DIY North Pole Mailbox – Letters to Santa

Letters to Santa

I have a confession to make.  Are you sitting down?

I’m not a huge Dollar Store shopper.

Have I purchased at a dollar store?  Of course!  It’s not my first place to go though…. AND it’s not because I’m rolling in the $$$$ (as you can see here).  Salvaging is mostly about using what I have, buying second hand, and then purposeful purchases…. buying the best item, supporting small, when possible, so there is less waste to replace.  That’s the goal anyways.

But when I do go to the Dollar Store, I look for non plastic items and/or basic items like tissue paper, etc.

For today’s 12 Days of Christmas, the challenge was a Dollar Store Craft.

When I went into the store,and saw this cardboard Santa Mailbox, I knew it was THE ONE!  With a little DIY stand making, it would be so cute.  Plus, it wouldn’t be something that would just be easily tossed aside.

Several years earlier,  in Arizona, I found a metal one that I attempted to add a stand to.  Unfortunately, the stand wasn’t sturdy enough so it just would topple over whenever you would touch it.  This one would need some sturdiness to it.

ENTER – THE MISTER

I knew he would have an idea on how to make DIY North Pole Mailbox more stable.  Plus, our oldest chimed in with his thoughts.  Their answer…….. a Goodwill Gold’s Gym weight!

|ANOTHER MISTER PROJECT|

SUPPLIES

• CARDBOARD MAILBOX 
• 3/4″ PVC PIPE
• WEIGHT
• FRAMING BRACKET/MENDING BRACE
• 1 – 2″ DRYWALL SCREW
• RIBBON
• GLUE
• WINE CORK (another cork reuse here)
• GLITTER GLUE
• TASSEL, YARN, OR RIBBON TO MAKE PULL
• CONSTRUCTION PAPER
• HANDSAW
• SMALL SCREWDRIVER  (this is what worked for us)
• PAPER FASTNER
• WHITE PAINT
• FAKE SNOW (optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. Cut PVC pipe to desired height.  Ours is about 3 ft. tall.
2. With a handsaw, cut across one way of the one end of the PVC (through both sides).  Turn 90 degrees and cut once more (both sides).
3. Take the wine cork and stick in one cut end, flush, of the PVC pipe.  
4. Screw the screw into the middle of the cork and then unscrew it so that you can attach later.
5. Add a tassel to the front of the mailbox by pushing a file fastener to the front. Add ribbon, yarn, or tassel to the clasp. 
6. Take mailbox and push screw through the middle of the bottom of the box.  
7. Screw the mailbox from the inside of the box, through the bracket, into the wine cork attached to the PVC. 
8. Since our weight had a logo on it, we cut some red construction paper to cover it or you can use fake snow or a tree skirt.
9. Take the pipe and stick into the weight.  (If you don’t have a thrifted weight lying around, look for any stand that is heavy on the bottom.)
10. Since our PVC had writing on it, I painted over the writing.  
11. Glue the ribbon to the back of the top of the PVC and wrap it around the pole in a candy cane style.
12. With a hot glue gun, glue the bottom of the ribbon down at the bottom of the pipe.
13. Add glitter to the ribbon, if desired.

**If you don’t have some of the supplies, sometimes it’s just about looking around to see what you have that will work in the same capacity.  When I didn’t have a tassel, I looked at some silky yarn that worked just as well.

Now your DIY North Pole Mailbox  is ready for Dear Santa letters or gift cards and other envelopes for Christmas morning.

|FIND 150 CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS HERE|