-old from Reading, Berkshire, explained that he recognised his sisters, Sally’s, handwriting and initially thought it was a card she had mistakenly bought, as it had “Happy First Birthday” printed on the front, but sent anyway for Alfie’s previous birthday. But when Alfie but excitedly opened the card, they saw the message saying: ‘To Alfie, lots of love on your 1st birthday. From Auntie Sally and Uncle Pat x’.

Richard recalls: “I thought it had got lost for six months – but it had actually been lost for eight and a half years! “It has even survived Covid and suddenly decided to turn up. This must be the first time a child will open their first birthday card and be able to read it.”

He continued: “I spoke to my sister about it and she said, ‘I bet you thought I hadn’t bothered’. She has sent cards to him every year since. Goodness knows what happened to it. It has probably just been lying around on the floor somewhere in Yorkshire. Who knows where it has been.”

Richard said that Alfie was elated to receive the surprise card and thought the situation was hilarious. However, a friend of his who works for Royal Mail advised that the family should complain about having to pay the £2.50 to have the card delivered after all this time and so he took to X, formerly Twitter, to share the “puzzling” situation.

He explained that the stamp on the card was of the late Queen Elizabeth II and would have been valid when it was sent back in 2015 – therefore, he was unsure why it hadn’t arrived on time – and not nearly a decade later. Royal Mail responded to Richard, compensating the family £10.80 for the card and a book of eight first class stamps.

The cherry on top for young Alfie was a £10 cheque addressed to him from the postal service as a ‘gesture of goodwill’. Richard said: “It more than makes up for the cost. Alfie thought it was very funny. He was surprised but he thought it was funny to get a first birthday card when he’s nearly ten. And he was thrilled to get £10, so he’s very happy.”

A Royal Mail spokesperson said the company couldn’t speculate on where the card has been all these years. They said: “We deliver billions of letters successfully every year. Unfortunately, on this occasion the customer did not receive this high standard of service, we have discussed it with them and rectified the situation. We cannot speculate on where the card was before it was delivered.”