Looking for a practical way to love others with your voice? Here’s how we hosted a simple postcard party, why it matters, and how you can use your freedom of speech to practice love, mercy, and justice in your own community.
For Changemakers Who Both Love and Avoid Politics
Confession: my hope isn’t in politics. I have many friends, changemakers I really respect, who really focus in on politics, but not every changemaker does. That is okay. But I do remember that it’s my responsibility to use what time, money, energy, talents, opportunities, and other resources I have at my disposal to make a better world. And as long as I still have a voice in the way our government works, I might as well engage in civic life it if it doesn’t pull from my primary areas of influence.
Connecting as Changemakers
Even more than that, I want to connect with others. We need to remember we aren’t alone as we practice love, mercy, and justice. Sometimes the most discouraging part of changemaking isn’t disagreement—it’s isolation.
This is why I loved what Women Building Peace is doing. They make it easy for ordinary people to gather, connect, and write bipartisan postcards to their D.C. representatives.
Bipartisan Postcards
One of the other helpful ways this idea of advocacy works is that these postcards focus on issues many Americans care about, even across political lines. That way this project can bring us together, not push us apart. Here are some of these topics:
- Human dignity
- Checks and balances
- Due process
- Free speech
And these are not fringe concerns, either. They are foundational ones.
What Is a Postcard Party?
A postcard party is exactly what it sounds like: a small, low-pressure gathering where friends (or strangers who become friends) sit together and write postcards to elected officials.
I hosted a low-key “party” the other week. I only started advertising it a week in advance at a public cider house here in San Diego. I pitched it as a space where we could encourage each other and I like to think that happened. It wasn’t flashy or huge, and a great project for other average advocates.
Easy and simple is often what helps us “do something,” especially when its not our primary role, and we are acting in Phase Three of Rising Up (Easy Action). This protects changemakers, helping them be intentional and sustainably stay engaged.
Why Political Postcards Can Be a Way to Love Others
Ultimately, the point of these postcards show love by standing in solidarity with those affected. I believe people do best with free speech, so asking for it is showing love on their behalf. I believe we love best when we follow established due process and respect checks and balances.
I believe we love others best when we care about their flourishing in the good ol’ U.S.A.
Connecting On What We Agree On
For me, at the time of writing the postcards, there was an upcoming vote related to homeland security. I love immigrants. I wanted my voice to be heard on that specifically. Others in the room wrote about different concerns close to their own hearts.
That’s part of the beauty: you bring your convictions, and you use your voice.
As we often say at Average Advocate, we try to start with what we agree on. I appreciated that this posture was encouraged by the organizers, Women Building Peace. We didn’t have to vote for the same thing for us to write postcards together!
In addition, one of the other things I loved was that Women Building Peace gave us not only a guide for how to easily write our representatives, but they gave me, the party host, ice breakers and conversational questions that would encourage one another. I definitely took a screen shot of these questions and used them in our discussion. This is something I often encourage at gathers, to prepare methods to converse with games, icebreakers, and discussion Qs, so I was thrilled I didn’t have to come up with these on my own!
Good job, Women Building Peace! You created such an easy and tangible way we can use our own freedom of speech for the flourishing of more people! Thank you!
Hosting Your Own Postcard Party (It’s Easier Than You Think)
The first thing you’ll want to do is sign up to host a party here. They made me check my email and use that link to order the postcards, which I thought was a good idea, as that short extra step made me really commit to it. Then, after signing up, the postcards arrived within two days!
This was what was inside my package:
- Preprinted postcards
- Simple scripts your guests can follow
- A one-page host guide
- Clear “how-to” instructions
- A discussion guide with icebreakers and thoughtful conversation starters
- A premade invitation graphic you can customize (I literally didn’t bother with Canva or a fancy app, and just edited the screen shot on my phone’s photo app and put my name, number, date, time, and place)
- Plastic bags, rubber bands, and labels for returning your postcards
This is all something you can do on your own too–get a box of cards and mail them back to your representatives seperately. But having all this sent to me truly lowers the barrier. I probably wouldn’t have done this, even if it isn’t that hard, without having it sent to me.
Part of this is because it makes me feel like I am part of a bigger movement. This is one of the big wins with doing advocacy work with an organization–together is better! But the other part is just my head at this time of my life is not in a space to think this through. However, now that you have the above list, I hope you will feel empowered to host a postcard party with or without Women Building Peace.
Practical Tips When Hosting A Postcard Party
Here are a few practical tips from our experience:
1. Remember: You Have Three Federal Representatives
Each of us has three federal representatives (two senators and one House representative), so we each wrote three postcards. You can write more than one to each representative on different topics that matter to you, but that is what we did. It helped that I had already looked up the names of ours before I went. Although, thankfully one of the participants knew she had a different House Rep than the others of us. Pay attention to this, as the districts sometimes change or aren’t as large as you’d assume!
