The Post Room
Somewhere in the world, a girl is waiting to hear from you
We’re helping connect Australian girls with penpals overseas. Real letters. Real stamps. No screens involved.
For mums
The short version, and the honest version
The short version: Tween Magazine, a print quarterly for girls, runs an international penpal program for girls aged 7 to 13. Australian girls are matched with a girl overseas, close in age, and they write each other real letters. It’s free. There’s nothing to buy from us, now or ever.
The honest version, because you’ll want it:
This is a penpal program, not a monitored platform. The magazine’s editor makes the match and sends the first letter with the details and some prompts to get started. After that, the letters go between the two families directly. Tween Magazine doesn’t read, vet or monitor what’s written. Supervising your daughter’s participation — including reading her letters — is your job.
That’s how penpal programs have always worked. We’d rather say so plainly than imply more oversight than exists.
There’s no long terms document to wade through. When you register, Tween Magazine sets out its own guidelines, and they say much the same as we’ve said here. Read them properly, then decide.
It isn’t quick. Expect four to six weeks, sometimes longer, before the first letter arrives. Matches are made in batches so the girls get the widest possible pool to be matched from. Worth the wait, but worth knowing before you tell her.
Why we don’t just post the link: Tween Magazine keeps it off public channels on purpose, and sharing penpal details online is against their rules. So we send it by email instead. Slightly more work for both of us, and worth it.
We’ll email you everything. You’ll also join our list for occasional notes about new arrivals and sizing — unsubscribe whenever you like.
What a letter does that a message doesn’t
A message is instant, which sounds like an advantage until you watch a ten-year-old try to keep up with one. A letter is slow on purpose. She has time to think. She can cross things out. Nobody screenshots it. Nobody else is watching.
There’s no read receipt, no group of onlookers, no pressure to reply within the minute. Just one girl writing to one girl, in her own handwriting, in her own time.
And then, weeks later, something arrives in the letterbox with her name on it. Not the family’s name. Hers.
We make clothes, not friendships. But we spend all day thinking about girls aged 8 to 14 and what these years feel like, and this seemed like a properly good thing. So here we are.
For you
Right. Your turn.
Imagine getting a letter from a girl your age who lives somewhere you’ve never been. She doesn’t know what a Milo is. She’s never heard a kookaburra. Her summer is in the wrong half of the year.
And she wants to know everything about yours.
Here’s what actually happens
You get matched with a girl about your age, somewhere on the other side of the world. She writes to you, you write back. You tell her what your days are like, she tells you about hers. You ask a lot of questions. She asks a lot back.
That’s the whole thing. No app, no notifications, no group chat where everyone can see. Just you and her and a couple of stamps.
Things worth knowing
- Your handwriting is fine. She’s not marking it.
- It takes ages to start. About six weeks before your first letter turns up. Annoying, but then it arrives.
- Letters take a while. That’s part of it. The waiting is half the fun.
- You can put things in the envelope. A drawing. A sticker. A photo. A leaf, if it’s a good leaf.
- Show your letters to a parent — the ones you send and the ones you get. That one’s not optional.
- Ask questions. Loads of them. It’s the trick to a good letter.
And if you don’t know what to write
We made you a free kit. Fifty questions to ask your penpal, a first-letter template for when your brain goes blank, and some writing paper worth using. Print it, and you’re sorted.
Ask a parent to grab this one — we’ll send it to their email.
Start to finish
- A parent asks us for the details. Not the girls — parents. We need a grown-up’s email address.
- We email everything through. How it works, how matching happens, and the sign-up link.
- You read it and decide. No rush, no follow-up chasing you.
- If you go ahead, she’s matched with a girl overseas, close in age, and the first letter arrives with her penpal’s details and some ideas to get started.
- It takes four to six weeks, sometimes longer. Matches are made in batches so the girls get the widest possible pool. Tell her it’s coming, then let her forget about it for a while.
- Then it’s up to the girls. Which is the best part.
Questions
Who runs the program?
Tween Magazine, a print quarterly for girls. Its editor makes the matches personally.
What ages is it for?
Girls aged 7 to 13.
Where will her penpal be?
Overseas. Tween Magazine has girls in a few different countries, so we can’t promise a particular one — but she’ll be matched a long way from Australia, which is the whole point.
How long until the first letter?
Four to six weeks, sometimes longer. Matches go out in batches so the girls get the widest possible pool.
Does it cost anything?
No. Not to join, and nothing to buy from us.
Who supervises the letters?
You do. Tween Magazine facilitates the match; it doesn’t monitor correspondence. You’ll see its guidelines when you register.
Does my daughter’s address get shared?
Letters are posted, so an address is exchanged between the two families.
Why won’t you just show me the link?
Tween Magazine keeps it private on purpose, and their rules prohibit sharing penpal details publicly. We’d rather respect that than make it slightly more convenient.
Are you being paid for this?
No. There’s no commercial arrangement. We found the program, liked it, and offered to help.
What if it’s not for us?
Then it’s not for you, and that’s a perfectly good answer. Unsubscribe at the bottom of any email.
Free to be totally you
The Post Room is where we’ll keep everything to do with letters, penpals and the good slow things. More to come.