Celebrate the World Postcard Day
There’s nothing quite like the joy of finding a surprise postcard in your mailbox, and the goal for the World Postcard Day is to bring that joy to as many people as possible. Grab some postcards and stamps, and make a plan to celebrate this special means of communication on October 1st. Here are some ideas to get you started.
Send a postcard!
The easiest way to celebrate postcards is to use them! Make some time to send postcards to:
- All your relatives! Parents and grandparents are the obvious choice, but you can also send postcards to those family members who might live far away, or that you especially cherish and can’t wait to see again.
- Children, some of whom might have not yet had the pleasure of finding a piece of mail just for them in their mailbox… you can be the first to surprise them!
- Elderly people in local nursing homes, who could use some cheering up in these times of social isolation.
- Teachers and mentors. Tell them about the lasting impact they’ve had in your life, or the important lessons you remember.
- Catch up with friends you haven’t seen in a while, let them know how you’re doing and that you’re thinking about them.
- Show your support for good causes. Some organizations you might want to write to include Post Pals, More Love Letters or From Me to You.
- Other ideas to celebrate the day include hosting an event (if it is safe to do so), such as a postcard writing get-together with friends, or organizing a visit to a postal museum.
Print the official postcard (2023)
To select the official postcard image for the World Postcard Day 2023, a worldwide design competition was organized by Postcrossing.
The best postcard is this year's official postcard for the World Postcard Day which you can print at your local printing shop or through an online printing service (e.g. vistaprint.com, moo.com, etc.).
World Postcard Day - Official Postcard 2023 - image side (CMYK).jpg
World Postcard Day - Official Postcard 2023 - writing side (CMYK).jpg
The postcard design is provided under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license (in short: keep the credits, no commercial use, no changes).
In the Classroom
If you’re a teacher or educator, we encourage you to help your students discover the joys of mail and postcards on the World Postcard Day. They can write their first postcards and learn more about how mail works with interactive activities that can be adapted to the subject being taught and grade level.
We’ve prepared a flexible lesson plan, that is adaptable to the grade and subjects that you teach — you can download it here:
Lesson Plan - World Postcard Day.pdf (English)
Lesson Plan - World Postcard Day (Dutch).pdf
Lesson Plan - World Postcard Day (Finnish).pdf
Lesson Plan - World Postcard Day (French).pdf
Lesson Plan - World Postcard Day (German).pdf
Lesson Plan - World Postcard Day (Lithuanian).pdf
Lesson Plan - World Postcard Day (Portuguese).pdf
Lesson Plan - World Postcard Day (Russian).pdf
Lesson Plan - World Postcard Day (Spanish).pdf
Libraries
Consider recommending books about mail all throughout October! Here are some suggestions of epistolary novels, or other books that feature postcards or mail prominently.
Also, if you have some exhibition space, invite a local collector or postcard society to showcase their postcards. Perhaps they can help make a display with their favorite postcards, or tell a story of your town through these postcards!
Museums
If you have postcards in your collections, the World Postcard Day is the perfect day to showcase them! Make a commemorative display, or, if it’s safe to do so, organize a tour or workshop around the theme.
Spread the word
Help us spread the word about the World Postcard Day! Tell your friends, family, colleagues — everyone is invited to join. Even better, consider telling them on a postcard, so they know immediately why receiving postcards is great.
Would you like to use the logo of the event? Good news, you can! The World Postcard Day Logo is available under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license. This means you are free to copy and redistribute it in any medium or format, as long as you don't change it and include an attribution to "worldpostcardday.com". Also, we really really would love to know how you are using it and/or how you are spreading the word about the event. If you do it, please drop us a quick line about it or shared it on social media with #WorldPostcardDay.
Please keep in mind that this license does not cover commercial use or making derivative works. For those, please reach out to us first.
World Postcard Day Logo