Snail Mail by Anna: 2014

Mail tag is a game played through snail mail. It involves sending someone a small selection of questions which are difference from the standard, “When is your birthday?” or “Do you have any brothers or sisters?” Not that these aren’t important and lovely facts to know! But, mail tag is a great way to get to know different things about people and the questions tend to be random and fun.

I send nearly all my letters out with mail tags in them, especially to new pen-pals.

Sometimes it’s hard work to come up with a selection of questions - especially if you’re trying to ask everybody different things.

So, I’ve come up with an A4 page of mail tag questions! You can simply download the JPEG file, print them out, cut them up and pop one in your next letter. Or, you can use it for a reference and pick and mix from the #mailtag speech bubbles. You can download the PDF here: Mail Tag PDF

None of the questions are repeated in the bubbles so you could send them all out over time to the same person and never ask them the same question twice J

If you use these, or receive one, I would love to see! I use the hashtag #mailtag on Instagram so why not share a picture there!

If you have any questions you ask people I would love to hear about them too. Leave me a comment below!

I hope you the #mailtag page.

~Anna~

In case you hadn't guessed, I’m completely obsessed with snail mail! I love it. Getting home to find a letter from one of my pen pals is such a lovely surprise. It definitely beats just getting bank statements and bills!

It’s super easy to get involved with as well. There are a number of websites out there that help match you up with people, some are free, some are not. But as well as this there are some more unexpected places that you can get involved.

I thought this might be a good place to start! Unexpected places you can find snail mail communities. Obviously, I can only comment on sites that I've used, so I’m sure I will post on others as I come to use them!

Instagram - This one came as a shock! I love this photo blogging site! Normally I’m too lazy to blog properly, so Instagram provides a super easy place to post regularly without too much effort. The hash tags make it simple to search as well. The best place to start here is to simply search using #penpalswanted. I did it this morning and got 45,660 posts.

Not all the pictures that come up are pen-pal ads, but it is a really easy way to locate people who are using Instagram to find pen pals. Have a bit of rummage through peoples profiles and previous posts – then send them a direct message or leave them a comment. Not everyone will reply, but lots will!

If someone has posted an ad, it might look a little like mine below, then you can again leave them a comment or send them a dm. Most of the time they include enough detail that you can see what someone likes, dislikes, hobbies, what they are looking for.

Instagram is where I have found most of my pen pals. You can follow my snail mail account on @annasnailmail

Tumblr has a massive snail mail community too. I’m fairly new to this one myself, but it looks like there is a wide variety on offer here.

You can follow my account, just search for annasnailmail!

There are lots of groups about pen-palling and snail mail on Facebook. A lot of them are closed groups so you have to request to join. They are wonderful meeting places though to discuss things you don’t understand, find new pen pals, and share ideas and resources that you have found. Simply search key words and see what groups you can find – you may even be able to find one that is based in your country!

Swap-Bot is one of my favourite things in the world; and possibly one my favourite discovery on the internet. It is an entire website dedicated to swapping almost anything you can imagine! The swaps range from email and internet based to letters and parcels. I have swapped everything from decorated envelopes to owl plushies and balls of yarn to friendship books.

It’s a great way to make new pen pals too.

Postcrossing is a website dedicated to postcard swapping. It works on a random act of kindness basis – you send postcards to people selected randomly from the members. I have sent postcards all over the world with this site and it is great fun receiving postcards from unexpected places!

Not so much a site for finding pen pals, but a great snail mail site none-the-less.

Interpals

I have used interpals in the past as a way of finding language exchange pals – I am learning Italian – but it isn’t like any of the other pen pal sites I’ve been on. It almost has a “dating” site undertone – so be careful of that. But if you search for snail mail pen pals and set you’re the parameters you want fulfilled (age, sex, location, language etc) you should be able to locate people pretty easily!

For language exchange the site is fantastic. It is so easy to find native speakers of languages you are learning. I've met some wonderful people through the site who have really helped me get to grips with complexities of a language that I've struggled to get my head around.

There are also a selection of security and profile settings so you can use those as well to ensure a happy browsing experience!

Snailmail-Ideas is a relatively new website – but they have some great resources and a wonderful “find pen-pals” page – I had a really good response to my ad on there. They also have some fantastic ideas for envelopes, letters and packages. It is well worth a visit!

Lettersets.com also has a good pen pal add section – they also sell gorgeous stationery.

Anyway, that’s more than enough for now. If you would like me to mention your snail mail page – leave me a comment below and I’ll go and check it out!

~Anna~

Snail Mail by Anna

Pages

Tuesday, 16 September 2014

Envelope Ideas

Let's Play Mail Tag!

Pen Pal Record Pages

Where to find Snail Mail Pen Pals