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Original poster

Round Robins - yes or no?

139 replies

morningpaper · 05/12/2006 21:28

I think Round Robins are massively under-rated!

I USED to do them but I don't anymore because they are The Height Of Naff.

Instead I send a photo of the children.

I have 120 cards to write and I can't possibly write a note in each one.

What is the solution?

OP posts:
Pruni · 05/12/2006 21:32

Message withdrawn

MrsJohnCuSackFullOfPresents · 05/12/2006 21:32

I think they are OK so long as they just state facts and don't get massively long/boastful/dull/attempt to be funny

just something that says what you've all been up to is OK. I get them from a few family members and I wouldn't have a clue what they were up to without round robins

it's just a FINE LINE between information and tragic naffness. I am sure you can stay the sensible side of that line

Original poster
morningpaper · 05/12/2006 21:34

Pruni you did VERY well

OP posts:
Original poster
morningpaper · 05/12/2006 21:35

Actualy it is quite hard because I haven't done anything

I can't really moan about my back for an A4 page

OP posts:
myrrhthamoo · 05/12/2006 21:35

I write notes in each one now thanks to Simon bloody Hoggart I'm sure people enjoyed receiving my wittily composed and self deprecatingly humble missives...but I can't bring myself to write one now.

Pruni · 05/12/2006 21:38

Message withdrawn

Pruni · 05/12/2006 21:39

Message withdrawn

2000milestoeidsvold · 05/12/2006 21:42

i love getting them and catching up on what has been happening with friends. But like someone else said - just the facts maam. Got one yesterday - just a paragraph for each person what they have achieved this year and then a paragraph of what they have done as a family, then a final paragraph wishing everyone all the best...

Stockingsofdinosaurs · 05/12/2006 21:48

I think they're great! Good ones can be good and the rest are generally hilarious - certainly not worth getting annoyed about. My mum always gets loads and they are a hoot - one lady always slags off her grownup kids (I don't think she knows she'd doing it) and gives really personal info about them.
Anyway, where is the line drawn between being proud of achievements and being boastful?

Snowstorm · 05/12/2006 21:52

I got one once that went on about how the sender had had a busy year having all their house's window replaced ..... y a w n

suedonim · 05/12/2006 22:12

We're told RR's are now the height of naff-ness so I was going to write letters. But then I thought 'feck this for a game of soldiers' and did a RR anyway. The only thing I bragged about was dd2 being made house captain this year and that was in the context that none of the other Grubs has ever reached such exalted heights before. I like getting RR's, can't be bothered to read scrawly hand writing nowadays.

Rantaclaus · 05/12/2006 22:17

Yeah did a RR too. Don't give a monkey's a**se if people think it's naff. If they don't want to read it I trust that they know where the bin is. I love receiving other people's , but I am a nosy mare.

hatwoman · 05/12/2006 22:21

anyone who cares about me and my kids gets to see me / hear from me often enough to know what we're all up to. the exception is a handful of older relatives. I write a very quick one sentence each type note in their card - dd1 has started piano and goes to junior school dd2 has learnt to swear type thing and if I think they'd like it I send a photo. in fact the only person who gets a photo is a very old relative of dh's who refuses to let us visit because she can't bear being old.

Rantaclaus · 05/12/2006 22:29

It's just that I have sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

many friends. (I added that to my RR btw, after I discussed how I single-handedly circumnavigated the globe in a dinghy whilst bfing my 2 mth old baby, who incidentally has the highest IQ on record for a child his age, and has been asked to represent the UK on Mastermind International, but he had to turn it down because of baby modelling contract that he was doing (he is very beautiful compared to most other babies) for an international poster campaign to highlight the plight of orphans around the world, an act of conscientiousness far beyond his meagre years)

Original poster
morningpaper · 05/12/2006 22:29

I really LOVE Round Robins

But photos are nice too

I got 200 done at Bonusprint for about 17 quid and I'm putting 2 in each card

Most of my recipients are 140-year-old ladies so I'd imagine appreciate a picture

OP posts:
Original poster
morningpaper · 05/12/2006 22:30

I do LOVE them

I even love the boring ones

OP posts:
DeckTheHallsWithFRAUsOfHolly · 05/12/2006 22:34

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
morningpaper · 05/12/2006 22:35

I think it's tragic that Round Robins have got such a bad press!

Next year I will brace myself and send them.

I will have to try and Do Things during the year so I can send people News

OP posts:
Rantaclaus · 05/12/2006 22:39

Yeah, I sent my RR's this year with an explicit postscript on my email stating that if people objected to RR's they should just disregard mine. When I worry about the naffness at all, I just think of all the trees I've saved not sending cards and feel all warm and environmentally fluffy.

Elasticwoman · 05/12/2006 22:40

The trouble with RRs is that they contain too much information for some recipients (lots of stuff they know already) and unsuitable stuff for others (eg "thanks all you guys who came to my party!" - when I wasn't invited). Sometimes though I think when there is Big news to impart and you don't want to write in every card "And this year dh and I split up", a RR is a good way to let every one know at one fell swoop. Boasting is irritating but slagging off one's children is also v unattractive.

ps MP I take my hat off to you re upset RP

moondog · 05/12/2006 22:41

They are naff but I do write ones for some folk.
I am honest however,thus this year's will include details of how I nearly filed for divorce after spending months incarcerated in a Turkish flat in the middle of nowhere with no friends,no beer and no papers.

Also how Turkish quacks misdiagnosed my dh's back problems as a broken spine and were quite literally sharpening their scalpels in readiness for utterly unnecessary neuro surgery.

December's highlights include being chosen to prepare cheese and pineapple sticks for the Sunday school nativity play and being nominated for the village hall painting team.

I will not mention the possibility of a move to Turkmenistan where,amongst other things,music is banned and the nutter in charge has named the days of the week after his family.

DeckTheHallsWithFRAUsOfHolly · 05/12/2006 22:56

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

moondog · 05/12/2006 22:59

CF,you have no idea how I nodded with grim recognition at so many of your missives from Germany.
If anyone deserves to live it up in California,it's you kiddo!!

DeckTheHallsWithFRAUsOfHolly · 05/12/2006 23:10

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

jasper · 05/12/2006 23:37

Very naff but usually great fun to receive.