Are you toying with the idea of having a pen pal? Do you like the idea of sending and receiving some fun happy mail? Then let’s get you started right now as I share how you can start to pen pal in 3 easy steps.
Get yourself a pen pal
There are quite a few places you can look for a pen pal, and you can check out my Where To Find Pen Pals post for lots of different options.
I’d say if you’re looking for a quick and free option right now, you have two easy options available to you.
Pop over and join our Bring Back Paper Facebook group and either post a bit about yourself and ask for pen pals, or search the group for people who may have been asking for pen pals recently.
Alternatively, go over to Instagram and search the #penpalswanted hashtag. There will be lots!
I also run Patreon Bring Back Paper memberships (for those of us who love our papery fun!) where I run an ongoing pen pal sign up.
Grab some stationery
This can be super simple as any piece of paper and envelope will do.
It can be completely plain, don’t worry about it having to look a certain way, or having to have certain stationery to do this. You do not have to at all.
You might want to pretty it up a bit, and you can do so with stickers, coloured pens, doodles, washi tape, whatever you have to hand.
If it helps, my Etsy store stocks plenty of pen pal stationery packs that you can download and print off instantly, and these might guide you with a few things to write, too, as there are sheets there to complete along with the writing paper. There are also plenty of free writing paper designs on the blog, just search for them.
Don’t overthink this part and let it be your stumbling block. Any paper will do, your new pen pal will just be excited to hear from you.
If you find you take to it and want to indulge in a few new stationery buys, check out a Beginner’s Snail Mail Station for inspiration.
Write your first letter
The fun part!
You can say whatever you like here, but if you’re struggling to know where to start, I wrote What to Write To Your Pen Pal.
I’d keep it simple, with a little introduction to you, a few things you do, things you love, maybe where you’re from.
You needn’t say too much at this stage, this is just your first letter, there will be more time to share more over the coming months and maybe even years.
Which brings me to a final point that is worth sharing. Please accept that not everyone writes back. Not everyone keeps on writing back. But please don’t be put off! Lots of people do write, lots of us have wonderful pen pals so if this is something you want to do, keep it going and I really hope you enjoy it.
You might want to check out How To Be The Best Pen Pal and my Ultimate Guide To Pen Pals if you’d like to look a little more into this and you might like my pen pal YouTube channel as I chat a lot about pen pals there and there are plenty of super easy mail art videos if that’s something you’d like to try at some point.
What do you think? Are you going to go for it?
If you’re new to Bring Back Paper, you can find out more about it all here. You can join our Facebook group here and you can sign up to join my mailing list below, for all the latest news, updates, ideas and activities.