Pen Pal Adventure

[penpal-adventure]

I came across an empty envelope under my bed yesterday and realized I haven't gotten a letter from a few pen pals in weeks.

😢

People either get too busy or just lose interest. It's sad, yes. As I was younger I used to blame myself. Was it something I wrote? Etc.

Now I learned, many times it's not my fault. As postage keeps going up, many times people can't afford it. Or perhaps just lost interest.

I learned it's nothing to lose sleep over. It's their loss.

[penpal-adventure]

I love when I receive mail. Today I received two letters. Yey.

[penpal-adventure]

This is a sticker I received from a pen pal. Its Soo cute, that I didn't take it off the backing to put in my pen pal keepsake book. I put rolled a piece of tape, sticky side out (of course) and stuck it on the back. ❤️

Of course one thing to know, is stickers don't last forever. It's true, they lose their stick eventually. If that does happen you can get stick glue to glue it onto something.

I have Soo many stickers. I was into scrapbooking at one time. Now I just use them for my letters, whether I put them on the paper or include them (new) in my envelope for them to use.

Etiquette tip: if they send a sticker or two, send one or two back. Curtousy.

[penpal-adventure]

Pen palling can be an awarding adventure. You not only get something in the mail from time to time, but you also gain a friend...hopefully.

But you should still keep yourself safe, especially writing to someone you met online. Don't share too much personal information at first. First letter, should be about yourself, where you're from and your hobbies and favorite things. In one letter perhaps ask for a picture, to know who you are writing to.

Then there is the question, whether or not you should meet up with your pen pal in person if they happen to live in the same state or planning a visit to your area and suggest you meet up.

Safety first. I have met a few of my pen pals in person. For the first meet up, I suggest taking a friend or family member with you and meet up in a public space. The person you bring with you doesn't have to sit at the same table, or claim to know you, they are there for your protection...back up.

I brought my mom to a meet up in NYC. My pen pal and I decided to meet up in at the Museum of Natural History. She also brought her mom. It was a nice meet up. Nothing too shady.

I did meet a few pen pals on my own, like my German pen pal. Met up at a restaurant in a mall, another pen pal from my state, we met up at a mall, and then a few months later we went on a casino trip...a few times actually.

But unfortunately the pen pals I did meet up, our friendships eventually dissolved. As most of MY friendships do, for one reason or another, usually because they lied. Like the girl I went to the casino with. I always had to visit her because she claimed coming to visit me was too far for them to drive. Then one day she and her parents went to an event that was 10 minutes away from my house. Really!?! What is up with that?

Yeah. Each their own. But safety first when meeting up with a pen pal.

[penpal-adventure]

I received my first letter from a pen pal I wrote to last week. These two photos are the stationary they used. Its the back of the stationary, eggs and a tree. Awesome.

I enjoy both types of letters, hand written and typed. I type my letters from time to time, okay most of the time I do. But once in a while I will hand write.

When ever I do type my letters, I use fun printer paper. I have so much of it that I accumulated over my life time...sometimes I love it so much I don't use it. Most of the time I find it in mom and pop dollar stores, which means Its not found everywhere or every day. So use it sparingly. I do have paper for different occasions, summer, winter. Then fun under water paper, flower paper...etc. I also use fun fonts. Some I download from FREE websites. I also hand sign my letters.

Don't feel bad if you type your letters, A letter you can read, is better than a letter hand written in a really bad penmanship, that you are trying to decipher like it is written in code. Haha. Make sure you tell your pen pal why you type your letters so they can be understanding.

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Another fun thing to do, is decorate the envelope. I use stickers on the front and back. Before I found address labels at the thrift store, I used to order fun return address labels and stickers from checksinthemail.com. The website has fun character ones from Disney...and animals and what not. I haven't been on that website for years so I don't know what they have. They usually have new ones every year...if they are still in business.

[penpal-adventure]

Pen Palling does not have official rules of the trade. It is more what you are looking for in a pen pal. But there might be some etiquette.

If someone says they don't want to talk about politics, then don't.

If someone writes a long letter (2+ pages) they really get irritated when they receive a 2 paragraph reply.

When looking for a pen pal initially, its somewhat like dating. Put out what you like hobbies etc...then you put what you are looking to get out of a pen pal, looking for some who writes long letters, on a constant base. Whether its a platonic relationship, or something more etc.

A few websites I tried are: Penpalsnow.com and interpals.net. But they turned into websites where people are looking more for hook ups and one night stands if you know what I mean. HAHAA.

I recently found a lot of nice people through reddit.com. I know. I too was never planning on joining it, as I didn't quite understand how the site worked. HAHA. But it does require your account to be like 3+ days old before you can post to anything. So create an account and forget about it for a week.

[penpal-adventure]

Pen Pal Adventure is my journey of pen palling. Pen palling is still popular. I write snail mail, the old fashion pen and paper you send through the mail. Some days you just hope you get something other than bills...right?

I have been pen palling since elementary school in the 90s. Started of writing to family and friends, then found a magazine that offered pen pal addresses for $1.00. Of course that went no where.

I eventually started to find pen pals online, through forums on aol, and then pen pal sites during college. I haven't stopped since.