How to find a penpal
"How do I find a penpal?", this is my most asked question by far and it's time to make a proper blog post to help all of you who are trying to introduce yourself in the snail mail community, get your first penpal and start the correspondence fun.
There are different ways of finding penpals. You can use social media, websites, be part of a club... but no worries, we will go through all of them.
Yes, you read it right, you can find penpals on social media. There is a huge community of snail mailers on Instagram and it is so easy to find penpals on there. You can have a look at the hashtags #penpalswanted #penpalsneeded #lookingforpenpals and get in contact with whoever you feel you can connect.
Another way is getting involved in "Find a penpal" posts that several people in the community make from time to time. These are posts where you can comment a little description about yourself and people can contact you if they feel they can click. You can also go through all the comments in the posts and find your most suitable penpal. I'm sharing a couple of these posts here.
Another social media where you can find penpals easily is Facebook. there are loads of Facebook groups and pages about snail mail and penpals. All you have to do is join one of them and start interacting to find your correspondence friend.
PEN-PALS INTERNATIONAL: FRIENDS FOREVER
There are several websites out there which allows you to register and find a suitable penpal. I have never tried any of these, so I can't give you my feedback or personal opinion about them, but I have heard from others that these sites work, so you can give them a try if you can't find penpals on social media.
If what you are looking is more like casual swaps with different people rather than a long penpal relationship you can try signing up to Swap-Bot. I have personally tried this site and loved it! There are different kind of swaps like tea swaps, stationery swaps, handmade cards, food recipes, postcards, and you can even host your own ones!
And last but not least, you can join a penpals or snail mail club! I have my own Snail Mail Club where I share monthly printables, we organise monthly swaps and mail art challenges, do postcard swaps every Monday, you can find penpals, chat about snail mail and stationery, share resources... It is such a fun and safe place to be and you can join for as little as 5€ monthly.
I personally think that Clubs are a great way to get started in the snail mail community as it is the safest place to start. As to be part of the club you need to pay a monthly fee it asures us that everyone that is in it really wants to be there. People are kind, nice, commited and respectful, very important qualities on a penpal. You can always have a try and cancel your subscription anytime you want.
So here are all my tips on how to find a penpal. I hope you found this post useful and more people will join the community! If you have any other resources or suggestions on how and where to find penpals please share them in the comments of this post. I would love to hear them!
Thank you so much for reading,
Penpalling is awesome and making creative mail in the process is extra fun. That’s why we created www.snailmailfriends.com, may be interesting for you too 🤗