YouAlberta
Back in September I decided to pick up a new hobby. I was frustrated by being inside all day and missing human contact, so I decided to start penpalling!
I stumbled across the penpalling community on Instagram one day and thought “holy crap these are beautiful!”. It turns out that there is an entire community on Instagram of people who make absolutely STUNNING letters and send them all over the world to each other! I decided to jump in even though I was a little nervous.
On Instagram, people generally either ask that people DM them or fill out a Google form that they have linked in their profile to figure out if you would be a good match for penpalling. People have different things that they like; some people like to send letters every two weeks, some like to send them whenever they have time. In my experience, people are really sweet, even when they don’t think you’d be a good match. I found a penpal Instagram account that I really love (@withloveantonia). When she posted in an Instagram story that she was looking for a penpal, I reached out to her and she agreed that we would be good penpals! So, we messaged each other our addresses (both of us only gave our first names. Some people like to give out full names, but I don’t) and I sent the first letter!
The trend in the penpalling community is to make beautifully decorated letters and include things like stickers, samples of washi tape, lists of favourite songs, current books, and other things! I’ve had penpals send tea, tic tac toe games, and more. Opening each and every letter is always such a treat.
People like to create “themes” for each letter, for the one above I chose “pink” and I loved the way it turned out.
Everyone (okay maybe not everyone, but a lot of people) like to post their letters to dedicated penpal accounts. Mine is @lauraslovelymail!
If you’re interested in joining the penpal community, I would recommend searching #penpalswanted or #penpal on Instagram!
Happy penpalling!