If you’ve got kids in summer camp, you may know that each day they don’t get a letter from home is another reason they grow up to resent you. Kidding. But they do like to get lots of letters — and I admit, I am not the best daily letter writer. At all. So it was my current 12-year-old camper who told me about “some kind of pop-out photo postcard app thing that you HAVE to get, Mom!”
So I did. And I’m using it.
It’s called Postagram, and it enables you to very simply send postcards with photos that kids can pop out if they want. I don’t love love it, but I really like it, so here’s the story.
For about $2/card (though you can pre-pay for discounted packs like 15 cards for $25 or 100 cards for $160) you get the convenience of typing a short message onto a postcard, uploading a digital photo, addressing it, and having it mailed for you.
I’d say it’s best if you think of it as a mailable Instagram photo (thus, the name) than a postcard. You don’t get a ton of characters for your message, so caption your photo with something fun and pithy, instead of thinking of it as a very short note.
Plus it’s nice that even after kids tear out the photo, your message appears on the back of it as well so they’re not just tossing your carefully considered note.
Postagram has come a long way from when it first launched in 2014 and we didn’t love it enough to share it here. Now, the photos are decent quality, there are about 15 background styles to choose from with customizable styles, and it’s a lot more user-friendly. You could also easily use it to send photos from a vacation while you’re traveling. (Should your actual Instagram feed not be sufficient.)
Still, there are a few issues with Postagram.
They claim 2-3 days delivery for the most part; I’ve found it can be a week or more. Keep that in mind if you’re mailing final-week-of-camp letters.
The app can also be a little glitchy while you’re playing around with colors and backgrounds, but nothing too awful.
My biggest complaint though is that they should get rid of the Postagram logo and the sizeable promotional message on the card above the mailing address. For $2 a card, I shouldn’t be sending an ad to my kid. Or at least the company should give us a paid upgrade option to remove their messaging.
All this said, I know these postcards are making my kids happy. And it’s kind of fun in this Instagram era to be able to send them a quick snapshot, without going through the process of printing it, writing a note, folding, addressing, stamping and mailing.
For very little effort, I look like a super with-it mom, and my children get the joy of hearing their names at mail call more often than not.
Try Postagram through this link and get your first card free. You can also try promo code PGFREE2018.
Photos © Liz Gumbinner for Cool Mom Tech
