Christmas Holidays are the best time of the year. It is universally agreed upon, and there is a certain vigor about it that you don’t seem to find on any other days. In fact, even the 4th of July or Summer Holidays don’t come close to getting the festive feeling going in the air as much as Christmas Holidays do. Hence, it isn’t surprising that most of our markets thrive when the festive season is near and are filled with all sorts of things to decorate our homes.
So why would Shark Tank have been left behind to join in on the holiday wagon? So for their special holiday episode in Season 13, the couple that came on board brought the perfect Christmas décor item, a pre-Christmas present for your kids – a Santa’s magic mailbox. Chris and Elisa Cirri named it Santa’s Enchanted Mailbox and were thrilled to present it to the sharks on this holiday special episode.
The mechanics of the mailbox works in a way that creates an illusion of the letter being sent away almost instantaneously. You are supposed to put the letter in the mailbox and raise the flag. As soon as you raise the flag, a song starts playing, and a few moments later, you hear a chime that signals that the letter has been sent. So when the kid would open the mailbox, the letter would not be there and gone, sent to Santa.
Their innovative little fun idea was the fruit of the family game they played with their kid. Their son would put photographs of himself and his family in a box for Santa. So while one parent distracted him, the other would sneakily remove the pictures from the box for the kid to assume that the letter was sent off magically to Santa. The idea stuck with them due to their son’s reaction to it every time, and the couple thought of a real mechanism to work this way.
That’s how Santa’s Enchanted Mailbox was born, and they further elaborated its shape, size, and color to match the holiday spirit and festive season. The mailbox was fun and innovative and perfectly blended with the holiday decorations. So it was no surprise that the couple sold 100,000 units at the very first season launch. However, they knew well that business expansion means significant funding is needed to keep their inventory in the cycle.
So the couple got themselves a utility patent each for the mailbox’s design and consequently trademarked it. Next, they licensed out the production to a third party, a holiday manufacturing company. However, due to unfortunate circumstances, the partnership ended, and the parents were left with huge manufacturing costs. That’s when they decided to show up at Shark Tank. Their pitch was for $150,000 in exchange for 30% business equity.
Reiterating all this business history to the sharks was important, but naturally, the sharks weren’t a fan of what had gone down. Almost immediately, they started discussing how the complications weren’t worth it to deal with, given how the product is seasonal and time-sensitive. It is highly unlikely that people will keep buying these every year when they can just buy them once and take them out every year at Christmas.
Hence, the couple had almost seen it coming when one after the other, the sharks dropped out of their pitch without even a counter-proposal. So one might think that how would Santa’s Enchanted Mailbox continue when all they needed was funding, and they couldn’t get any? The answer is that the TV show’s popularity was enough to get their business going. The mailbox mechanism was innovative and looked great, so naturally, people started buying it.
After looking at the current pricing of the product on Amazon and a fully flourishing website, one can say that Chris and Elisa are doing great, and so is their homegrown business, Santa’s Enchanted Mailbox. You can read about them in detail and check out their expanded product range on their website: Santa’s Enchanted Mailbox. They also sell through retail shops and are available for purchase worldwide on Amazon.
Our Review of Santa’s Enchanted Mailbox
Mr. Christmas Deluxe Santa’s Enchanted Mailbox
We were fortunate to get our hands on Santa’s Enchanted Mailbox, as usually, it is extremely difficult to get your hands on the product. However, we made our purchase on Amazon and were pleasantly surprised with the quality we got. The mailbox really is amazing. Not only does it function optimally and smoothly, but it is also of bright red color with Christmas theme images adorning the exterior, making it look incredibly on point.
Pros of Santa’s Enchanted Mailbox
Clearly, the advantages of Santa’s Enchanted Mailbox are its selling points in the first place. So if you are eager to purchase it, you already know what the product entails. For instance, it works like magic for kids who are too young to understand how the mechanics work. For them, it is an illusion. Secondly, it goes hand in hand with the Christmas traditions, themes, and décor. So it won’t look out of place even if you place it in your home (or hoist it outside).
Cons of Santa’s Enchanted Mailbox
The only drawback of Santa’s Enchanted Mailbox is that it is an extremely seasonal product. So you will only use it once a year, that is on Christmas. Otherwise, it would be stored in your cupboard, waiting to be used year after year. Hence, justifying the cost of using such a thing only once a year might not be sensible for some people. Therefore, people may consider the price point a tad bit on the higher end than reasonable.
Who Is Santa’s Enchanted Mailbox For?
Santa’s Enchanted Mailbox is for anyone and everyone. But it is primarily directed toward children. The tradition of writing a letter to Santa goes a long way, and Santa’s Enchanted Mailbox is a brilliant way of bringing the magic of that tradition back. Safe to say, your kids would be excited to write letters to Santa and watch them being sent away immediately, as soon as they place them in the mailbox.
Are There Any Alternatives?
Naturally, you can find many cheaper alternatives to Santa’s Enchanted Mailbox. It would just take a bit of looking around retail shops or online, and you would easily find one. Otherwise, you can also put your creative juices at work and DIY the whole thing. You can make your own red-colored mailbox for your kids. However, it would not have the illusion of sending the letter to Santa as quickly as the original.
Our Final Thoughts
Santa’s Enchanted Mailbox might have failed to get a deal on Shark Tank, but they certainly got the deal with the holiday spirit of their potential customers. Thanks to the show’s popularity and how innovative their product was, Chris and Elisa were able to continue their business and keep producing mailboxes to this day. If you want to get your hands on Santa’s Enchanted Mailbox before this year’s holiday season, now is the time to get it. Cheers!
