Christmas gifts for Postcrossing fanatics!

Good day to you Postcrossing lovers! Are you a Postcrossing widow looking for the perfect present for your obsessed other half? Or maybe it's you who loves PXing and you need a few ideas to add to your wishlist? Well, hopefully my little guide is going to help you. Here's some lovely things any Postcrosser would be delighted to open under the Christmas tree.

First up, a letter rack is perfect for Postcrossing enthusiasts because you can put your newly arrived cards in there to sort later or leave your newly-written outgoing cards there to post. It would look equally good on a hallway table as on a desk. There's tons of designs available but I particularly like this one from Amazon UK for £6.99. 

Maybe this is silly but I love the idea! Buy this cardboard greeting card display stand, again from Amazon UK, and fill it with a selection of new postcards - the recipient can have it on their desk and it'll be like having their own postcard store every time they want to do some Postcrossing! How cool would that be?

This is the same kind of thing, but it might be better for people who send hundreds of cards a month, because it would be quite expensive to fill up. 

But where to put all those precious recevied cards? I can't think of a better way to store - and pore over - your Postcrossing gems than a stunning leather-bound postcard album like this! But, oh dear, bad news. Though once popular they seem scarce available nowadays. Ebay or a local vintage shop might be the best place to look.

I do like this one, even if it doesn't quite have the same Antiques Roadshow vibe. It holds a whopping 200 postcards and is available on Amazon for £9.

There's also photo boxes like this that work equally well for ye olde postcards!

 Without stamps there would be no Postcrossing, but how about a special place to keep them? Little silver stamp envelopes like this can be found in vintage or antique shops, or on eBay at quite reasonable prices. A useful item to really treasure!

Or, turn your postcards into an amazing wall hanging with this!

It can really enhance the Postcrossing experience if you get a map of the world to put on the wall and pin all the places you send cards to. Ooh, educational!

There's loads of really nice postcard albums available from book shops, online stores et al, but I hadn't seen one like this before! It's for sale on NotOnTheHighStreet.com for £4.50 and with it you can create your own ransom-style postcards. Ok, if you're going to use it for Postcrossing, be sure not to freak someone out with a threatening message...do a funny one instead! 

This purse in a postcard design would do any Postcrosser proud! 

I admit that now I'm getting into the realms of not-strictly-Postcrossing, but as I'm guessing most fanatics are, like me, stationary-heads, I couldn't resist sharing this amazing writing set in the Russian doll design. It's £22 but I'm willing to dip into my overdraft to get it! It's probably too nice to ever actually send to anyone but still ;)

So what is the best pen to write a postcard with? I have to say that I take my handwriting very seriously and I'm quite the pen fanatic. It's a very important point and I'm going to stick my neck out and say you can't beat the Pilot V5 Hi-Techpoint. It's smooth, ultra precise and makes my handwriting look better than ever before, almost like a proper grown-up's. That's unless...

...the postcard has a shiny texture on the back, in which case the Pilot V5 can be a bit wet and take literally hours to dry - and I'm at my most annoyed if I pick it up too early and smudge it to hell. No, the Staedtler Triplus Fineliner is a much better option for those shiny brutes, as the ink is kind of drier and doesn't sit on the surface like the V5. I swear to you that your handwriting will look a hundred times better if you use one of these pens! They are widely available in lot of shops' stationary sections so keep an eye out.

So there you have it! My Postcrossing gift guide is complete and I hope it gave you a few different ideas for Christmas. Or wait till their b'day and make them a cake like this (~_ )