World Stationery Day
Forget text messages and emails for a day, and return to the days of hand-written, thoughtful letters by breaking out your old stationery and writing your loved ones.
Drive foot traffic and online sales for stationery retailers by positioning handwritten correspondence as a mindful, personal alternative to digital communication.
- Share before/after photos of personalized stationery collections and DIY wax seal projects
- Feature customer stories of meaningful handwritten letters received
- Promote limited-edition paper stocks, pen sets, and monogramming services with last-minute gift angles
- Create nostalgia-driven content about the art of letter-writing and its emotional impact
Humans have been writing for thousands of years, since prehistory. The Dispilio tablet is thought to be the oldest written record on Earth, dating back to around 5200 BC. After that, writing seemed to spring up in a whole host of different places, being especially prominent in the Near East.
At the time, the main reason that writing became a necessity was because the information needed to be transmitted, particularly in order for political expansion to be able to take place. Rulers and authorities were most in need of communication and they were also very educated. But, most of the time, they didn’t even do the writing themselves. They had scribes on their staff who would record for them everything that needed to be written down.
Eventually, records, financial transactions and historical events were documented using writing as well. The Mesopotamian writing system is thought to be the oldest, dating back to 3600 BC. Certainly, before the use of paper or ink, this system was based on the simple concept of pressing a triangular-shaped stylus into soft clay.
As everything does, writing slowly evolved from these triangles into what it is today. In fact, more than 1 billions trees are used each year to make paper for books, newspapers, magazines, stationery, notebooks, journals and more! Paper is a big industry and stationery is an important part of it.
World Stationery Day was created in 2012 to help make sure the art of writing would not go extinct, as some feared it might. This concern was due to all of the technological advancements of our time, making the effort of writing much less practical than other methods of communication.
Even so, studies have shown that people who write with their own hand are probably more engaged in the topic. This means, writing (and therefore stationery!) probably isn’t going anywhere.
Write a Card or Letter
The first thing on the to-do list for this day is unbelievably simple: write a card or a letter. Get those pencils sharpened and ready or grab a favorite pen! The folks who created World Stationery wanted to make sure that writing endured despite the wide array of more efficient options available, so everyone should try to do their part to help achieve that goal!
Head Over to the Stationery Store
As World Stationery Day celebrates the written word and all things stationery, feel free to buy a few kinds of stationery and vow to use it whenever there is a chance. This could include grabbing a few different colors of paper and envelopes from the office supply store. Or it might mean special ordering personalized stationery that is printed with a monogram or full name. While at the shop, don’t forget to stock up on different writing utensils, such as pens of different colors or pencils (whether traditional or mechanical). Some people like to make their letters extra special by using a wax seal kit that is reminiscent of times past but adds another level of personalization.
Write A Poem
Letters and cards aren’t the only kind of activity that stationery is used for. Grab a pretty piece of paper and use it to write a lovely poem. It can be an epic poem or simply a haiku, using the five, seven, five format. The subject can be meaningful or funny. In fact, World Stationery Day would be a great time to write an ode to how much people should adore stationery!
Send Stationery for Holidays
If a holiday is coming up, especially a big one like Christmas or Easter, make a point of handwriting cards and letters to send to friends, family, and other people who are deeply cared about. Birthdays, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and Valentine’s Day are occasions when people are especially appreciative of receiving a card. However, it doesn’t even need to be a special occasion! Simply write a card or letter to a loved one–just because.
Find a PenPal
Having a penpal used to be quite the novelty–especially if it was a person who lived overseas in a different culture and time zone. Although many people might think this tradition is dead, it isn’t! In fact, PenPal World helps individuals connect with people all over the world who want to write letters to each other.
Send a Card Through the Mail
Are you organizing a party in the near future? Do you need to thank all of the people who came to your wedding for their lovely gifts? Has a close friend been ill a while and could use a cheery get well soon card? Whatever the occasion, World Stationery Day can be every day, so join in the fun!