Thinking Day Postcard Exchange

The Thinking Day Postcard Exchange is a project designed to assist Guides and Scouts around the world to communicate and learn about their sisters in Guiding. The exchange runs from September to February each year.

We have participated in the exchange for the past three years. It has been a great opportunity for the Brownies to learn about and become more aware of our international organisation and also for me to get to know some great Leaders around the world!

The exchange has allowed us to swap not only postcards but also emails, badges and resources. We have even had meetings answering questions from other Guide units.

Excerpt of questions answered by Brownie Guides

Drawing of Australian Guide uniform (to illustrate the above question)

All the postcards are mailed to one address and when they arrive I take them to the Guide Hall to put in our Brownie letter box. The girls know that when the red flag is up there is mail! (Replicating the design of American letter boxes).

Rather than buying postcards the girls draw and write their own. I love their varied designs and the things they choose to write about (what they did at school that day, how many siblings they have...). I always try to send an eletter to every unit we exchange with, just to give them a little more info about Guiding in Australia.

Koala in a tree

Sydney Harbour Bridge

We display the postcards and letters on a notice board in our Guide Hall until Thinking Day so that everybody can read and admire them.

How to join the exchange:
1. Sign up at www.mythinkingday.com
2. Once the exchange opens (September/October) you have 2 choices: request a postcard OR wait for people to contact you.
3. To request a postcard you need to access the TD Yahoo Group (you will have to sign up for a free Yahoo ID, you should have received an email about this when you joined the exchange).
4. Once you are in the group go to the "Database".
5. Units/troops are listed by country (or in the case of the USA, by state).
6. Locate a unit you would like to exchange postcards with and send them a polite, personalised email.
7. Reply in a timely manner whether you can or cannot participcate in a swap. Remember to let your exchange partners know if you don't plan on mailing out until the new year.
8. Let your exchange partners know when you send and receive postcards. Some units send up to 100 postcards and if they are anything like me they have a ridiculously complicated Excel spreadsheet to keep track of everything.
9. Have fun!! 
10. I hope to hear from some of you in the exchange!


Handy hints AND ways to avoid my pet peeves:

• The exchange is a bit overwhelming at first and will quickly take over your email account once it begins - so make sure you don't sign up using your work email address. You'll thank me!
• If you live in America please write the entire name of your state when requesting an exchange. Most people don't know your state abbreviations!
• Please don't send generic emails to large groups of people that say "Dear Girl Scout Leader". Every Leader's name (or unit name) is listed on listed on the database - it's much nicer to receive a personalised email rather than be on a group list.
• Most people in the exchange live in the USA or UK. If you want to exchange with them, no problem, you should be fine (unless you are after specific states/counties/cities). But if you are desperate for an exchange from Australia, Japan, Europe etc you'd better get in fast! Unfortunately we can't send postcards to everybody!
• Be receptive to exchanging ecards or eletters - I actually prefer these because they have so much more room for sharing information!

Postcard Exchange Activities:
Some units choose to add a little more excitment to their exchange by giving their Leaders an extra challenge. I applaud you Leader's - I don't think that I would ever keep on top of these, so let's keep these bonus challenges on the hush, hush from my Brownies, alright?

• Collect a postcard from every state in the USA (this is quite a challenge and I know that many often to have to resort to accepting ecards)
• Exchange a certain number of postcards (eg. 100)
• Swap with girls that have the same names as girls in your unit ie. A Rachel in America may swap with a Rachel in Ireland. (You will have to wait until the end of the exchange to do this challenge. That is when you are given the opportunity to send out messages to the group).

I hope that has given you a little bit of background info on the exchange. Please consider joining. Maybe you can join just as a Leader this year and participate in a few exchanges to see if its something you might like to introduce to your unit at a future date.

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Do you participate in the Thinking Day exchange?