A few months back my friend Shari asked if I could write a letter to her daughter Finley from her imaginary friend Soren Lorensen. I finally got around to it:
It took SO long for me to get to it I had to come up with an elaborate plan to explain the delay! “Soren” explains to Finley in the letter that he was traveling the world and forgot about the letters in his backpack.
I included letters and postcards that “Soren” wrote while traveling the world (complete with fake postmarks and stamps)……
…..plus a little metal box of trinkets and gifts he picked up for Finley along the way.
Each letter corresponds with a trinket or gift and has a story behind it:
Letter 1: Soren visits “the beach” and collects seashells
Stamped and postmarked from Canada (you can get fake stamps and postmarks at your craft or scrapbook store), the envelope features a generic beach photo
Letter 2: Soren visits an “elephant” store and purchases some elephant gifts
Letter 3: Soren visits a farm, befriends a small mouse, and they both clean out a smelly pig pen.
Soren mentions in the letter that they had to wear clothespins on their nose, one for Soren, one for the itty bitty mouse! 
Letter 3: Soren visits Australia and picks up some stickers and animal medallions in the hotel gift shop.
Stamped and postmarked from Australia.
Letter 4 (postcard): Soren runs out of money and gets a job at an eraser factory for a day, they pay him in erasers
I designed and printed out the company logo and pasted it to the front of the postcard.
Letter 5 (postcard): Soren visits Japan and China and picks up some origami paper.
I made the postcard by pasting a note card to the back of some pretty origami paper. Used a sticker for the stamp/postmark.
And a few extra trinkets just for fun: a superhero necklace (see tutorial here) and a tiny origami crane.
I had so much fun putting this together the last day or so. It is kind of like a scavenger hunt in an envelope…..Finley will have to guess which gifts go with each letter!
That's adorable, so much fun, and so sweet of you.
That little girl will never forget those letters for sure!
If I was a kid I would go bananas ove this leter! And would not be mad at my imaginary friend at all for not writing to me so long LOL
Wow, you are one dedicated imaginary friend! That is so amazing, and a really sweet idea! How fun!
That is the neatest idea I've heard in a long time. You know…grandmothers could do that for their grandchildren too. What fun!!
My kids would go ga ga over something like this! You got my wheels turning…
OMG I am CRYING over here!!!!!!! Wipe up these tears girl, I can barely type!!!!! I am blown away by how amazing you are. I can't believe how thankful I am to be your friend, and for Finley to have you as her imaginary friend. MMMMWWWWAAAHHH! xoxoxox
that's so cute! way to go above and beyond!!
wow! incredible!! she is going to flip!
You have a very big heart! What a great friend and what a lucky little girl.
I love the idea of the letters and trinkets relating to the note. My favorite is Letter 4: A job at an eraser factory!!! 😉
oh…my…goodness… i seriously can't get over how creative you are!!! what a sweet friend you are to do all of this. i never had an imaginary friend, but if i came up with one right now, would you send me a package? 😉
You are one cool imaginary friend, Ashley!
What a great friend you are to go to the trouble and time to do this for little Finley. I love that name. My daughter is considering Finley for our grand daughter to be born this summer.
so cute and sweet – you really did it up!
That is PRECIOUS! The thought and details you put into this is incredible. So, so, so amazing!
This might be the cutest sweetest thing I have ever seen! How thoughtful and amazing. You should send this to thegiverslog blog. I am bookmarking this one to do for someone special!
I think this is one of the coolest things ever!!! What a great idea!
OMG….. that is, without a doubt, the sweetest thing I have ever read. Ashley, you are AMAZING. I bet you had so much fun putting this together for Finley. Incredible…
Okay, that is absolutely adorable…it was definitely worth the wait, I bet.
I don't even know what to say…you bring smiles to everyone's faces daily Ashley. You truly make a difference in this world even with the most simple things like this. You are an utterly amazing woman! Finley is going to be ecstatic! Take pics Shari!
Love this! It reminds me of a book I had when I was little about a bear that traveled the world and every page had a new letter!
Oh, that is soooo adorable! Great job! I'll bet Finley will love it.
And if you ever need the signature of a real Soren, let me know–that's my son's name. 🙂
That's a very cute idea. I'm sure she'll be so excited when she gets it all.
YOU ROCK! That is so very very imaginative of you. I will have to blog about how fabulous you are next week!
Thanks for sharing your lovely ideas and keeping us inspired!
Wow! How sweet are you?? Such a lovely care package.
that is absolutely adorable…it was definitely worth the wait, I bet.
free classified india
That is so magical and special. What a great package.
This is an amazing idea. My son always checks our mail and is always looking for something in there for him. How fun would it be to start a Pen Pal system with the kids. With me secretly being the Pen Pal. LOL. I could send them little gifts in the mail. They would love that! I would have to come up with a great story. Hmmm. Time to ponder.
Haha, is this from Charlie and Lola? I LOVE that show…..well, my kids love it…..ok, that's a lie…I LOVE IT!!! hahahaha sooo cute. I just found your blog via another blog. I love it. In reading your "about me" button…I think we could be good friends.
Great blog!
kel
Amazing!!! What an exciting package for a child. Could be right up there with Christmas…. so exciting!
What a fantastic idea. Much better than just receiving one long letter. You have really put in a lot of effort and I can imagine that Finley would adore receiving the letters and little trinkets collected along Soren's adventures. Brilliant. Thanks for sharing.
This is really adorable! Now I hope my son develops an imaginary friend. LOL
Holy smokes girl! What a very cool friend you are to do that. LOVE the letters! And I'm always partial to kiddos named Finley 🙂
Among all of the things I've seen on your blog – and I've seen some pretty amazing things – this one takes the cake! Love, love, love!
Diane
Finley`s reaction was priceless! What a great feeling when some little girl gets over her head happy to receive some thing like this!
Oh I LOVE this! We love Charlie and Lola too. What a cute idea!
that is unbelievably adorable! i think my fav is the matching nose-pins in imaginary friend size and mouse size! great work!
What a great idea! I love how much time and thought you put into each and every letter. How sweet of you.