National Letter Writing Day - Celebrate the History of Letter Writing Today!

National Letter Writing Day encourages us to put down technology, and connect with pen and paper. Read on to learn how to celebrate this day!

When was the last time you sent someone a hand written letter? Or the last time you opened your mailbox to find that you have received mail that wasn’t bills or amazon packages?

Receiving a letter in the mail is such a nice feeling. Letter writing is such a personal, thoughtful from of communication that deserves to be celebrated today, on National Letter Writing Day, and every day!

National days of the year are a fun way to celebrate odd and unusual foods, animals and items that you come into contact with. Be sure to check out our national day’s guide for more fun days to celebrate.

What is National Letter Writing Day?

National Letter Writing Day is a day dedicated to the art of writing letters. It falls annually on December 7. There is also a World Letter Writing Day which falls annually on September 1st.

The origin of National Letter Writing Day is unknown. One theory is that it came from Japan, which has a Letter Writing Week, and also a monthly Letter Writing Day (the 23rd of every month).

There is also a theory that this special day evolved from school letter writing days.

While there is no known origin of National Letter Writing Day, it’s a day worth celebrating. It’s often easy to send a text or an email, but those forms of communication lack the personal feeling of letter writing!

Fun facts about letter writing

Brush up on your knowledge of letter writing, to celebrate National Letter Writing Day with these fun facts. Some may surprise you!

While we frequently use emailing as a form of written communication or to receive newsletters, in the grand scheme of things, email is relatively recent. It was only invented in the 1970s. Before then, sending written letters was even more common than it is today.
Until the mid 19th century, all envelopes were handmade. This made them very costly, so people would frequently forgo envelopes in lieu of folding their letters and sealing them with a wax stamp.
Persian Queen Atossa wrote the first hand written letter around 500 BC (according to the ancient historian Hellanicus).
The first adhesive postage stamp was invented in 1840 in the UK. It was called “Penny Black”.
Letters are historically significant. They provide accounts of social, political and economic conditions at the time the letters were written. I always love looking at letters in museums to get a glimpse at what life would have been like for the people during that time.

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How to celebrate National Letter Writing Day

Would you like to celebrate this national day in a special way? Try one of these ideas.

Buy some nice stationary and different colored ballpoint pens. Having good materials makes letter writing more fun.
Check out some famous letters that have made history!
Take today to find a pen pal. Chances are, if you make a pact with someone to be pen pals, your letter writing will continue for much longer than just National Letter Writing Day!
Feeling fancy? Buy a wax seal today and give your letters a vintage feel.
Add stickers to a handwritten letter to a child. They will love receiving this!
Dedicate a day to going to all the museums in your area. Give yourself a challenge to find the oldest written letter on display! (You could also do this on Old Stuff Day, which occurs in March!)
Solve the word search puzzle for December to see if you can find Letter Writing Day in it.
Get our your pen and put it to paper with a handwritten note. There is even a National Handwriting Day to do this!
Spread the word on social media using the hashtag #NationalLetterWritingDay. Here is a tweet to get you started:

Ditch the emailing and texting today for National Letter Writing Day! Take a moment today to send a letter to someone special. #NationalLetterWritingDay ✍️ 😊 📝 Share on X

More national days in December

There are close to 2000 national days in the year and over 150 of them are celebrated in December. To see them all, have a look at this post to discover more about the national days in December.

Is food your thing? Each day of the month has a food or drink associated with it, too. You’ll find lots of food holidays in December!

If you loved learning about National Letter Writing Day be sure to also check out these other national days:

Don’t forget to put up your Christmas Lights on December 1 to celebrate National Christmas Lights Day.
Are you a fan of caffeine? Well then National Espresso Day is for you!
Looking for a dessert recipe for the holidays? Check out National Gingerbread Cookie Day. It talks about the national day and has an easy gingerbread cookie recipe!
Are you a cat person? National Black Cat Day celebrates everything sweet about black cats!
Hungry for an indulgent treat? National Caramel Apple Day celebrates a classic treat – caramel apples.

Pin This Post on National Letter Writing Day for Later

Would you like a reminder of this post for National Letter Writing Day? Just pin this image to one of your trivia boards on Pinterest so that you can easily find it later.

You can also watch our YouTube video to learn more December national days.

About the author

Since graduating from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Jess has been living and working in Los Angeles, CA. She is a freelance writer, specializing in content related to fashion, food and drink and film industry topics. Find out more about Jess here.