May 26 is National Paper Airplane Day. Every year, mark it by mailing a paper airplane. No envelope. The plane is the letter: address on one wing, forever stamp in the corner, into the mailbox it goes.
Once a year is the right amount. A dare you do once and file away. But a tradition comes back around, and the fun of a tradition is that it starts keeping records for you. Do this five years running and you’ve got five planes landing in five kitchens on the same day each spring, each one a little different, each one dated by the Post Office cancellation for free.
Use slightly thicker paper than printer stock. The Post Office isn’t going to shepherd a flimsy sheet through its machines, and thicker paper folds into a sturdier plane anyway.
Have fun with it
Don’t just slide it into the mailbox. Throw it in.
Tape the mailbox door open with painter’s tape — gentler than duct tape, and the mailbox is government property, so be kind to it. Stand back about six feet, and try to land the airplane in the slot. The slot isn’t tiny and isn’t huge. It’s exactly the right amount of hard.
A bat-style plane flies flatter and mails better than a long skinny dart. The dart is easier to aim, but I’m not sure it survives the machines as well. The bat swoops, though, so aiming that one is its own puzzle.
Try either a standard Forever stamp or a more expensive non-machinable stamp
And here’s the real question the whole thing is testing: will a plain forever stamp actually carry an odd shape through the mail? Technically, the Post Office can charge a non-machinable surcharge for irregular pieces. But there’s something rogue about sending something this strange on an ordinary stamp. So try it and find out.
How many throws does it take you to land one? Mail a plane to someone who’d be delighted to unfold it at their kitchen table. Then tell me: did it arrive?
