Round Robins. Love 'em or Hate 'em?

I do like the idea of a spoof round robin....hmm...cogs whirring like mad. I haven't sent my cards yet!

Yes, Bags that round robin will make a perfect paper aroplane!

Wonderful Phoenix

Thank youMoved ! It's a bit dated now, with regard to some events and prime ministers etc, but you get the gist!

Genius, phoenix. You do have a way with words.

When I receive photos from friends and family of babies grown into toddlers, toddlers grown into schoolkids, it gives me great pleasure. They all go up on the fridge and stay there, curling at edges and fading, until the next lot arrive. Smashing.

My ex husband and I used to get one from some friends who had moved away. For years, they were full of the usual boasting about the kids' violin grades and the husband's promotion. Then one year we got one to say he had lost his job for having an affair with a junior member of staff and had to take a poorly paid office job. The letter practically glowed with malice and bitterness. I was very sorry for the wife who did not deserve such humiliation, but not for him, as he was supposed to be my husband's best friend but had propositioned me (without any encouragement). He obviously thought he was irresistible.
Bags, you obviously have not received the type of boastful catalogue we are talking about - do people really think that 'friends' they have not spoken to for a year are going to be interested in the minutiae of their lives?

I use Facebook to tell friends about the happenings in my family, both happy and sad, as they happen, so there is so no need for me to circulate them once a year. These are people with whom I am in regular contact and they also post their own news to which I am able to respond appropriately.
I don't think anybody is being unkind - no doubt we don't tell the senders what we think about their missives.

Every year since the first DGC was born we've sent 'Smilers' at Christmas. You send a photo through the ether to the Royal Mail, they wave a magic wand and hey presto your photo is miniturised and attached to a stamp. We usually order a couple of sheets and send them out on cards to close friends and family members who don't live nearby. I suppose it's a form of boasting about our gorgeous GC but we do get lovely comments about seeing the children grow up. Mind you trying to get the two of them to 'pose' together drives DH nuts every year. Seeing this year's stamps though really brought it home to me that my lovely GS is changing from a boy to a young man. Don't need to write a round robin to tell people that when they can see it.

we save ours up for boxing day and read them with prizes for the biggest boast the most misfired boast etc. we also judge the xmas cards-prettiest and grimmest. Usually wrote one for immediate family(DH&DDs only) but then we had a terrible year which even I could joke about so I stopped. Might do one this year

Rosiebee I've never heard of that, bit too late for this year, but will bear it in mind for the future. Is it only available at Christmas time?

Hi phoenix, the Smilers is available all year round. I've seen it used with a wedding pic to send out 'Thank You' letters. I think if you go to the Royal mail website you can see examples.

Thank you, I'll have a look!

I do usually like receiving round robins - however, one we received last year ran to 10 pages!!!

Since I've started keeping in touch with most of my friends on facebook I've noitced that the number of round robins seems to have shrunk. It's so much easier to share photo's and details of holidays and achievements as they happen.