Write to a Monster

Our Monster Mail packs are now available from home thanks to Hackney Council.

Since its launch in 2018, our fantastical shop, Hoxton Street Monster Supplies, has played host to a monstrous letter writing service, which allows young people (and thoose young at heart) to explore their creativity by writing to a lonely monster.

The best bit? Within four weeks, they would receive an original reply, penned just for them, to be collected from our shop or sent back to their letterbox at home.

It has been a much-loved service and we received more than 200 letters from children since it was founded. However, we struggled to keep it running during the pandemic and were sad to see the number of letters dwindle over time, despite our ambition and belief in the creative power of the service.

So we were thrilled last year to receive a grant from Hackney’s Council’s High Streets and Town Centres Fund to revamp the letter writing service. With their support, we were able to re-design and produce five new Letter Writing Packs to enable our customers to write to a Dragon, Yeti, Werewolf, Gremlin and Vampire. The takeaway packs can now be purchased as a gift in-store or through the Monster Supplies website.

For each of the first 400 Letter Writing Packs sold through Hoxton Street Monster Supplies, the Ministry of Stories will receive a donation of £12 to help us to continue providing our community writing programme free of charge to local children and young people.

As part of the funding, we were also proud to gift 100 free Letter Writing Pack to our friends over at the Hackney Foodbank, to bring a little bit of magic and creativity to families who are facing really difficult times. It has meant a lot for us to be able to provide this opportunity through the Foodbank.

Our first letter, from Conner, arrived last week to a great cheer at Ministry of Stories HQ and we cannot wait for the rest of the letters to start arriving.

Discover our Monsters:

Himani the Yeti
Red the Werewolf
Vlad the Vampire
Pudding the Gremlin
Elgorn the Dragon