In France, the post office no longer uses stamps. When you bring in an envelope or package, they will print out a sticker simply showing the cost of postage, a glorified receipt. In Hong Kong, they give the same stamp for every valuation.

For these reasons, I often make the extra effort to go to the Philatelic counter of post offices in Paris or Hong Kong, to get beautiful stamps.

Proper stamps bring color to snail mail along with a touch of human imperfection (slanted or upside down stamps when you are in a rush!). Stamps also offer interesting themes associated with the country you are living in or traveling through. It is surprising how much effort it takes these days to the artistic stamps we used when growing up.

I came across these gorgeous illustrative stamps of a rabbit, a dog, a turtle and a cat at the Hong Kong Post office last week – and got a whole batch.

Although animals are a recurring theme on stamps, it was the first time I saw animals designed to appeal to children.

The moment I saw the stamps, I knew our daughter would be inspired to sit at her desk and write thank you notes (ie. practice spelling her name!) to all of her friends who came to her birthday party, but also “write” letters to her grandparents and godparents.

Each animal stamp is associated with a different value. It was great to explain to our daughter that she could only use the Dog stamps to send letters to her friends living in Hong Kong, Rabbit stamps for her friends and family living in Europe or America, Turtle stamps for friends and family living in Asia. As for the Cat stamps, we need to start learning about Maths and how to add up stamps, or write longer letters to her Hong Kong friends.

Parents living in Hong Kong, rush to the post office to get your stamps!