World Postcard Day - October 1st

Are you ready? Grab your postcards and a pencil! (Remember Picture Pages back in the day? Yes, I’m definitely aging myself. 🙂)

I’ve posted about postcards before, but this is your friendly reminder that there’s actually a special day for postcard senders: World Postcard Day, celebrated every year on October 1st. It is mere days away.

A Little History (With a Twist)

The first official postcard was dreamed up by Dr. Emanuel Herrmann of Vienna. He thought, “Why not make sending a note quicker, easier, and a lot cheaper?” The Austrian Post loved the idea, and on October 1, 1869, they rolled out the very first Correspondenz-Karte.

It was a light-brown rectangle, about 8.5 by 12 centimeters, with space on the front for the address and just a sliver of room on the back for your note. No glitter pens, no doodles in the margins—just the basics. And yet, that humble card started a tradition that’s lasted more than 150 years.

Postcards from The 3rd Flamingo will be available October 11th at The Village Art Festival.

Postcrossing Adventures

I’ve been a member of Postcrossing.com for several months now, and it has been such a joy to send and receive postcards from around the world. There’s nothing quite like opening the mailbox and finding a cheerful little note tucked between the boring bills. It’s amazing how much happiness can travel on a little rectangle of cardstock.

For those of you who know me, you also know I can be a bit… competitive. And I love earning badges. (Yes, Garmin, I’m looking at you—you pull me in every single month.) Well, Postcrossing.com has a fun badge tradition too: they award badges to senders on October 1st. You can bet I’ve already saved a slot or two so I can participate and claim my little triumph.

Bringing Postcards Local

And here’s some fun news for my local friends: I’ll be selling my own postcards at The Village Art Show on October 11th. If you’ve ever wanted to send a flamingo marching across the world, or an octopus making its way through the postal system, now’s your chance!

So, sharpen your pencils, dig out your address book, and join the celebration of snail mail. Whether you’re sending across town or across the ocean, a postcard still carries a little bit of magic.

For more history on World Postcard Day, check out: World Postcard Day – History.

History of the postcard

Thanks for reading The 3rd Flamingo—a blog for art lovers, creative wanderers, and anyone who’s ever made a beautiful mess.