Postcrossing Blog

Has it really been 20 years? The mind boggles at the number… that’s two whole decades spent thinking about this wild idea of connecting the world through postcards. 7,671 days of postcards, stamps, addresses, smiles, and stories. No one could have predicted this adventure would last this long… and yet, here we are. We’re so grateful for all these years, and especially grateful to the over 800,000 of you who joined us for the ride! THANK YOU! 💙

When I reflect on this milestone, I think a lot about creation versus maintenance. Putting something new in the world — whether it’s a project, a community, or even a child — is one thing. But caring for it and keeping it going year after year takes a very different kind of energy. There are countless hours behind the scenes (and the screens) filled with routine, repetition, and sometimes quite a bit of drudgery, just to keep things running smoothly.

But then, there are the stories. The unexpected postcards that bring someone to tears. The joy of discovering a new place or culture. The child learning geography from a map full of colorful cards. The grandma feeling less alone because someone, somewhere, thought of them. All these small and simple connections often make a very big difference in someone’s day, in their understanding of the world, or sometimes even in their sense of belonging. They’re the quiet proof that connection, even through something as analog as a postcard, still matters very much today — perhaps even more.

To everyone who has helped Postcrossing thrive, a very special thank you. Whether you’ve spread the word, hosted a meetup, helped out on the forum, sent feedback or helped support the project financially: you’ve helped keep this idea alive. ❤️ Your enthusiasm and generosity make all the difference.

Now it’s time for celebrations, and you guys have really come through! Our anniversary gallery is also brimming with nice photos of postcrossers and their 20 postcards, which is just a delight to see! If you haven’t posted your photo yet, we invite you to do so today. We’re all a community here, and seeing other people from all over the world who have this one thing in common with us feels really special.

There are an astonishing 179 meetups happening around the world marking the occasion, and so we hope many of you will have (or had) the chance to join to meet old friends or make new ones. 😍 In Germany, in the USA and in Poland (at the Warsaw Post Office 1's Philatelic Shop), special cancellation postmarks have been made for the occasion, so look out for those!

And if you didn’t get the chance to join a meetup, we invite you to join us in the Postcard Lounge today, for a relaxing moment of postcard writing! It’s a silent streaming room and an experiment in connection — a place where we sit down to write postcards together (but apart). Put some music on, grab your favorite drink and some postcards, and take a seat at our virtual table! ☺️

And last but not least, we also have exciting news for postcrossers in the Netherlands: PostNL is launching a celebratory stamp for this very special occasion! Hoera! 🎉

They should be available on PostNL’s shop from today, and we’re going to tell you more about this stamp in an upcoming interview with its designer… but for now, we leave you with a small introduction to the stamp:

"The Postcrossing stamp sheet, designed by Sandra Smulders, visualises the global exchange of postcards through bold geometric shapes and zigzagging lines. Inspired by the idea of connection and reciprocity, the design features triangles and rectangles symbolising people, postcards, and the world.

A red-white-blue colour scheme subtly forms the Dutch flag, while dynamic lines represent the movement of mail across borders. The central layout and repeating elements create balance and unity, capturing the spirit of Postcrossing—sharing, receiving, and connecting through mail."

So that’s it! Whether you’re joining a meetup, writing a card, or just quietly smiling at your mailbox, we hope you’ll find a little moment to celebrate this milestone in your own way. Eat some cake, raise a glass, dig into your postcard stash, or do a little happy dance — whatever feels most festive to you! And if you do something special to mark the occasion, we’d love to see it: feel free to share your celebration with us and the community on the forum or on social media, using the hashtag #postcrossing20.

Thanks for being part of this journey. Here’s to postcards, to people, and to the power of small things. And here’s to the next 20 years, come what may! 🎉

The writing prompts invite postcrossers to write about a different topic on their postcards’ 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!

Sometimes we pick a writing prompt from someone in the forums, and this month’s was posted a while ago, and comes from Helen (aka helenis). She was curious about what painter from past centuries you’d order your painting from—which sounds like a fascinating question to me!

I have to confess that I couldn’t answer this off the top of my head. I’m not a very visual thinker, so I’ve never had a big interest in art. (Cringe! I’m sorry.) But I did know the style I really like, so I poked around the internet and ended up with a very firm favourite: Alphonse Mucha, a Czech artist who had a strong influence on the Art Nouveau movement.

There’s actually a fan artist who does Art Nouveau portraits of people’s Final Fantasy XIV characters, very much in this style, so maybe I really will order “my” portrait in this style. My character has much better style for it, let’s be honest.

