Behind the Scenes: Penpals
Our Behind the Scenes series continues today with one of our favorite spring-time traditions: Penpals!
There’s nothing quite like snail mail at camp, and the love for that starts way before Opening Day. Each camper gets matched with another girl her age to write letters to before she arrives at camp - it’s an instant best friend!
Getting your Penpal often feels like the first sign that summer is on its way, and looking in your mailbox for the next letter to arrive is a rite of passage. In honor of the 2021 Penpals going out today, we’re telling you all the behind the scenes scoop about what goes into that card you get in the mail!
Scroll on through, and start looking for your Penpal card, Greystone Girls! Need some inspiration? Check out our best advice on making the most of your Penpal, loving on your Penpal, and writing the best Penpal letter ever.
- We pull design inspiration and start working on the Penpal card. We want you to feel all the joy and excitement of camp when you open up your card, so we work hard to make the mailing each year feel just right. The last few years we’ve even included an activity for you to do with your Penpal, like a checklist or a survey to send to each other! We love doing anything we can to make that first letter easy and fun to write.
- Once we’ve gotten the cards approved and printed, it’s time to print out LOTS of mailing labels! Our office printer works overtime to make sure you can read your Penpal’s address clearly and correctly. You can’t be a great Penpal if you don’t know where to send your letters!
From there the exciting part starts - matching the Penpal pairs! But how do we decide who gets paired together? The answer starts with lots of spreadsheets, because we take a lot of factors into consideration like….
- How old are you? The most basic, but the most important! We want to pair you with someone who is your age or very close to it.
- Where are you from? It’s way more fun to write a friend who lives far away than right down the street!
- How many years have you been to camp? We like to match new campers with a friend who has been coming for a while to show her the ropes.
- Have you been to that session before? The goal is to introduce you to a NEW person, so we start by pairing girls who were at different sessions last year.
From there it’s just a big old puzzle to put together! We go through by hand, matching each camper and stuffing envelopes. It’s not a quick process, but it’s worth it knowing the friendships we’re creating!
So there you have it, Greystone Girls - that’s how the Penpal magic gets made! Look for your envelope in the mail very soon, and take this as your reminder to write ASAP. Your new bestie is waiting to hear from you!