Postcrossing Blog

Ah, what a party! 🥳 We don’t even know where to start recapping how wonderful October 1st was… The sheer number of postcards, gatherings, forum posts, and social media shout-outs was overwhelming in the nicest way possible — like being swept up by a wave of enthusiasm, shared by people across the globe!

Some weeks ago, we encouraged you to contact your library and organize a little “basket of postcards” for visitors to enjoy on World Postcard Day, and many of you did just that. From the US to the Philippines, Singapore to Portugal, we loved seeing pictures of your library displays. One thing I did not anticipate was that some Free Little Libraries would also join the event, with their owners putting a box of postcards for the library visitors to pick up. Whoa!

Also, lots of schools took part in the festivities as well, which feels extra special. For instance, Kosovo Post visited the children at an SOS Kindergarten in Pristina to teach them about mail and postcards, and invite them to send some to their friends in other classrooms. Imagine their classmates’ delight when a real postman interrupted their class to deliver those cards — so sweet!

Speaking of sweets, so many stamp-shaped chocolate cookies were consumed around here that we were permanently giddy the whole day. In our sugar rush haze, we hypothesized how cool it would be if one of the big companies that makes these stamped shaped cookies (or the ravioli we also consumed!) would sponsor World Postcard Day… what do you think? Should we give them a call? 😋

Sooooo many meetups took place (both organized by postcrossers and geocachers), and we loved spotting your group pictures on Instagram and other social media. Some museums also took part in the day’s events, with guided tours, workshops or postcard coloring activities for children. We saw a few commemorative postmarks as well!

On Postcrossing servers’ side, things went remarkably smoothly, without any major hiccups. Pfeww! October 1st always puts a lot of pressure on the algorithm, which has to frantically scramble to select addresses to send postcards to. So you might receive a few more postcards than you were expecting in the coming weeks, but things will slowly go back to a more balanced state. Over 96,000 postcards were sent on World Postcard Day through Postcrossing on October 1st UTC (and almost 105,000 across all timezones), which was the day with the largest number of postcards sent on Postcrossing yet! It’s not the first time we break a record on World Postcard Day, but it still feels unreal to see those big numbers… Thank you everyone, for making this day so special!

And speaking of big parties — today, October 9, is World Post Day, and also UPU’s 150th anniversary! UN General Secretary António Guterres has recently said that “The UPU is one of the earliest examples of multilateralism in action”, and we believe this is what the world needs right now: countries working together to foster a more peaceful, prosperous, and sustainable future.

Many countries are issuing special philatelic products to mark this momentous milestone, and this might be the case with yours, so check them out! If not, you can always print the commemorative postcard (available in different languages) to send some special postcards in the coming weeks or months. Print the postcard at your local print shop or online printing service, affix a nice stamp (bonus points if it matches the theme!), and voilà — you have a special card that celebrates the 150th anniversary of the UPU.

Happy birthday UPU, and happy World Post Day! 🎂

It’s todaaaaaaaaaaay! October 1st is finally here, the day in which we celebrate these little pieces of handwritten communication that bring so much joy to the world!

Maybe you can hear the smooth scribbling sound that thousands of pens make while writing on all those postcards, and feel the excitement in the air? Us too! 😍

Quite a few people started celebrating last weekend already, with many meetings taking place over the last few days, but today is THE DAY that marks the 155th anniversary of our favorite form of communication. Our postcards are laid out on our desk, stamps to one side and pens to the other, with a warm drink in front and some stamp-shaped cookies too — we’re ready to get this party started!

We hope the collective enthusiasm of postcard lovers will be contagious, and that many people will hear about World Postcard Day today! We also wish all the postboxes in the world will be filled to the brim with nice mail — it’s a good day for a walk or a ride across town, to drop postcards in all the postboxes you can reach. How many do you think you’ll be able to feed?

When you need a little break, come join us on this forum topic or share some photos on social media with the tag #WorldPostcardDay. We’ll be highlighting these throughout the day, and keeping an eye on all the ways that World Postcard Day is being celebrated.

Have a brilliant day, filled with postcards and joy!

It’s less than one week until World Postcard Day, and we can feel those pens getting a little antsy in anticipation… Are we all ready for the big day? 😍 Even if you are not quite fully ready yet, there’s still time to make this the best World Postcard Day yet!

Just like last year, we’re keeping the maximum limit of 10 postcards for each postcrosser to send out on October 1st. We do this because we only have so many addresses available on any given day, and we risk running out of them. :( So, how does it work? If you only have a couple of slots available, you’ll be able to send a couple of postcards. If you have 5, you can request 5 addresses. But if you have 10 or more slots open, you’ll only be able to send 10 postcards on October 1st. Remember that you have to send one postcard on World Postcard Day in order to receive the special “WPD badge” when that card gets registered… but you don’t need to send your maximum allowance. Please be mindful of others and of the limited number of addresses available. 🙏😅

That said, we really encourage everyone to send postcards to people beyond Postcrossing who might not be expecting them: your faraway friends and relatives, the children in your family, your favorite school teachers, the hardworking fire brigade, people in your local nursing home, someone whose work you admire in your community… Anyone who could use some cheering up or support is a good candidate to receive a postcard too! If you have good suggestions for potential postcard recipients, leave them in the comments — we’d love to know whom you’re mailing your cards to on this special day.

