Snail Mail Pen Pals - How I Started to Find Pen Friends

Your story will help others who have never shared life via pen pal letters to try this hobby! We know Pen Pals are all about friendship, and we know how Pen Friends can truly change our lives! Please consider sharing how you started penpalling here...

Click below to see contributions from other visitors to this page...

Bobby Vee  "What a weird title" you may think! When I was a mere 15 years old, I started a Bobby Vee Fan Club, which became quite successful with members from all ...

Writing and Sharing  One of my teachers in primary school originally introduced me to penpalling. I lived in England and our enterprising teacher Miss Coates had been in ...

My life with Penpals  My first penpal was a distant cousin that I met when my family visited hers in Detroit; I was 9 or 10 at the time. Pat & I became friends and exchanged ...

My Pen Pal Story   I started pen-palling 20 years ago.

It was something I wanted to do, but hadn't done anything about!

At that time there was a local radio station ...

Paling was Work Related  I was working 6 days a week. I'd come home Saturday and leave again Sunday.

I worked around men and never had time to talk to any women. Most were ...

Writing to Pen Pals  I was reading a Womans' Day magazine, all the nice articles, finally the penpals section, all these ladies wanting to write and make new friends, so I ...

Starting at 28 and In Guatemala  In a small country like Guatemala, children are encouranged to do good in school, and to take extra courses on music, languages or sports to become a ...

How I Started Penpalling  The year was 1975. My 2 daughters and I had rented a place near the beach. One rainy day I bought a copy of Women's Circle Magazine to have something ...

Keep The Ink Flowing...  A teacher in 3rd grade introduced her classroom to pen paling. Since I was always dreaming of exotic places I would someday travel too when grown that ...

Marilyn, Washington State - I was in the 7th or 8th grade when I got my first pen pals. I enjoyed listening to The Story Hour program and getting their magazine which at that time was called The Good Deeder. I sent my name in to the magazine requesting pen pals. I heard from about a dozen girls. We wrote for several years but as they grew up and got married all but one of them quit writing. I usually hear from her once a year at Christmas time.

When my girls were 2 and 4 and my husband was working for a motor home repair business we had use of a log cabin in the mountains. On the 4th of July we took his boss and his family up there for the day. His wife brought along some pen pal magazines. A letter I wrote to one of them was published and I received reply from about a hundred ladies. I have been pen paling ever since. Mail time is one of my favorite times of the day. And now that we have e-mail I do a lot of e-mailing as well as writing snail mail letters.

Pris, Florida - I started penpalling when I was about 12 years old...I found an ad in "TEEN" magazine of a girl who was just a couple of months older than I was - she lived in Illinois and I was in Alabama - so I wrote to her and we became great pals..We would write 2 or 3 letters weekly back & forth..we went thru high school, boyfriends, all of those terrible "Fun" years...after graduation she went into Nursing School and I went to Business College...and after about a year of that we just stopped writing...that was about 1967 - I had gotten married, so didn't have time for pen friends.

Then, about 1978 my Mom introduced me to Women's Circle and Women's Household magazines...both were filled with pen pal letters...so I wrote letters and wrote letters...and got a favorable response to them...then I decided I would submit a letter...and it came out in the December issue..so right before Christmas 1979 my mailbox started filling up with letters, as well as Christmas cards...being the busiest time of the year, the letters were put aside until after the first of the year...and then I got busy, and by that time had received 162, and answered them.

I ended up with about 45 really long letter, sincere pals which was what I wanted..several I met - when they came to Florida on vacations, one visited her in-laws near us, and a couple we visited as we traveled into their area.

It is a great hobby - one I still enjoy today and am always looking for long letter, sincere gals, 45 and up... To me a day without mail is like a day without sunshine.. I enjoy my e-mail pals, but prefer the pen and ink friends.. I love to write letters, decorate my stationery & envelopes & use my pretty stationery.

I love to find a mailbox full of good mail...Sunshine and Smiles to all!!!

Cookie, Ohio - Guess us Ohioans and near by are just lonelier than others, could be due to the fact we are kinda closed in here with nothing else to do....I once tried to get pals from each state but was never able to do it. I don't have very many pals at all anymore. It seems like pen palling kinda died down in the mid-late 80's, it isn't as big a thing as it used to be. I do realize some have switched over to email, and probably more will do so when the postage goes up, but to me that is still a pretty good bargain, less than 40 cents to get a nice friendly visit from someone. I don't think anything will ever replace a letter visit, at least not to me it won't.

Marge, Kansas - I agree with you, Cookie. There's nothing like finding a friendly letter in your mailbox. I still get a lot of mail here, but a lot of it is from readers of the newsletter. I can't even begin to answer every piece of mail that comes to the house these days, but I do have some very special pals and a few robins that I definitely enjoy. I don't think 3¢ more will make me panic about the price of postage. Thirty-seven cents is a small price to pay to take a letter clear across the country. I do balk at the price they charge for most packages these days. Most of the pen pal trades, etc. are for items that cost less than the postage it takes to mail them, and most of the items can be found anywhere in the nation so it seems silly to buy a tablet to mail to someone who can get the same thing where they live.

Faith, WA - It seems I have been writing something all my life. Letter writing started with those "duty thank you" letters which mother required after Christmas and birthdays. Am sure you know the kind I mean--"Thank you for the book/puzzle. I am fine. I hope you are fine" Then when I was in high school and World War 11 was on, I and several other girls wrote to sailors from Farragut Naval Station. in Idaho. It was so exciting to hear from "my" sailors. The letters were an introduction to other people and another way of life. When they went overseas, I received "V" mail which was very different. V mail was written on thin paper and often times it was censored. Time moved on and the letters slowed and finally faded away. Since I never met any of the sailors. I hope they survived the war.

Bev Prince - I began penpalling in November of 1978. My neighbor asked me to get her mail while she was on vacation, and I was happy to do it. One day she had a craft magazine awaiting her, so nosey me thumbed through it on my way home. Little did I know the favor was to bring me more support, friends, caring, and happiness lasting all this time and in the years to come.

I found a penpal section in the magazine and wrote to the names listed later on in the evening. I still have one pal from the list, plus several more I've acquired during the years. We had so many similar occasions happening just a few months apart but in the same year, meeting our future spouses(1981), our marriages (1982), the births of our daughters(1983), and unfortunately the demise of our marriages(2001). We listened to each other and offered love and support as we knew what each other was going through. We have never met, but one day I am hoping we can.

My special friend and penpal is Marilyn Jablonski who lives in NY.

Brenda B., TX -My aunt got me started in pen pals when I was very young. As I got older I received Women's Circle and Women's Household and met so many wonderful ladies/friends there. Oh how I miss those magazines. not a lot of pals out of the F/B's and newsletters. I agree Marge and Cookie (Ed note: Website Replies to this question), pen paling by snail mail has dropped off and it is so sad because it is wonderful to check one's mail and there be that envelope that stands out from the rest that a friend has dropped in that day:-) Come visit me at my mailbox, I always have room for more. I have email pals too and they are wonderful. Will do either but I would love to have more pals via snail mail.

Order an issue of Inky Trail News and see what this hobby is all about!

Order an issue of Inky Trail News and see what this hobby is all about!