Linthorpe couple send gifts to random families in 69 cities to put ‘a smile on people’s faces’

Who wouldn’t love a surprise gift?

After the difficult few months caused by covid-19, one local couple is spreading joy this December by sending out gifts to random addresses across the UK.

The Linthorpe pair, who have chosen to remain anonymous, have sent surprise hampers filled with treats, along with a handmade card, to one home in each UK city, and they have now started sending them out to towns too.

“My partner and I recently started to send free gifts to addresses picked completely at random across the UK, to try to put a smile on people’s faces during these difficult times,” said one of the co-founders of Happiness by Mail.

Although they realise there are bigger appeals out there to feed families and support vulnerable people this Christmas, they simply wanted to spread some joy after what has been a difficult year for everyone.

In previous years, the anonymous co-founder has given Christmas cookies to her neighbours, but this year the pair decided to reach out to more people and widen it to the whole of the UK, so far sending gift hampers to 69 cities.

“I wanted to do something a bit more, it’s easy to give something to someone you know, but our focus was more to spread some happiness.

“Our whole aim was to stay anonymous, we’re not doing this for any kind of credit, it’s not for recognition, we’re just doing something nice,” she said.

Even though she works full time and her partner is self-employed, they have battled through the late nights, early morning and countless trips to the post office to spread some joy this winter.

“I’ve got this thing about trying to make a difference in the world, but you feel a bit helpless after this year, then my partner came up with the idea to send some parcels to random addresses,” she said.

They chose the lucky recipients by zooming in on Google Maps, a city at a time, and choosing an address at random, before checking its validity on the Royal Mail’s postcode checker.

“We’ve sent them to a mixture of houses, we finished our cities on Monday and we’ve just started sending to towns, we started locally,” she said.

Random houses across Teesside could soon be getting a knock on the door with a surprise treat.

Not wanting any recognition for their generous acts of kindness, they have only told their parents about what they have been up to.

Her partner’s parents have given them some money to continue buying the treats, with her mother-in-law even sending two parcels off herself.

Their local Post Office on Chipchase Road, Middlesbrough, even paid for some of the parcels to be sent.

“I was blown away by it, I didn’t expect it at all,” she said, as well as the staff keeping the store open out of hours for the pair to send their many parcels.

The hampers are made up of various treats such as sweets, chocolate, candy canes, biscuits, photo display strings, pens, teabags, hot chocolate sachets, Christmas spoons, fairy lights, decorations, candles and treats for kids including yoyos, bouncy balls, snap bracelets, bubbles, colouring books and pull along cars.

Each gift hamper is different, but they all include a handmade card and have been lovingly wrapped in cellophane and ribbon.

“I made the cards, my partner’s handwriting is lots better than mine so he wrote them out,” she joked, before each card was finished with a Christmas wax seal.

And the 10 to 15 messages the pair have received from grateful strangers has spurred them on to continue their generous gift giving.

“To begin with we didn’t get any messages, we were almost a little disheartened, but as soon as they came in it made it all worth it.

“I thought even if just one person got in touch I knew we’d have made a difference,” she said.

Their random acts of kindness have had a knock on effect, and some of those who received a gift hamper are now planning to keep the chain going and send on their own gifts or cards to a random home.

Some people who received a surprise treat have shared it on the social media pages.

One woman received a hamper and although she doesn’t use social media, she got her neighbour to get in touch and say thank you on her behalf, and another woman got in touch via private message on Instagram to say it had really given her a lift after a difficult year.

One family in Cumbria and one from Swansea are now planning to send on their own gifts, to continue spreading the Christmas cheer to unsuspecting recipients.

“I’d love to send more but we can’t keep spending and spending.

“We’re trying to spread it a bit further, get the message out there a bit more.

“We don’t want any recognition, but we’re trying to encourage people to join in.

“We understand people might not have spare money, even if it’s just sending a card to someone in your street,” she added.

The Linthorpe couple plan to continue sending out gifts to towns in the UK until they run out of goodies, and although their Happiness by Mail scheme came about for Christmas, they’re planning on carrying on into 2021, with ideas already for Easter themed treats.

All the money has come out of their own pockets, apart from a recent donation from her in-laws.

“We’ve been in a position where we’ve spent less this year, we have laughed and thought we’re crazy, but we’re just trying to spread some joy and put a smile on people’s faces,” she added.

Happiness by Mail can be found on Instgram @happinessbymail or on Facebook here, to see some of the responses from the lucky recipients and to upload a photo if you’re one of the lucky ones to receive a parcel in the post.