The notebook & pen swap was a great success! I had a lot of fun organizing my first swap. 40 people from all over the world participated, and the passing of pretty papers and pens was gorgeous. Here are some photos from the Instagram hashtag #notebookpenswap! Head over there to see the rest.
The swappers went above and beyond what they needed to do! Good job, everyone 😉
“#notebookpenswap came in today! Thank you @msmay518 for everything love it all! — @thoughtful_vee“
“Happy mail today! !! I received my #notebookpenswap Thank you very much! – @msmay518“
“…and here are the goodies that were inside the #notebookpenswap parcel from @olivewasabi – thankyou! I love it all! – @jaijoh“
“Goodies for @papertraildiary‘s #notebookpenswap! Can’t wait to send this and a few surprises to a lucky swap-ee. – @christinesirois“
“Thankyou to my partner @jw_dreamweaver for my swap! Its lovely – @olivewasabi“
“#HappyMail in my mailbox. Participated in the #notebookpenswap by @papertraildiary and got these lovely stash from Jaime… Don’t have her IG details but will be posting her some snail mail soon. Ahhh… I #heart #Snailmail and #Swaps. #feelingkindaliketheoldJW – @jw_dreamweaver“
“This thank-you is SO OVERDUE. I participated in @papertraildiary #notebookpenswap and my lovely swap mate Kate sent me these goodies! Thank you, Kate! That little green notebook is perfect for tossing in my purse! – @bexlogic“
I got great feedback about the swap and ideas for when I’ll inevitably host it again next year. Some ideas:
- “It’s nice to also know a little bit about how we are sending the parcels, like hobbies, favorite things, just so we can add a little something more in a personalized way.”
- “Everyone should make sure to include a note or some sort of something when they send along so we know who to properly thank and/or we can write back!”
- “If possible, it might be a good idea to make a ‘rule’ that the mail needs to has a tracking number.” Ed note: this will definitely happen! I regretted not doing that!
I’ll also include some more specifications next time, in terms of what kinds of notebooks & pens you like. Details to be included would be spiral or book-bound and size of notebooks.
And the biggest thing: Don’t host a swap in November/December! Besides being busy and strapped for cash, it’s also a nervy time for mail backlog. I’ll pick a better time in 2015!
Let me know if you have any other suggestions in the comments! Can’t wait to host it again.
Thanks to all the participants for participating! And be patient if yours still hasn’t come yet, turns out this is a busy time of year for the post 😉