A HANDWRITTEN MESSAGE FOR WORLD LETTER WRITING DAY

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Whether it’s a letter of thanks, love, or friendship, we all get a warm glow of excitement when a handwritten letter arrives through our letterbox. This year on World Letter Writing Day, 1st September, we are encouraging people to take up this age-old form of communication by sending blogger boxes to bloggers all over Europe. The boxes will match up new pen pals and provide stunning stationary for them to communicate with.

World Letter Writing Day

Founded by Richard Simpkin, the first World Letter Writing Day happened on 1st September 2014. The core concept behind the day is to encourage people to put pen to paper and write a letter to a loved one, friend or even a stranger. Simpkin wanted people to put a pause on digital correspondence and allow the handwritten word to take the fore.

The Viking Blogger Box Project

To mark World Letter Writing Day, we are collaborating with bloggers to inspire people to take up letter writing. Bloggers have been paired with a pen pal from another European country and given Viking stationary supplies to write to their new partner.

Participants will be able to build a relationship with their new pen pals and learn about a new culture – without resorting to digital communications, search engines and social media.

 

Reviving the Art of Handwritten Letters

With digital methods now dominating how we talk to those who are not by our side, the numbers of letters we are writing is falling. Emails, instant messages and texts are now more common forms of communication with research showing that we only reach for the pen to send messages on special occasions such as birthdays, mourning events and Christmas

 

Although digital messages are great at allowing immediate contact and responses between people, there are still so many reasons to pick up your pen and physically write to a friend or pen pal:

Letters let you get creative: Without special training or design know-how, personalising digital messages beyond text is difficult. A letter allows you to express yourself in so many ways including doodles, drawings, calligraphy and stationery designs.

You can keep letters: Even the best crafted and most meaningful texts will get lost in the slew we send and receive. A letter, however, can be easily tucked away as a keepsake to be revisited for years to come.

It’ll make someone’s day: Writing a letter does not cost a lot in either money or time, but it really might make someone’s day to receive something special. Letter writing is an easy way to bring you closer to someone in your life and make them feel special.

Writing a letter usually means you’ll get one back: If you take the time to write and post a letter, the chances are you will get one in return. This means the warm feeling you’ll be giving someone by sending a letter will come back to you afterwards.

Karl a Parenting Blogger over at the Yorkshire Dad said “I loved the project, it was so much fun getting to know someone from a different country and culture”.

Do you have any examples of letters that made you happy? Let us know on Twitter @Viking_Chat.