Where to find a Pen Pal

Mailing a postcard in a postbox

Image credit: Alena.K/BigStock.com

So, you’ve recently decided you quite fancy the idea of writing to a pen pal. Great! But where does one find a pen pal these days? Well, luckily, the internet has actually made finding a snail mail friend much easier than it used to be. As a child, I wrote to other kids I met on holiday. As a tween and early teen, I searched on Teletext. Then as a teenager and young adult, I turned my attentions to the pen pal sections in the music magazines I read. However, all of those letter friendships dropped off one way or another and I stopped letter-writing for many years. I now have several pen pals again though, most of whom I found online, and once I started looking, I found out it was a whole lot easier than I expected.

Below are three large websites I came across during my quest, which I personally found useful and hope you might too:

Interpals

Interpals has been helping people make new friends around the world since 1998! Sign up for free, create a profile, and search the profiles of others to find someone to write to. Messaging is safe due to their on-site inbox, meaning you don’t need to give out personal information until you are ready. Interpals is also a great option if you are learning a language and looking for a language buddy in that country, as it has a search option specifically for that.

PenPal World

PenPal World has also been active since 1998, and prides itself on running a safe platform for people to meet online and find pen friends. It is similar to Interpals in that you sign up, build a profile and search the profiles of others, then communicate within a PenPal World inbox. Safety features the site is proud of include the fact they manually verify every single profile photo, and they enable minors to block all adults. There is a free and paid membership option. On the free version, you can contact and/or reply to 3 members per day; you can contact 50 members per day on the paid version.

Global Penfriends

Global Penfriends was established in 1995, and is a safe platform that runs in a very similar way to Interpals and PenPal World. It is completely free, and you set up a profile, search for others, and have a secure inbox. Unique to Global Penfriends is their My Post service, which enables members to send snail mail to each other via the internet! You can use this service to send any written correspondence: letters, postcards, birthday cards, invitations, etc.

Take a look at each, and see which suits your needs best. There are also many more if you search online, including niche ones for certain passions. However, these three have so many members from around the world, you are bound to find someone you click with, even if your interests are very unique.

Please remember that you use these sites at your own risk. Stay safe and remain vigilant, but have some fun. Happy writing!

As a long-term stationery lover, I adore working for The Pen Company. My childhood saw me carrying around a little red suitcase covered in stickers and full of pens, paper and other such goodies; my adulthood sees me doing pretty much exactly the same!

There are 3 comments for this article
  1. Jackie at 3:02 pm

    Pen Pals are wonderful! I have quite a few in the US and around the world. I found them here – http://lettermo.com/ . It is a challenge that happens each year in February, but anyone can sign up all year long and join in the discussion on the forums, and make new pen friends.

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