Postcrossing Blog

“Baia Mare is small town northwestern Romania, surrounded by mountains.” – This is how achimandreea usually starts her postcards.

Earlier this month, she got together with adriananpop, steligrigore, Canda and Andreea (all postcrossers and volunteers with local NGOs), to organise an event to spread the word about Postcrossing in their city – and simultaneously, to spread the word about Baia Mare in the world. And what better place to do this than at a post office?

After receiving permission, they showcased their private collections by hanging a total of 400 postcards on strings on the town’s main post office. They also designed a poster, set up a couple of computers to display the website, and even made special bracelets for the visitors – so they’d remember the name of the website when they got home. How thoughtful is that? Here are some photos from the event:

The response was very positive – and now Baia Mare has quite a few more postcrossers! Well done everyone, we’re very proud of your achievement! :)

It’s Bielefeld-time! Last weekend, the German city opened once again its doors to almost 50 postcrossers from several countries. The Little Mail Carriers were unable to attend this year, but instead sent their recently discovered cousin in their place! Below is his photo-diary of the long weekend in Germany.

Hello everyone! It was my first time on a big meetup, and boy was it exciting! I have a lot to tell you, so grab a cup of your favourite beverage and listen up!

Friday morning we visited a mail sorting center in the nearby town of Herford – I felt right at home! My colleagues at Deutsche Post showed everyone a presentation about the company and how mail is processed, and then guided the eager postcrossers through the mail sorting plant. Everybody ooh’ed and aaah’ed at all the envelopes speeding by! It was a real eye-opening experience, and I think that after the visit we all felt renewed respect for the diligent postal workers who labour the whole night for us to have our postcards in the morning.

On the afternoon, a group of postcrossers went on a Geocaching mission in the woods around the Einschlingen guesthouse, where we were all staying! The weather was unseasonably warm and the autumnal scenery was just stunning. We saw plenty of mushrooms and golden leaves, and after a few trials, found the cache we were looking for!

In the evening, MissMaple held a neat workshop where postcrossers got to experiment with old stamps as a decoration material for different objects. I found some great stamps on those piles, and saw the participants come up with very creative ways to decorate their bags and boxes!

Saturday was scavenger hunt day! sofa organised an exciting trip around Bielefeld, where postcrossers had to do all kinds of silly assignments, on a fact-finding mission in the city. It was a lot of fun – and we learned some intriguing facts! For instance, did you know that according to some theories, Bielefeld doesn’t actually exist?

On the evening, the traditional lottery was held. Every participant had brought something from their hometown, which they put in a big pile. Then, presents were pulled while names were called, and everyone got something new.
After that, a fantastic game of bingo was organized by dandilion! By the time it ended, it was almost bedtime, but we stuck around to wish a lucky postcrosser 'happy birthday’ at midnight! :)

Of course, everybody brought sweets from their hometown, to share with other postcrossers: there were delicious Schokokussen, Lübeck’s famous marzipan, Haribo’s gummy bears… I must have gained at least 20 grams from all those treats!! :D

Too soon Sunday came and it was time to say goodbye… I couldn’t believe how fast time flew! Throughout the weekend, the participants all signed hundreds of postcards which should now be on route to friends and other postcrossers. Fancy a guess at how many cards were signed? Reply in the forum for a chance to win some prizes!

All in all it was a wonderful weekend – the kind that leaves our cheeks hurting from so much smiling! :D A big thank you to Nordbaer for organising the meeting – and to everyone that took part and helped it become this outstanding event! I hope to see you all next year! :)

Back in May, the city of Sochi, (which will host the 2014 Winter Olympics) experienced a Postcrossing day! The event was organized by Polina and Alena with the help of Katya. It included an exhibition, contest and lottery, a postal fairy and even a dragon – with postcards hidden on his mouth! :D

We were so impressed by what the three of them managed to accomplish that we asked them to tell us all about it! Alena described the event for us:

It was a bright sunny day in May, when Rivera Park in Sochi became a meeting place of postcrossers and future postcrossers! :) For one day, the park was turned into a fabulous Postal Square. The Carrier-Dragon went among the old trees and every brave child could try to get a postcard from his mouth. The Postal-Fairy flew near the rainbow of the fountain splashes and brought gifts to the children who enjoyed the event.

It was the Postcrossing day in Sochi! All the members had a lot of fun and the fun of Postcrossing was showcased to the visitors. Moreover, the event was also very informative, people could learn greetings in different languages and also find out more about countries that are participating in Postcrossing. Many of them were surprised and interested in the project. Some of them got a postcard as a present, but not immediately – the winners addresses were written on the postcard, and after a couple of days they received it on their mailbox.

We hope that such events would bring more people to Postcrossing and be thrilling for both organizers and visitors. Maybe soon we will read about the Day of Postcrossing in your city too?

Bravo! We bet everyone had a blast! :) If you’d like to see some more pictures, we highly recommend Polina's gallery of photos from the event!

A group of Taiwan members is organising the fourth Postcrossing meeting in their country – and they’ve been preparing a special surprise for the event… a Postcrossing cancellation mark!

The meetup will be held on May 26th, in the city of Taichung, in Central Tawain. The group was granted permission to set up a temporary Post Office, and use a custom-made cancellation mark, which was drawn by weital. Here’s how it will look:

Isn’t it exciting?

Dodd, the meeting organiser, and all the other attendants are happy to have the first special Postcrossing cancellation, and would like to share it with 50 postcrossers around the world!

Thank you to everyone who responded – the 50 postcards have all been assigned!

For more information on this event, please check the meetup’s forum page.

Last November, a group of Indian postcrossers got together in Mumbai, on 11/11/11. The goal? To bring postcrossers closer together, and create a Postcrossing family in India!

In attendance were exactly 11 postcrossers (what a neat coincidence!): indianfriendszone, seetas, Yuktie, Kanthi, anushankarn, kevindesai777, NishaJ, manojkamat_2005, kaushal, aditicm and Manasi.

Together they wrote and sent postcards with India’s Post special cancelation mark of the day, showed each other their collections, and shared tips on to store and preserve postcards.

Here are a few photos from the event:

Amit S, organizer of the meeting told us that “With all the excitement members didn’t realise how time flew by, some had to rush back home and the others decided to move on to a nearby restaurant for some coffee and snacks and more discussions!”

Time does fly when you’re having fun! :)

PS – Never been to a Postcrossing meetup before? Look up the upcoming meetings on the forum, or set up your own!