How to Order as a Holiday Gift 🎁

If you are planning to order a Mail Order Mystery as a holiday gift we have three words for you: DO NOT WAIT. Mail Order Mysteries are personalized and packaged with care. We only have so many hands and we won’t take more orders than we can personalize and ship. So if we hit the limit of what we are able to process and package, we will have to put up the “sold out” sign until we catch up. And in the past some of our mysteries have sold out as we got closer to Christmas.

Your first choice is picking a mystery. All of our mysteries are good for girls and boys. They can be done by a kid on their own or with siblings, parents or friends. Our mystery Escape the Master Loop is perfect to do as a group that can include adults and teens.

Not sure which mystery to buy? Or which mystery is good for which age? We put together a handy guide to help you choose a mystery.

ALL IN ONE BOX: The advantage to ordering "All in One Box" is that we will ship it out as soon as we can, usually within 7 days. This means you will know that you have an awesome gift stashed in the closet and ready to wrap. You can choose the name on the shipping label on the outside of the box (so kids don’t know it’s for them) and the letters inside the box will be personalized to the kid(s) receiving the mystery. The envelopes are numbered on the back and you can hand out each installment at your own pace. When you order "All in One Box" you will receive tracking information.

SEND WEEKLY: If you choose the weekly shipping option we will send your letters once a week for six weeks. This is a great option for kids who love getting mail, but not great if you want your mail to arrive on a specific schedule. You choose the date we mail the first letter. After that we mail the letters a week apart, every Thursday, but we have no control over the speed at which letters travel through the postal system. There is no tracking information for lettermail, so we are not able to tell you where a letter is or when it will arrive.

If you want to time the first letter so it arrives just before Christmas, you should be prepared for the fact that it might not make it in time. Mail can be unpredictable at the best of times, and especially during the holiday season. If you order “Send Weekly” as a holiday gift we suggest you download the printable gift note to wrap up, and plan for the mystery to begin arriving shortly after Christmas or the beginning of the new year.

If you're trying to pick a start date, this is not a guarantee, but our best estimate around when a first letter will be delivered, based on which date is chosen for the first letter to be mailed.

December 5
Will likely arrive before Christmas

December 12
Will likely arrive just before or just after Christmas

December 19
Will likely arrive after Christmas

December 26
Will likely arrive early in the new year

EXPRESS SHIPPING: We do have an express shipping option available for All in One Box orders. Express orders ship next business day and take 1-2 days to arrive. We do not offer express shipping for the weekly letter option.

Ok, we know that's a lot of information! If you have any other questions please let us know. You can email us at info@mailordermystery.com. We hope we can help you add the joy and subtract the stress this holiday season!