Dinah over at The Handwritten Letter Appreciation Society suggested connecting sister cities on World Postcard Day, by sending a few postcards to your town’s twinned places. It’s a nice way to do some cultural exchange and bring distant cities together through postcards!

There are lots of Postcrossing meetups taking place a bit all over the world — more than 100 planned so far! Geocaching is also joining the festivities this year, encouraging its members to attend gatherings between September 29 and October 5 in order to receive a special World Postcard Day–themed souvenir. With so many events, it’s likely there is one close to many of you out there… so do take a look! This could be your opportunity to meet some friendly peeps who also love coming home to a postcard in their mailbox.

Another way you can participate is by taking some postcards to your local library, and talking them into offering these to patrons on October 1st! I’ve done this with my own library, and they were quite enthusiastic about the idea. And if you are in a school, remember that this is a good day to use our lesson plan (available in several languages) to teach a class about postcards, stamps and mail in general. Other ideas or photos of activities you might organize are always welcome! You can share them on this forum topic.

Finally, don’t forget that the classic dish for World Postcard Day is ravioli — they look like tiny postage stamps! Consider picking some up (or even making them!) before October 1st, so you’re ready to enjoy the day with a delicious twist.

We hope you have an amazing World Postcard Day, full of happiness, connections, and plenty of postcards! Let’s make it unforgettable and bring smiles to as many faces as possible!

Several years ago, we stumbled upon a charming photo from Lane Library at Ripon College in Wisconsin, showcasing their display for World Postcard Day, and the memory of it has lingered with us ever since. At the event, they placed a basket of fun postcards at their counter, inviting visitors to pick out one or two to send to their loved ones. It was a very simple thing, yet also a meaningful way to spread joy and celebrate World Postcard Day, while simultaneously bringing libraries (which are some of our absolute favorite places) into the festivities!

This year, we’d like to encourage you all to replicate this heartwarming idea! Check with your local library to see if they’d be open to participating. If so, all you need is a charming basket, a selection of postcards, and either our printable pamphlet or your own creative version. Once everything is set, you’re ready to spread some postcard magic in your town!

Another wonderful way to celebrate World Postcard Day is by hosting a postcard-making or writing workshop in your community. Gather some blank postcards for decorating or standard ones for writing, and invite friends and neighbors to join in. If you’re a parent, this can be a fantastic opportunity to engage children of all ages in the fun of postcard creation. There’s something so special about decorating postcards or writing heartfelt messages to friends and family. To cap off the event, consider a little excursion to the nearest postbox to send out everyone’s creations!

If you decide to take part and do something special for the day, we’d love to see it — please share your plans and snapshots with us! 😍

Have you ever heard of Geocaching? It’s a fun treasure hunt activity that consists of finding small containers (aka caches) that others have hid all around the world, aided by clues and GPS coordinates. We’ve played it for almost as long as we’ve run Postcrossing, and enjoy searching for these little canisters and tupperwares wherever we go. It’s a fun challenge and a different way to explore the world, luring us to nice places we might have otherwise missed. Some caches are hidden in picturesque parks, others in bustling urban spots — and every single one has its own story and little surprises inside, often including small trinkets left by other geocachers.

If you’re new to the hobby, we encourage you to give it a go! All you need is a smartphone with GPS to get started. There are millions of caches hidden worldwide, waiting to be discovered. But for those of you who are already part of the Geocaching community (and we know many postcrossers are also geocachers), we wanted to give you a heads-up about something special: a World Postcard Day themed souvenir!

From September 29 to October 5, 2024, Geocaching is celebrating World Postcard Day with a twist. If you attend any official Geocaching event during this period and post an “Attended log” for that event, you’ll receive a special World Postcard Day souvenir on your Geocaching account. It’s a fun way to celebrate postcards and geocaching simultaneously!

There are plenty of events happening worldwide during that week, so all you have to do is find one near you, go, and log your attendance. It’s a great opportunity to meet fellow geocachers, exchange tips, stories, and maybe even send some postcards! And if you can’t find an event near you, you can always organize one! There’s still time to plan a postcard-themed Geocaching event — and we think it would be extra fun to combine it with a Postcrossing meetup! This could be a nice way to bring together two communities that love exploration and connection.

For those of us who are both geocachers and postcrossers, this crossover event is a dream come true, combining both hobbies at once. Whether you’re exploring new cache hiding spots or mailing postcards to someone across the globe, this is a good time to share your love for adventure, discovery, and connection with others. So pack your GPS, grab a few postcards, and join the fun!