Did you ever have a pen pal? I did! I would wait patiently for the post to arrive every week or so. I loved the tactile aspect of opening the envelope, and finding stickers, notes, drawings and the main letter inside.
Since I started Goodordering, I have been inspired by the rawness of snail Mail. These days our letter boxes are mainly filled with bills and junk mail. But a real, personal letter is exciting business. I had a penpal for years called Angela who lived in Brisbane. I lived in Sydney and our mum's were friends. We would write letters weekly from the age of about 13 to 17 years old. I probably have a whole trunk of her letters stashed away somewhere. I lived for decorating envelopes, using my sticker selection and telling her some of my deepest secrets.
For anyone who might have hung onto their letters over the years, it brings back so many great childhood memories when you look back on old letters. The great thing about physical letters is that you do more than just write, you can use drawings, collage, add stickers and express yourself so much better than just in a a typed email.
Believe it or not, you can still sign up for meeting a pen pal through different modern online platforms. Here is an article describing and linking to seven of them 👉 How to find a pen pal.
How to find a pen pal
Worldwide Snail Mail Penpals is a closed facebook group with over 39,000 members where you can post a request for a kind of pen pal you are looking for. It could be by geographic location or it could be by area of interest. Its simple and all you need is a facebook account.
Revive an old friendship - You might be able to get in touch with an old school buddy through facebook or other social media. Your kids may be the same age and may be great candidates for being pen pals.
Penpal World - with its old school, rustic interface, this website charge a small fee to match you up with a penpal from somewhere around the world. The members are vetted (apparently) by the organisers and you can search members by country/ age / gender etc.