How to Write a Letter to a Friend (with Examples)

A friendly letter falls under the category of informal writing. Such a letter is written to any family members, relatives, friends, cousins, etc. The purpose of writing this letter is to share any information with them regarding any event or happening.

Nowadays, writing letters has been replaced with different social media accounts for sending and receiving any information from anyone around the world. But the surprising factor of getting an unexpected letter from your loved one has been lost in this process.

In this modern world, it is like receiving a gift through the mail. It may bring tears to your eyes, your heart would become overwhelmed with the emotions associated with your friend, and you will feel delightful as well. The best part of writing a letter to your friend is that it can be kept as a memory which can be recalled at any time even after many years.

How to Write a Friendly Letter?

The main focus of this article is to help you write a letter to your friend in an impressive way. So, here are some guidelines that can assist you in writing an impressive letter:

Step 1: Planning

It can be very challenging to write a letter to your friend because both of you have never done so, and it is different from sending a text message. And some people think that it is not easy for them to talk with their friends via letter.

So the first step in writing a letter to your friend is planning. In this step, you would plan what to write in the letter. It could be any question from your friend, a discussion about the future, details of any particular incident that happened with you, condolence on a loss, or making a plan to meet them.

It is difficult for some people to express their actual emotions through their words. This problem can also be solved by taking into consideration some of the writing prompts that could be included in your letter, which has been mentioned as follows:

• Asking about the well-being of your friend and their family
• Any old joke played by the group friends in college/university.
• Your views about your friend when both of you met for the first time.
• Any secret thing which was between both of you only.
• A dream you had seen in which both of you were together.
• Asking them about their recent life events and special occasions.
• Any slang word or a secret code they used to speak.
•  An exciting event or memory of the class.
• Recalling the recreational tour and visit to new places.
• Telling them about your future goals, how you would try to achieve them, and asking about theirs as well.

Step 2: Start with a greeting

The style of writing a letter depends on your relationship with the person to whom the letter is being written. For example, while writing a letter to your friend, you can use formal or informal types of words such as “Dear”, “Hello”, “Hi”, etc. Usually, the friends have close relations so you can also write “Sweetie”, “Love”, etc.

Step 3: Body of the letter

The planning done in step 1 will help you in this part of the letter, which is the essential one. The length of your letter body will depend on the amount of information you want to share with your friend. Some catchy phrases, nicknames, slang words, emojis, etc. can also be added in this part of the letter.

To make the letter body more impressive and captivating, you can adopt the following strategies:

Explaining yourself

The purpose of writing the letter should be mentioned in the first place. It may include explaining why you decided to write a letter to your friend, which can be any reason such as missing your friend by remembering any past event or meeting any old class fellow or colleague suddenly.

Starting with a question

Starting the letter should be energetic. You can start the letter by asking any question about the well-being of your friend and his/her family members. It will be good as:

• Your concerns and attachment with your friend could be expressed.
• Your friend will realize that you still remember them despite not being together for a long time.

Sharing information

You can share any news or information about your own life, including any significant or exciting event that happened in your life, your emotions, and feelings regarding different perspectives, etc.

Step 4: Closing lines

While writing a letter to your friend, the letter can be signed off by using multiple phrases such as “Waiting to see you”, “Waiting for your reply”, “Looking forward to meeting you”, etc. It would help you as:

• Your letter would end nicely.
• A proper closing will not make your friend perplexed.
• You can also ask them to plan a get-together or talk over a phone call.

Examples of a Letter to a Friend

As shown above, different guidelines and tips have been provided for writing a letter to your friend. To assist you further, we have also provided you with letter templates for your ease:

Do’s and Don’ts

These are some of the key points that should be kept in mind while writing a letter to your friend. For this purpose, a list of some do’s and don’ts has been provided below, along with a brief description of each.

Do’s

If you want to make your letter extraordinary by having some exceptional ideas, then you can follow the list given below:

Prompt starting

You might get confused while starting to write the letter. But, on the other hand, you might feel happy to show your concern and correspondence to your friend. For this purpose, you may mention the reason for remembering your friend, sharing an interesting memory of the past, things you like in your friend’s personality, things often recalled by you regarding the time when both of you were together, etc.

Be creative

You can craft your letter by using various calligraphy styles to give a creative look to it. Your creative mindset will make it more enchanting for your friend.

