3 pen pal contact ideas

A lack of a writing partner is a major factor that prevents some people from regularly writing letters. You might love finding unique stationery and greeting cards, but it’s disheartening when you have nowhere to send them. If you’ve been trying to figure out who you can send messages to on your personalized stationery, here are a few ideas to consider:

1. Family
Your grandparents would love to receive letters from you. This is probably the way they communicated when they were younger, so it could be nice to connect with your family in this way. If you’re worried you don’t know your grandparents well enough to send them a letter, that’s actually the perfect reason why you should. Yes, letters are personal messages, but it’s easier to take your time plotting out what you want to say in a letter than trying to talk on the phone. Use this as an opportunity to reconnect with loved ones in a relaxed manner.

2. Friends
This one might be a little more difficult because people today are so used to talking on the phone. You might be surprised by how excited your friends are to receive letters in the mail, though. This will probably be motivation enough for them to write you a response. Also, if you have a friend who lives far away and you don’t get to talk much, sending the occasional “thinking of you” card will really brighten his or her day and remind the person to stay in touch.

3. Strangers
Admittedly, initially connecting with a stranger can be scary, but there are plenty of organizations out there that make writing to someone unknown easy and fun. For example, if you become a member of the Letter Writer’s Alliance you can participate in a pen pal swap, where you’re given a writing partner. This organization also holds a bunch of fun letter writing events that you can participate in throughout the year in various locations.

If you’re excited about connecting with people from all over the world, there are also a lot of organizations that have letter exchange programs. The idea of frequently writing to someone you don’t even know is intimidating, so you could try to start off small with a project like Postcrossing. Essentially what you do for this writing project is receive addresses from all over the world with a little information about the recipient, and then send the person a postcard. Nothing too personal there, and eventually you will start receiving notes from others as well. It’s a fun way to learn about other cultures without too much commitment.