Write Cards To People Who Won't Expect One
Spend an evening writing actual cards - to friends, to a care home, to whoever hasn't had post that wasn't a bill in years.
- Cost
- Under £20pp
- Time
- 60-90 min
- People
- Solo / Duo, Small Group (3-6), Large Group (7+)
- Where
- Home, Café
- Bring
- Cards, pens and stamps
Why this matters
Almost nobody receives personal post any more, which is exactly what makes a handwritten card land so hard. For older or isolated people in particular, physical post is one of the few things that arrives, gets kept, and gets read repeatedly. Unlike a message, it sits on a shelf and keeps working for weeks.
How to do it
Get a stack of cards, some good pens and a book of stamps, and make an evening of it with friends. It's a genuinely nice thing to do together - much better than it sounds.
Who to write to: - Friends and family, for no occasion at all. An unprompted card is far better than a birthday one. - Someone who helped you this year and doesn't know it registered. - A care home or hospital ward. Many will happily pass on cards to residents who don't get visitors - ring first and ask what's welcome. - Neighbours you don't really know, just introducing yourselves. - Someone going through something difficult, where you've been unsure what to say.
On what to write: - Specific beats poetic. One real memory or observation is worth a page of general warmth. - Short is fine. Four sentences that are clearly meant beats a page of filler. - Don't ask for anything or require a reply. - If you're writing to a stranger in a care setting, keep it warm and general, don't include personal contact details, and don't reference anything you don't know about them.
Buy the stamps at the same time as the cards. The stamps are why unsent cards sit in drawers.