Anyone else have penpals?

[SquidGamer]

I wondered if there's anyone else who enjoys penpalling. I've been doing it since I was around 16 and have 14 penpals at the moment. I'm 37 now. A couple of them I've been writing to since my teens, others I've got over the years and a few recently from Instagram and Postcrossing. So far I've met 2 of them in person. One might be coming over next year from Finland.

My 8 year old DS became interested and wanted post so now has a few penpals, one in the USA, one in Spain and one in Puerto Rico.

It still seems to be a popular hobby judging by the amount of people who post about it on Instagram, even with the types of technology you get nowadays!

I had a couple when I was at school. I would love penpals now, in this world of instant communication, nothing beats a hand written letter delivered by the postie!!

Totally agree, it's fun waiting for the letters to arrive and having a bit of delayed gratification!

Oh, this sounds fun.

How does one find a penpal?

I'm still in touch with my French pen pal after 30 years!

In year 7 at school, we were all given one. The rest of my class got kids from France, while I got a lad from Ivory Coast. My classmates merrily trotted off to Lille and Lyon and Paris, but there was no way in hell my parents were going to let me go to Abidjan.

However, Souleymane and I are still in touch on Facebook after all these years!

I think there was a scheme in school - IYS?? - where you were matched with penpals from across the world and often received surprise letters. I really wish it existed now because I think my two daughters would love it! (Although probably a data protection nightmare for the company!)

I have one penpal in the UK but I'd love more.

Yes, 42 or so years later we are still in touch.
We were ten or 11 but I can 't remember if we were put in touch through school, brownies or what. She is from the Massachusetts area of the USA and we met once when I went to Florida with my family and she drove down with her family.
We used to write proper letters as kids but that changed to email and now messenger. Compared to how long it took to get a reply to a letter it's amazing to get an instant reply now!

I remember where you used to fill in a form and then get a pen pal. I'm guessing I paid something 🤔. I had one in Jamaica and one in France but they soon stopped writing

Started writing to my pen pal in Oklahoma when I was 7, and 40 years later we are still in touch and have met twice! Messenger is so much easier than the post though, but not quite the same excitement as a letter filled with American chewing gum!

I would love one but my writing is atrocious.

Yes. Mine is American, we started writing when we were 14 and we are now 57. We've grown up together but we've never met. Nowadays we keep on touch via FB and Xmas cards. We found each other through a UK teen magazine in the 1970s called FAB 208 and its US equivalent.

My DM, who's 85, is still in touch with her German penpal. They've been writing since the 1950s and have met a few times. I think it's lovely.

I did have penpals when I was at school, and then when I was at college but they didn’t last. However I am email penpals with an elderly man who I met when I bought something off him via EBay! He gave me some items related to an interest/hobby I have that are collectible historical items and we mainly chat about that but without explaining exactly what it is, we have stayed in touch as I am bringing some of those memories to life.

www.globalpenfriends.com/

@newtothenet

I think there was a scheme in school - IYS?? - where you were matched with penpals from across the world and often received surprise letters. I really wish it existed now because I think my two daughters would love it! (Although probably a data protection nightmare for the company!)

I have one penpal in the UK but I'd love more.

Yes, IYS based in Finland. I paid 50p per penpal, had several in high school, but only one developed into a lifetime of friendship. She attended my wedding, years later I attended hers. We started writing letters aged 15. Both almost 40! Love love love writing letters, it's one of the happiest memories of my childhood.

Like several others on this thread, I now stay in touch via WhatsApp or email as it's easier/convenient but do really miss those days of waiting on the post.

@wheresmymojo I believe International Pen Friends is still around, look them up on Facebook and you'll find the website. Though if I remember right, your address is passed to around 10-14 people and you also get 10-14 addresses so you could end up with a lot! You could search Instagram for the hashtag - penpalswanted
That's how I found a couple of mine.

It's so nice to hear others with the same hobby, I don't know anyone else in my friendship circle who does it. I'm glad it's still going and didn't die a death due to the introduction of the Internet! Anyone else do Friendship Books? They'd get included with letters and sent around penpals and you'd add your address in it and send it to another penpal.

This thread is a few days old now but I typed in penpals because I had been thinking about the penpals I had a few days ago and how much I totally miss this hobby. I also remember friendship books and even remember getting a full one back one time which was a rarity because I think a lot of them never ended up being returned I would love to take up letter writing again

I love penpals! I took it up over 30 years ago when I had my first baby and it was such a culture shock, to be at home with a baby. Mother and Baby magazine had a penpal column and it went from there. I'm still in touch with a few from those days and have met them so we have "seen" our babies grow up, and I also supported someone through her divorce and we'd "chat" about the new man she met later and ended up marrying (and is very happy). I meet one penpal once or twice a year and we've progressed to having fun overnight breaks in a city! Another penpal has become a close friend: I stay with her once a year and we occasionally meet when she comes my way. Most penpals I don't meet though. I find it very therapeutic to write, and I love the glimpses into their lives.

It's not just the letters, which are a joy: it's the stationery! I'm now hooked on beautiful stationery I can order through Amazon or etsy.

You can find penpals through Facebook: just search for "penpals / penfriends" and see what comes up. It's amazing how many young people are in the groups.

I do remember Friendship books by the way!

I think IYS was the organisation I used to find penpals. I was 11 when I got my first penpal - from Finland. Nearly 40 years later we still keep in touch. Mostly just Christmas cards now. I visited her and her family a few times in my teens/twenties and she came over to the UK once. The last time we met was about 15 years ago when DH and I were on holiday in Finland and we were able to briefly stop in the town she lived in.
At one point aged about 12-14 I had about 20 penpals from all over the world, I was always getting loads of post but it was a bit of a struggle to find the time to write back to all of them. They all wrote to me in English but there were very few that I could reply to in their own language (I did try with those who were French or German but couldn't manage any other languages).

I had loads of penfriends when I was a child but it all stopped in the mid 90s as email etc developed.

But I am still in touch with one in Finland and a few in Germany. I lost touch with the rest who mainly from Eastern Europe but also New Zealand and Australia - I guess if I knew their married names I might be able to find them. I've met all the ones I'm still in touch with except the very first one who lived in what was then West Berlin.

Yes, I did as a teenager and am still in touch with and visit my "main" one more than 25 years later. I didn't know that I could still get pen pals though and thought everything was online! So might take a look at getting some again!

I'd love a pen pal too!

Yes, I have two! One on America and one in Belgium. Met them both - we've been writing since 2003 when we met on a creative writing forum. We do use messenger and phone calls top these days, but there's not been a month gone by without at least one letter in all these years. I love sending them both British treats, too!

EDIT:
Damn it, zombie thread alert. 🤦‍♀️ Stupid bot reviving it, I should have checked the date.