Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Thinking Day Postcard Exchage

International Thinking Day Postcard Exchange 2013 Patch

I've heard about the Thinking Day Postcard Exchange for a few years but had never signed up because they used Yahoo Groups and you had to create a Yahoo ID and that seemed like an extra step that I wasn't quite prepared to do. (Yes, I can be lazy). 

Then Hollah Guiding did a meeting on the Postal badge and they used the Postcard Exchange and it seemed like a fun idea. The idea is that you send one postcard to each group to tell them about Guiding in your corner of the world, and you will receive one back from them. 

I signed up around the end of September and the database went live the second week of October. Bonus: they weren't using Yahoo Groups this year!

I got the email with the link to the database on a Wednesday evening. I didn't have time to check it out that night and by the next morning, I'd had 4 requests to exchange!

We're planning to send 2 postcards per girl, to ensure everyone gets at least one. The thought is to do one domestic and one international, and we've got lots of great exchanges set up. Countries include England, Scotland, Germany, Jspan, Singapore, Australia, plus lots of US states and Canadian provinces. 

We're planning to do the Postal badge in early January, as a lot of groups want a 2015 postmark. 

I'm having lots of fun getting requests and making requests. Having to turn down requests isn't fun (for example, not wanting to double up on states), but I have also been denied and I completely understand why, and it's just part of being at least slightly unique. The more unique, the more you'd have to turn away. 

After a week we have almost reached our quota, but sign-ups are on-going and there are lots of groups willing to trade. It seems like a great program and has been going for years. There is even a crest that goes with it!


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