•Writing for
Write a letter
to your best friend.
Platonic love rarely gets its own letter. It's just as real, and just as worth writing down.
Create your letterRomantic letters get all the templates; friendship rarely does, even though a good friendship is one of the most durable relationships most people have. The trap is defaulting to jokes because sincerity between friends can feel like it breaks the usual tone. It doesn't have to — one genuine paragraph inside an otherwise normal, funny letter is often exactly right.
What actually lands
One specific memory
A moment that's just yours, not a generic "we've been through a lot."
What they've done for you
Not general loyalty — a specific time they showed up.
Room for the usual humor
It doesn't have to be entirely serious to be sincere.
Say it's rare, because it is
Naming that this kind of friendship doesn't come around often.
Letter templates to start from
The 'thank you for being you' letter
"We don't really do sincere, so bear with me for a second —"
Name one specific time they showed up for you, and say plainly what it meant, jokes optional before and after.
The just-because letter
"I was thinking about [a specific memory] and it reminded me —"
Pick one shared memory and use it to say something true about why the friendship matters to you.
Tips for writing yours
Name a specific memory, not the whole friendship
"We've been through so much" is true of most long friendships. One specific moment — a trip, a hard year, an inside joke's origin — makes it about this friendship, not friendship in general.
It's okay to be funny and sincere in the same letter
You don't have to drop your normal tone entirely. One genuine paragraph inside an otherwise typical, funny letter often lands better than an all-serious one.
Name something they did, not just who they are
"You're the best" is nice but generic. "You drove two hours at midnight when I called" is what actually proves it.
Say that this kind of friend is rare
Most people don't have many friendships like this in a lifetime. Saying so plainly, once, tends to mean more than you'd expect.
AN EXAMPLE LINE
“We don't really do sincere, so bear with me for a second: you're the only person I've called at 2am without rehearsing what I was going to say first. I don't know many people I'd trust with that.”
Want the full picture first? Read the complete guide to writing a love letter.
Frequently asked questions
Is it weird to write a sincere letter to a friend?
No — friendship letters are less common than romantic ones, but the sincerity lands the same way. It's fine to keep your usual humor around one genuine paragraph.
What should I write about in a best friend letter?
One specific memory or moment they showed up for you, rather than a general "we've been through a lot." Specificity is what makes it about this friendship.
What occasion is this for?
Any, or none — a friendship anniversary, a hard year they helped you through, or genuinely no occasion at all. Unprompted often lands best.
Updated 2026-08-22