Realistically, these postcards will probably just end up as tally marks in an office—but these tally marks still matter. They signal that we, constituents, are paying attention.
2. Add Your Personality
While chatting with friends, I colored some of the designs. I thought that was fun. And maybe a bit of color will catch the attention of a staffer sorting through the mail. Also, if you can use your own wording, experiences, stories, or even just what you care about is good. Small touches remind us we are humans speaking to humans.
3. Invite a Few “Ride or Die” Friends
Not many people came to my postcard party. But I expected this. I had asked a few friends in advance to be there so I wouldn’t be alone if no one else showed up. They are the type of changemakers who are up for anything and I can count on them. In my years of leading small groups, I’ve learned (originally the hard way) to get at least a couple commitments from people you wouldn’t mind being with, even if no one else shows, before inviting everyone in your phone’s address book.
If you host something like this, anchor it with two or three committed people. Anything beyond that is a gift.
Hanging out with them kept me from being disappointed no one else showed. And it didn’t mean no one else was affected or inspired. I had others who started talking to me more about their concerns and how they can be changemakers because I hosted this party, even if they didn’t come.
4. Think Carefully About Take-Home Cards
I did pass on some postcards out to friends who couldn’t attend who wished they could. In hindsight, that might not have been ideal since I wasn’t able to collect them myself to send in. Even though I texted them to remind them, I’m not sure they ever made it back to Women Building Peace’s headquarters, where they will deliver these cards in person to the government representatives’ offices. I can only hope they mailed them to the address I provided.
If you host and pass out cards to friends who can attend your party, be sure to give them a deadline and figure out how to collect them to still mail them together. Either that, or write the address and put a stamp on it before you give them the cards, as these little barriers can become big ones.
5. Invite the Next Generation
My daughter—she’s eighteen now—wrote postcards too! That was especially meaningful to me. It felt like a mentoring moment, and it definitely went beyond anything that we did in Justice-Minded Kids, geared for the elementary age children. Ultimately, she used the guide and she chose what she wanted to say. I believe it had something to do with protecting her fellow students.
Watching her practice civic engagement felt like a major win! I am a proud mama.
Want to Take Postcards a Step Further?
If you want to elevate this postcard party idea, there are also postcard campaigns organized through groups like Postcards to Voters (sometimes coordinated through state-based “Change” initiatives).
These campaigns aren’t just about writing to representatives—they’re about sending personalized postcards to voters in other parts of the U.S.
Here’s how it works:
- You pick up postcards from a local volunteer.
- They provide a script.
- You write to voters about a specific issue or upcoming election.
- If you don’t want to write 50 postcards, you can donate for stamps.
One of my friends did this with her neighbors, and also takes them on vacation with her bestie! I love the way they are doing this type of “postcard party” in such an intentional way.
The goal these are to ensure constituents know about something important before an election. In a way, it’s a type of political canvassing—but with a postcard.
Honestly I am probably not the only one who would rather receive a personalized postcard than answer the door for a stranger or sort through piles of political flyers. I don’t trust the accusations in mass-produced flyers, anyway, and I’m guessing most people don’t. But if I received a thoughtful, personalized postcard pointing me toward verifiable information, I might actually consider what it said before I voted.
And like we always say here—it takes something to move us down The Spectrum of Belief. This might be it.
If you support the campaigns they choose to run, doing these postcard parties could be a meaningful next step for you.
What Truths Postcard Party Connect Us To
My party might have been small, but it made me feel purposeful. It reminded me of some truths about making a difference that are easily forgotten. I think you might walk away realigned with these too, if you host your own:
- You don’t have to put your hope in politics to participate in civic life
- Small meaningful actions done together help us remember we aren’t alone
- Love also looks like using our voices responsibly
- Encouraging one another is always something we have in our circle of influence
- Even gather with a handful of people around a table can help create a better world
Hosting a postcard party won’t fix everything, and it might even have little to no impact on a wide systems-level (but I’m not ready to believe that yet). Even so, it is one tangible way to say: “I am here. I care. I am using my voice for the flourishing of others.”
And others see that. They see what type of person I’ve decided to be when I stand in solidarity with others, even if just by sending postcards. Even though someone affected by my represenatives’ decisions will probably never know I am trying to love them from far off with my limited power, extending this opportunity to others around me is definitely an act of love. And this itself is enough to consider hosting a postcard party!
Host Your Own Women Building Peace Postcard Party Here!
