When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone? This year, we predict that letter writing is making a come-back! Start your new year off by writing a letter!
Letter writing is a mindful activity that will improve your mental health by easing feelings of loneliness and isolation. Connecting through letter writing is also a great way to strengthen friendships and family bonds, or make new friends. Writing letters often will help you to improve your writing skills and offer a creative outlet for you to share stories, feelings and decorate your letters. Letter writing allows you to be creative in many ways from practicing your hand writing and lettering, writing creative stories, poetry and conversations, or giving you a space to add drawings, stickers, wash tapes and creative decorations. 
Photo from WashiGang team member @bec.writes on Instagram.
How to Write a Letter:
1. Find a PenPal!
Here are a few different ways to find a PenPal:
- Write to a friend or family member that lives far away. It's a lovely way to send small gifts, photos, keep special memories together and strengthen your connections.
- Write a thank you letter to thank someone for their support, a gift they gave you, or to let them know how much you appreciate them (such as a teacher, friend, your mother or partner).
- Make a post on Facebook or Instagram to see if anyone you know would like to receive a letter.
- Try using #penpal hashtags on Instagram and TikTok to find other people that are looking for PenPals. A person will often share a short blurb about themselves, so that you can have an idea if you have similar interests. Once you find someone that looks like a good match, send them a message!
- Or there are many websites available to help you find a penpal.
A beautiful initiative called the Letterbox Project, is a PenPal service where you can write a letter to someone in Australia that is feeling isolated and disconnected from community.
When writing to a new PenPal that you don't know, please be careful to never share any personal identifiable information, bank details or send any money or photos etc. for your safety.
2. Stock Up on Letter Writing Supplies:
You'll need a cute letter writing set, pens, stickers and washi tapes to decorate your letters and envelopes! We recommend a fountain pen for fancy letter writing, or some of our fun colourful gel pens.
3. Start Writing:
What kinds of things can you write about?
Letter writing can be similar to journaling, only you're sharing your thoughts, feelings and stories with someone else! This makes letter writing a beautiful shared experience. In your very first letter, it might be a good idea to write a little about why you're writing a letter, a little about yourself or what you've been up to lately and an invitation to continue writing. Find more letter writing prompts below.
10 Letter Writing Prompts:
1. Write about your week! Share a funny story from your week, the best and worst things that happened, what you were grateful for and what you wish you did better. Describe some of the things you enjoyed doing, eating, watching etc.
2. Favourite things. Describe your current favourite things: food, books, movies, tv shows, places, animals etc. Ask your PenPal to do the same.
3. Write a quiz to help you get to know your PenPal, friend or Grandma even better!
4. Write a thank you letter to a friend, teacher, colleague or family member.
5. Share a favourite recipe! Add a story about what this recipe means to you, or about a time that you made it. Discuss things that you're enjoying cooking at the moment.
6. Create a reading list, watch-list or listening list for your PenPal to enjoy. Ask them to send you one back. This will give you an opportunity to discuss your opinions later on.
7. Share what it was like for you growing up. Describe your favourite childhood memories about what you liked to do, what it was like in your family and where you lived etc.
8. Write about your ideal holiday and the kinds of things you like to do when traveling. Ask your PenPal the same question.
9. Do an art swap! Swapping art/crafts with someone is a lovely way to find new art or to collect art in an affordable way.
10. Talk about your life. Who's important to you, what are your values and hopes & dreams for the future. What are things you enjoy about your life and what are things that you wish were different?
Photo from WashiGang team member @bec.writes on Instagram.
Thank you for tuning in! For more tips on letter writing read WashiGang team member @bec.writes blog on PenPals and Letter Writing! https://www.washigang.com/blogs/news/guest-blogger-bec-writes
Let us know if you write a letter and which letter writing set you used! We might need to start a new hashtag #WashiGangSnailMail - tag us in your letters using our WashiGang stationery goods!
***Safety note: Please always keep general internet safety in mind when connecting with new people online. We recommend never giving out any personal information, especially bank details, credit card info, or passwords etc. Enjoy meeting new friends and penpals, but also stay safe and stay alert. New friends should never ask for money, passwords, personal photos or personal details! If you're ever transferring money over the internet, always use a safe transaction method such as PayPal, and only use business transactions (not transfer to friends and family) to help keep your money transactions safe. Good luck and have fun!!!
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