Postcrossing Blog

Stories about the Postcrossing community and the postal world

Blog > Gabi's shop garland

  icon

This holiday-themed post comes a bit late in the season, but the idea was so nice that we didn’t want it to go unreported!

Late last year, Gabi (aka Paulinchen60) from Germany, had an idea to decorate her shop with a garland made of Christmas cards, written with many greetings from all over the world. She made a bet with a colleague, who was sceptical that she could receive 100 postcards for the garland…

So Gabi posted a thread on the forum, asking for help to reach this goal… for each card received that had an address, she promised to send one back. And lo and behold, a few weeks later, the mailbox at her shop was flooded with Christmas greetings! The response was amazing and she ended up receiving over 200 cards, thus winning the bet! :)

Gabi sent us a few photos:

Receiving the postcards

Every day, Gabi and her co-workers would receive a batch of postcards from the hands of the postwoman.

Showing the cards

Here are Gabi, Katrin and Beate, the 3 co-workers in front of the shop, showing off their lovely Christmas cards!

Setting up the garland

Setting up the garland…

Christmas garland

And here is the end result! Pretty, isn’t it?

Christmas garland

Gabi tells us the customers were thrilled by the sight of the garland, and had fun trying to read the cards in several languages (with moderate success!).

Well done, Gabi! To see more of the garland, and the postcards that they’ve received, check out Gabi’s gallery.

32 comments so far

DorotheeB, Germany

So nice! What a great idea - and the best example that there is nothing better than a handwritten Christmas greeting.

on
ned44440, Ireland

This is my kind of place. What a lovely idea to decorate the space in this way. Would love to visit sometime.

on
Lorelai, Germany

Wonderful idea! Maybe I decorate my room also with such a garland with my favourite postcrossing-postcards...

on
sacdalton, United States of America

looks spectacular!

on
izmya, Czech Republic

So nice :)

on
ankehelene, Germany

Schade, dass ich das jetzt erst lese. Hätte sonst meine selbstgemachte diesjährige Weihnachstspostkarte beigesteuert. Aber alle Jahre wieder wird es auch 2013 Weihnachten werden...liebe Grüße und viele weitere gute Ideen wünsch ich euch!

on
Shaxx, Czech Republic

Beautiful :)

on
pefawm, Norway

Oh, i didn't know otherwise i would send you a card from Norway. But i really liked the idea.

on
rosenbusch, Germany

Nice idea - sorry, I didn´t know something about the garland with the Christmas postcards....

on
isagv, Germany

Great pictures. Lovely idea! :)

on
sannah82, United States of America

I walked in last week because Halle is my former hometown where I spent some part of my Christmas holidays. Greetings from her to all postcrossers - she has a lot to do with the shop in real life, but is well aware that some senders still wait for their replies. They are not forgotten!

on
YITICH, Taiwan

Is amazing!
But great idea: )

on
Blogger, United States of America

cute shop and the card idea is wonderful. I bet people bought more items too because the were looking at all the cards and had to see more things to buy on the shelves they were walking around. :D Well done!!

on
florencen, Australia

what a lovely idea for decoration.It looks like a shop I would have a great time wandering around and buying things

on
leleka, Russia

So interesting to read this article! It seemed interesting to me to send a card for this idea and i did it, but now to see your amazing photos and read story id really wonderful!!

on
Luziaceleste, Brazil

great idea, great shop, great postcrossers as usual! Congrats Gabi!

on
Janestar, United States of America

Congratulations, Gabi!! What a wonderful idea, and the postcards looked beautiful....great pictures, too. And what a beautiful shop you have and great employees! Happy New Year! And Happy Postcrossing!

on
sophie54, Netherlands

I'm happy I've been able to be part of this. Lovely to see that it worked out so festive. Thank you for the return card, which wasn't necessary but I loved it anyway!!

on
idus, Germany

*Yes, a wonderful idea!*

on
islander61, Bahamas

Excellent idea! Wished I'd know about it so I could have sent a Xmas card too. Next time :)

on
ppeva, Hungary

I'm happy to see my postcard in the garland. :) It was so good to take part in this great idea!

on
Geminiscp, Portugal

Looks awesome!

on
Audrey2, United States of America

I enjoyed participating in this great idea! Loved the return card ;-)

on
nugget, United States of America

Fun idea! Thanks for sharing with us.

on
Zenaida, Canada

Beautiful garland! Want the same :)

on
YiliLoh, Malaysia

Thanx for sharing! The cards are lovely! :)

on
Rachelle73, Australia

Wow, I would have sent one from Australia if I had known.

on
Bluma, United States of America

Love the shop and the garland looks wonderful!

on
Shaoxi, China

Wow,I like this shop soooo much,hope I can visit this place.

on
lucymonty, United Kingdom

Lovely idea! I want to visit your shop :-D

on
bicycle, Germany

nice idea

on
treksek, Estonia

She is not a honest person. She joined to some Christmas cards Round Robins in forum, but never sent her cards out to other persons!

on

Back to top