Why & How to Host a Letter-writing Party
Templates, checklists and more!
I’ve spent many election cycles tapping my pencil pondering creative, kid-friendly ideas for civic action (Eunice and I even made a book about it!). Each time, my pencil points back to letter-writing and, especially, letter-writing parties.
Why do I love letter-writing parties? Writing letters is simple. With templates provided by Vote Forward, guests of all ages just need to write a sentence or two, and address an envelope (what a great opportunity to teach this basic skill / dying art!). Guests will also learn about themselves and one other by answering this simple but profound question: “why do you vote?”
Writing letters in community is highly effective, corroborating what my friend with ADHD’s swears by: the power of “body doubling” (doing a task together). Throw in some prizes, pool-time, peer pressure, and pizza and it’s fun and done!
The latest letter-writing party I co-hosted drew 130 kids and parents, resulting in over 1000 letters written! Everyone had a great time, thanks to my fabulous co-hosts Margaret, Samira, Tina, Dara, and Kathryn. To make it easier for you (and for ourselves, next election), I’m sharing our complete templates and checklists. Feel free to share, save, or adapt for your own party!
Letter-Writing Party Checklist
2 - 4 weeks before
Meet with co-hosts to plan and divide up tasks. We used a spreadsheet like this.
Register for a VoteForward.org account, if you don’t already have one. Adopt your letters -- a fair estimate for a party is 20 letters per attendee. Letters come in batches of 20.
Design your invitations. We created this non-partisan graphic and uploaded it to Paperless Post Flyers. Vote Forward also has great graphics you can use.
Brainstorm your guest list and ways to get the word out (e.g. room parents, teachers, WhatsApp groups, flyers).
Send out your invitations – see email template here.
Reach out to volunteers to host tables – (sample volunteer sign-up form) – after you see who’s coming, personally invite folks to serve as Table Hosts.
Optional: Rent tables and chairs, hire bounce house, lifeguard, etc.
1 week before
Order or gather supplies
Stamps - approx. 10 - 20 x # of guests
Self-sealing #10 envelopes - approx. 20 x # of guests
Blue or black pens - 1 per guest
Printer paper – to cover letter-printing
Red and/or blue paper for printing signs and tally sheets - 50 sheets
Ink cartridges for printing, if needed
White-out – 1 per table
Optional: Acrylic sign holders - 1 per table
Bins or boxes for finished letters - 1 per table
Bins or boxes for letter-writing supplies - 1 per table
Table Host clipboards - 1 per table
Tape, scissors, stapler
Order food, beverage, and decorations
Snacks
Sparkling water & drinks
Coolers for drink bins
Pre-order pizza
Decorations (American flag, red-white-blue bunting, balloons, helium tank)
Display board for prize announcement for welcome table (optional)
Name tags
Sharpies
Buy gift cards – we purchased three $20 gift cards for the top three student letter-writers
Optional – make a patriotic playlist. Here’s ours.
2 days before
Send an invite reminder to all registered guests – see template here.
Send confirmation email to Table Host volunteers with instructions – see template here.
Tidy up (within reason!)
Hang decorations
Print letter-writing materials and signs
State signs for letter-writing bins (1 per table)
Sample letter (4 per table)
Letter-writing fact sheet (1 per table – optional: place in acrylic sign holder)
Step-by-step letter-writing instructions (4 per table)
What Should I Write? Tips from Vote Forward (1 per table)
Table Host instructions (1 per table)
Vote tally cards (for kids competing for prizes)
Drop-off sign-in sheet (1 only, for parents dropping kids off)
Print letters, sorted by state.
Assemble bins for finished letters. We taped these state signs to letter-writing bins, and taped the sample letter to the sides of the bins for easy reference.
Assemble Table Host clip boards. On each clipboard, include:
Assemble pen / stamp / envelope bins. In each bin, include approximately:
10 pens
100 stamps
100 envelopes
1 white-out
Vote tally cards (for kids competing for prizes)
Optional: scrap paper for drafting messages
Create a welcome and prize sign (we printed out oversized text, cut it out with scissors, and taped it to a science fair presentation board).
Day of the party
Buy party ice
Set up letter-writing tables - we had one or two tables per state. On each table, place:
Finished letters bin
Pen / stamp / envelope bin
Sample letter (4 per table)
Letter-writing fact sheet (1 per table – optional: place in acrylic sign holder)
Step-by-step letter-writing instructions (4 per table)
What Should I Write? Tips from Vote Forward (1 per table)
Table host clipboard, including letters and instructions
Set up welcome table with name tags, sharpies, drop-off sign-in sheet , and welcome / prize sign
Hang signs and decorations
Put out food, drinks, and garbage / recycling bins
Here’s our complete day-of party checklist.
After the party
Clean up
Count the number of letters written
Collect photos into a shared drive
Send out a thank you email to guests sharing the final tally, and handling lost-and-found (someone actually left our party shoeless!) — see template here.
Mail the letters within the send-window (October 1 - 29)
There are many ways to host a letter-writing party — including a virtual party on Zoom. Check out Vote Forward’s event planning tips for more ideas!
