Postcrossing Blog

January is the month for planning and resolutions, so we thought we’d start off 2018 with a different kind of survey: we wanted to ask YOU (the Postcrossing community) what kind of articles you’d like to see featured here on the blog this next year.

Over the past 10 years, we’ve covered lots of different topics on the blog. From cool postal projects to giveaways, news related to Postcrossing (stamps, school activities, meetups), good causes, interviews with postcrossers or stationery makers, historical facts, the intrepid Little Mail Carriers… The list goes on and on.

But what would you like to see more of? Is there anything postal-related that you find fascinating and would like to learn more about? What are your favourite types of posts so far? What are we missing? Leave us some ideas in the comments about things you’d like to see more often in the blog, and let us know! We’ll be reviewing your feedback and hope to make the blog extra interesting for all postcrossers in 2018. :)

If you’d like to have a look at what we’ve covered in nearly 600 posts so far, check out the Blog Archives.

Happy New Year! May it be a brilliant one!

Last month we invited everyone to write about a famous food from your region in the postcards you were sending out. So… what new delicacies did you learn about? 😋 Are you going to give them a try?

(For those that are new to them, the writing prompts are an ongoing experiment that invites postcrossers to write about a different topic on their postcard’s messages every month. These are just suggestions though — if you already know what you want to write about, or the recipient gives you some pointers, that’s great too!)

This month’s writing prompt was suggested by Jetske. Here it goes:

Sounds simple enough, right? But wouldn’t it be interesting to know how your typical day differs from someone else’s across the world?

For instance, my commute is probably the shortest out there, as I just work from our home office on my laptop all day (not in pijamas though!). A typical day around here is filled with emails, posts, research and coffee… as well as occasional visits from the neighbourhood’s cats! 🐈

What about you? What does your typical day look like? Are you strict about schedules or tend to go with the flow? Do you have a long commute? And do you interact with a lot of other people (or cats)?

You can choose to give the recipient of your postcard a broad overview of your days, or focus on something specific if you feel that would be more relevant. Whichever approach you choose, I’m sure it’ll be interesting to read about.

Have a good month, filled with lovely postcards!

A few postcrossers might remember that a long time ago, Flickr had a series of interviews with photographers, in which they always asked the same five questions. One of them was this one:

"When we interview peeps for employment here at Team Flickr, we always ask: “Kittens, babies, sunsets or flowers? Pick one.”

We thought this was a good topic to break the seriousness of last month’s poll and try something different. So… kittens, babies, sunsets or flowers?

Turns out, it’s sunsets all the way with the Postcrossing crowd! Almost half of us prefer sunsets to any of the other options, followed by kittens, then flowers … and babies always seem to come last! Why is that, i wonder? 🤔

The results are very consistent from country to country too, with South Korea and Lithuania going a bit against the trend and preferring kittens to sunsets.

So what do you think? What motivated your pick, and how do you interpret these results?

PS: We’re always looking for new poll ideas! If you think of something cool to ask postcrossers (and that would fit in a poll), let us know in the comments.

We really hope you’ve all been good boys and girls this year (and not just the children!), because Santa has most definitely been keeping an eye… Still, if you’d like to plead your case, perhaps a beautifully handwritten letter with some compliments wouldn’t hurt? 😉

We encourage everyone to keep this tradition alive, especially among the little ones. For many, this is their first time writing a letter, and it can be a magical moment of discovery and awe.

To give you a hand in this task, here’s the list of Santa’s addresses around the world:

• Australia
• Austria
• Belarus
• Canada
• Finland
• France
• Germany
• Ireland
• Italy
• New Zealand
• Russia
• Slovakia
• United Kingdom
• USA

In many other countries, it’s enough to address your letters to “Santa Claus” (or his name in your language). For instance, in Portugal you mail your letters to “Pai Natal”, and you’ll get a reply.

If Santa’s address for your country isn’t listed above, check with your local post office for more details and let everyone know in the comments below (with a link, if possible). Happy Holidays! 🎄

Another month starts and it’s time for a new suggestion for the messages on your postcards! But first, let us ask: did last month’s writing prompt help you unlock some creativity and write a bit more on your postcards? We really hope so!

(For those that are new to them, the writing prompts are an ongoing experiment that invites postcrossers to write about a different topic on their postcard’s messages every month. These are just suggestions though — if you already know what you want to write about, or the recipient gives you some pointers, that’s great too!)

December’s writing prompt was suggested by Heepy on the forum. Here it goes:

This should be an easy one, right? Around here in the south of Portugal, the “holy trinity of crops” consists of almonds, carob and figs. Most of the local sweets will include one or more of these, giving them a very characteristic taste and texture. After extensive research, we can confirm it’s absolutely delicious! I could definitely write about it at length on my postcards… 😋

What about you, what is typical from your region? We invite you to pick a favourite local dish or sweet and tell your recipients all about it on your December postcards — you might even inspire someone across the world to try it out someday!

PS – Got some cool ideas for more prompts? Feel free to share them on this forum thread!