Now’s the part where I get to learn more about all kinds of artists across the world! Which artist would you order your portrait from? Maybe someone local, or someone who created a style of their own? You can share it in the comments here, but you can also use it as a prompt for something to write on your postcards this month.

Some of you might have seen a picture of PT-1, the very first postcard ever sent through Postcrossing — the one that started it all! It’s a blue-skied postcard featuring three majestic lighthouses, sent by Paulo to Ana (that’s me!). As you can imagine, it’s always been a special postcard for us, but the publisher that made them has long closed and so they haven’t been available for many years. We always wished they would come back though…

So, especially for Postcrossing’s 20th anniversary, we took matters into our own hands: we worked out the legal bits, tracked down the original photographer, licensed the photos, and made it happen! 💪

The front of the card is true to the original one, and the back is designed to celebrate this milestone. And to make it even more special, we added something new too: a sheet of fun cinderella stamps! These aren’t real postage stamps, but they’re great for decorating your postcards on this special year. They feature Postcrossing’s iconic red “P” and a yellow “20”, the anniversary we’re celebrating.

Since it’s the 20th anniversary, each bundle has 20 postcards and a stampsheet with 20 decorative cinderella stamps, all wrapped up with a paper band.

We did a small batch of these, and they have just been added to the Postcrossing shop — so if you’d like to grab one, now’s your chance! Purchases will be limited to one pack per person, and we might print a few more if there’s enough interest. These will all be shipped from Europe.

This is our first time making a physical product from beginning to end (working with printers and suppliers, looking at different papers, thinking about packaging, etc.), and we’re eager to put all this knowledge into new fun things in the future. We hope you like the special anniversary bundle, and that we’ll see a few of these postcards pop up on the postcard walls over the coming months!

Every year, stamp lovers across Europe (and beyond!) come together to vote for the best-looking EUROPA stamp — and the time has come once more! The 2025 competition kicked off last month, and this year’s theme is “National Archaeological Discoveries”.

Archaeological discoveries tell the story of where we come from, revealing some clues about life in centuries or sometimes even millennia past. From cave art and ceremonial masks to statues, jewelry or simple tools, these items help piece together the cultural puzzle of Europe’s shared history.

According to the EUROPA stamps website:

“The highly anticipated 2025 EUROPA Stamps Competition is set to captivate philatelists and history enthusiasts alike with its theme, “National Archaeological Discoveries.” Issued by European postal operators, this year’s stamps will celebrate the extraordinary archaeological findings that have shaped Europe’s rich cultural heritage. The 2025 edition will take collectors on a journey through time, uncovering hidden treasures, ancient civilisations, and ground-breaking discoveries.”

That said, this theme is a little trickier to turn into a visually stunning stamp… and you’ll notice many countries went with a more simple approach, showcasing the artifacts’ photos in minimalist layouts. Still, there’s something compelling about the diversity of objects and the stories behind them — and some designs found really clever ways to bring these ancient items to life!

So come learn a little about what each country chose to highlight, and cast your vote for your favorite design!

Vote for the most beautiful EUROPA stamp! 😍

And as always, we’d love to hear what you think in the comments below! Which stamp caught your eye this year? Did your country make a good pick? What other artifacts would you like to see on a stamp?

Belgium might be known for chocolate, waffles and some famous comics (like Tintin, Lucky Luke or my personal favorite, Gaston Lagaffe!)… but from today onwards, it will also be known for some cute Postcrossing-themed stamps! They are out there in the world now, ready to make postcrossers happy both in Belgium and abroad!

We love the unique format of the stamp sheet, designed to look like a postcard itself! Featuring cheerful scenes of all the stages of Postcrossing, it really does a good job of showing what the hobby is all about. The text on the stamp sheet is written both in Dutch and French, the two most widely spoken languages in Belgium.

Naturally, also the cancellation mark is available in two languages!

Also, bpost is also issuing a special First Day Sheet, featuring the stamps in the front and some information about Postcrossing and this commemorative issue on the back.

A meetup was scheduled for today in Brussels to welcome in the new stamp, and we’re sure many postcrossers are heading to the philatelic boutique in Brussels (or more likely, to bpost’s online shop) to get themselves some. They can also be ordered at any post office in Belgium to then have them delivered to your address.

Wherever you are, we hope you’ll soon receive a postcard with one of these colorful stamps!

PS: Veerle (aka veke250) got some of these new stamps at the Skalafila pre-sale event, and took some pictures to show the community what they look like! 😍