You can attach some cute little things, such as newspaper trimmings that may make your friend remember any past occasion, the photos you clicked together, or you can write a poem for your friend. Decorating the letter is also essential. You can use colorful markers, pencils, stickers, or anything else to make your letter more creative.

Choosing the stationery

The stationery required for writing a letter to your friend can be decided according to your friend’s interests. It will make your friend feel special. For example, you can use a writing paper with flowers on it or any animated cartoon design imprinted on it. A letter can be written with the help of colorful markers, pens, or pencils.

Proofread your letter

Proofreading is essential for making the letter-perfect. Although it is an informal letter to your friend, the grammatical structure should not be compromised because the letter will show your association with your friend.

Use letter envelopes

You would decorate your letter according to your friend’s personality and the occasion or reason for which the letter is being written. However, decorating the letter is not enough; you should then put it in an envelope and mention the postal address of your friend’s house, their name, the date on which the letter was sent, and the return address as well. After putting in the letter, the envelope should be sealed properly.

Don’ts

As you are writing a letter to your friend after a long time, you will surely not want to make any mistakes in it. You can make your letter error-free by considering the following points:

No self-introduction

Sometimes, we remember the face or any other trait of a person, but the name cannot be recalled. So if you are writing a letter to your friend after a long time, you should briefly introduce yourself first and mention some details about your friendship.

Excessive complaint

It would be best not to ask them excessively about not writing to you or not staying in contact with you for a long time. It would be best if you also kept in mind not to share too much of your troubles or bad happenings with your friends because it would make them annoyed also.

Improper punctuations

It would be best not to use improper punctuation. Although you and your friend might not be very good at English, some basic mistakes could be noted by your friend while reading the letter, and it would create a wrong impression. So it would help if you tried to write the letter smartly.

Too wordy

You should not write a lengthy letter because it will waste time for your friend when the letter is read. Moreover, it would be best not to use fancy words to make the letter seem too wordy. So you should keep the sentences short. In this way, your friend would be able to read and understand the letter with great ease.

No signature

Some basic ethics should be followed while writing a letter, even to a friend. For example, you may think that giving a signature at the end might not be necessary in this case, but it is a fundamental component of a letter. So you should leave your signature at the end of the letter.

Improper formatting

If your letter is not adequately formatted, like the lines are not in any sequence, any words have been cut, or punctuation is not in place, it will make the wrong impression on your friend. So it would be best to focus on the correct format of the letter.

No paragraph divisions

Although the letter to your friend is written informally, it should have proper divisions of paragraphs. A new paragraph should start when a new piece of information or news about any other event is mentioned, distinct from the previous one. The reason for writing the letter should be mentioned in the first paragraph, after which different happenings will be written, and then comes the closing paragraph.

Key Takeaways

To sum up the article, some of the critical points have been enlisted below:

• The salutation/greeting words should be relevant to the friendship status between you and your friend.
• The reason for writing the letter should be mentioned at the start.
• Write about all the significant and recent changes or events that have occurred in your life that would interest your friend. But avoid adding too much pointless information.
• Create an interesting theme and ask your friend to arrange a meet-up plan.
• Ask your friend about what’s going on in their life so that your friend gets to realize that you are concerned about their life.
• You should add the closing lines according to the salutation/greeting words because both of these things depend on the level of friendship between you.
• In the postscript section, you could add any news or information that may not seem appropriate to be incorporated in the main letter body. It is optional for you to include this section or not.

By following all the guidelines mentioned above, you will be able to write an impressive and eye-catching letter informally. It will result in lifting the spirit of your friend, and your friendship will also be refueled.

About This Article

Authored by:

Haley S.

Resume Writing, Cover Letter Writing, Content Writing, Curriculum Vitae, Biographies

Haley Sawyer has transformed the professional narratives of thousands, meticulously crafting resumes and cover letters that unlock the doors to their dream jobs. Whether it is sales, healthcare, or any other domain, Haley's expertise in creating ATS-compatible resumes always stand out in the crowd. Haley's portfolio spans a diverse range of industries: from Healthcare and Business to IT, Sales Leadership, and Engineering. She caters to professionals at all stages, from entry-level aspirants to seasoned C-suite executives. Beyond resumes, her services extend to cover letter writing, crafting compelling biographies, and content writing.