Remember last year, when the Postcrossing community celebrated the 150th anniversary of postcards? Thanks to you all, October 1, 2019 was a day filled with festivities, cake, friendship… and so, so many postcards! It was truly a happy day, in which our favorite means of communication was celebrated across the globe.
So when the day was over and the party was done, we thought… wouldn’t it be great if there was a permanent day in the calendar in which postcards were celebrated every year? 🤔 A day in which we send postcards and talk about them non-stop, teach kids how to write their first cards and just generally spread the joys of happy mail! The more we thought about it, the more it made sense, and many of you seemed to agree, going by your enthusiastic response to last year’s events.
So today, we’re happy to announce that October 1st, the day in which the first ever postcard was sent, will henceforth be known as World Postcard Day! 🎉
A “World Day of…” becomes a thing if enough people celebrate it, so it’s up to YOU to help put this day on the calendar — and truthfully, we couldn’t think of anyone better than the Postcrossing community to start this movement.
So how can you take part and celebrate this special day?
First of all, mark a big red circle around October 1st on your calendar and be prepared to write LOTS of postcards! This will be the day of the year to send postcards to all your friends, relatives, people you admire, those who could use a little support or cheering up, your mail carrier, or even to strangers. Plus, if you request a postcard through Postcrossing on October 1st, you’ll even receive a special badge on your profile when that postcard arrives.
Last year, quite a few of you got in touch with your local libraries and offered to showcase your postcard collections, resulting in lots of colorful displays. If there is a library or another suitable location in your area, we encourage you to contact them about the possibility of doing a display, or maybe even holding a small postcard-writing workshop (if it’s safe for you to do so where you live).
Although in-person meetups are not encouraged this year, we can still get together online to show our favorite postcards or write them as a group. If you’re thinking of organizing an event, consider planning some activities ahead to make it more interesting (maybe a quiz about the history of postcards, or a game of postcard bingo) and let us know about it so that we can add it to the World Postcard Day’s calendar of events.
Together with a few postcrossers, we’re currently working on a lesson plan for teachers to introduce the little ones to the joys of making and writing postcards, and help the next generation get started on the art of postcard writing! If you’re a teacher or a librarian and have suggestions, or you’d like to make sure you receive it as soon as it’s done, do get in touch.
Also, we’ve been working with our friends at Finepaper who have been running a postcard design competition for Portuguese art students to make an official postcard for this year’s event. In a few weeks, the final design will be chosen, and this postcard will be made available on the World Postcard Day website, for all to download and print.
And last but not least, help spread the word! There’s a lot of us, and if everyone tells someone about the World Postcard Day, we’ll turn the day into a huge postcard party. 🎉 Send your friends to worldpostcardday.com, or use the hashtag #worldpostcardday on your social media posts.
If you have more ideas on how to celebrate the World Postcard Day, feel free to get in touch or leave a comment below. That’s all for today — stay tuned for more updates soon, and let’s get this party started!