Postcards

I like vintage postcards. Not just for their images but for the stories they tell. And I believe that postcard writing is truly and art form. A lost art at that.

Sheri, a twitter friend, tweeted The lost art of postcard writing earlier this month and we began talking about postcards over twitter. She set up a PO Box so her Facebook friends could send postcards to her kids and I thought that was a wonderful idea!

I asked her for her PO Box address so I could also send them one. Well suburbia isn’t the easiest place to pick up a postcard so it took me a few weeks to find postcards. But I finally found some at the Indiana Welcome Center in Hammond, IN. By the way, if you’re looking for The Christmas Story memorabilia, go to their gift shop.

The plan is to regularly mail postcards to Sheri’s kids. Hopefully I’ll be able to travel more so the postcards won’t all be of Indiana or Chicago but I stocked up at the Welcome Center just in case. If you’re interested in sending them a postcard, please message me for their address.

If you’re not sure what to write on postcards, this How to Write a Postcard post has great examples.

• Start by writing “Dear … (the name of the person you’re writing to).”
• Leave a line and state where you are and what it’s like, for example : “I’m in Paris, it’s great.”
• Write a sentence about what you’re doing right now, for example: “I’m writing this postcard to you while I’m waiting for the double-decker tour bus.”
• Write a sentence about your accommodation, like : “The hotel is lovely, it has a big fountain outside and there’s a beautiful view from our window.”
• Then include a description of something you did on one of the days that you enjoyed, such as : “Yesterday we went on a boat trip across the river, I loved finding out about all the different sights in the city.”
• Write a comment about something particularly good, bad or funny about the holiday, like : “I tried frog’s legs but they were horrible, they tasted like cardboard!”
• Finish off by writing : “Wish you were here,” or “See you on Friday,” or any other ending you want to write and then sign off with : “Love (your name)”

Next time you’re traveling, be sure to pick up a postcard and send it. We, especially those of us in the tourism industry, must keep postcards alive!