Holiday from Home: Write and Send a Postcard

Write and send a postcard to a loved one telling them all about your holiday from home.

For over 150 years the British postcard has been used by people to send messages of love and hope. For many, it’s been the perfect way to tell family and friends about their experiences on holiday near and far. As you holiday from home why not take the time to write to somebody you love telling them all about the activities you enjoyed; however big or small.

Make your postcard

Discover activity ideas and share your adventures using the postcard template provided or get creative and design your own.

1. Get the template
Here’s a template of a postcard you can copy or download to inspire your holiday from home postcard. If you prefer you can get creative and design your very own postcard.
Download postcard template (PDF) >

2. Draw your postcard
Look at some of the highlight postcards The Postal Museum look after in the collection if you’d like some inspiration.

3. Send it!
If you’d like to send your postcard to a loved one through the post, don’t forget to add their address and fix a stamp. If you’re hoping for a message back, you might want to pop your address on there too. Want some extra tips? Read a handy step-by-step guide by Curator Georgina on how to write a postcard on our blog.

Postcard inspiration

Need some ideas for what you will do on your holiday from home and write about on your postcard? Here are a few simple activities to inspire you.

Have a jolly picnic

Imagine you are planning your own picnic, tea party or banquet for your favourite fairy tale characters or toys. Who might you send your invitation to and what might their address be? What sort of feast would you want to host and what delicious food and drink would feature on your menu? Use this invitation template (PDF) inspired by The Jolly Postman or create your own.


Go on a letter box hunt!

On your daily walk how many letter boxes can you find, and can you spot any differences in how they look? Look closely at the front of each one and you might see some initials or a monogram. This is called the Royal Cypher. These markings reveal the Monarch that was on the throne when the post box was created. Each King and Queen since Queen Victoria has their own design. When the Monarch changes, new post boxes don’t replace the old ones which is why you can find a range of different ones. But how do you know which cypher belongs to which Monarch? Find out more about Royal Cyphers on our blog and perhaps you could tell a loved one about your post box hunt on your postcard.