Friendship Books and Swappers

Below are some descriptions of various hobbies our members take part in. These descriptions are too help those of you that may be reading through some profiles and come across a hobby that you have not heard of before..

FRIENDSHIP BOOKS (FB for short)
These are small books that are often made by hand. Snail mailers send out these books to each other as a sort of guestbook so their penpals can sign the books and return them. FB's are usually made for someone as a gift to thank them for something.. but often people make them just for fun also. Within a FB you will find commonly used abbreviations - these abbreviations are below. Those people that sign a FB, write in their names and addresses and sometimes their birthday, hobbies and interests. If you receive a FB and don't wish to sign it, you can just write in that you are passing. Friendship books are not just limited to postal swappers - you can also have similar books in email format.

Friendship Books travel all over the world and are passed on from one person to another with letters or in swaps. To keep them moving fast and get them back to their owner sooner try not to keep them longer than two weeks before passing them on again

The format of the FB is not confined at all. There are unlimited ways to present a Friendship Book... any design and any colors are allowed.When you start swapping you can get FB's in many different shapes and sizes and colors. Sometimes it can take a long time to a FB signed and returned - so remember patience is a virtue. FB Swappers often use stickers, stamps and others prints to decorate a friendship book. Friendship books that are neatly organised and tidy are often referred to as "Nice and Neat" FB's. Other common abbreviations are listed below:

When a Friendship Book is full, you should send it back to the person it was created for. The book at this stage is referred to as a "homer" or "home run". It has completed its circuit and is ready for retirement. It is always a good idea to verify the persons postal address (snailmail) via email if available since alot of time can have passed and the address may have changed.

When you receive a completed FB or "homer", you can enjoy reviewing all the comments and see where the book has travelled. You can create thank you slips to send to all those that contributed to the FB as a show of thanks. You may also look through the signers to see if there is someone you would like to be penpals with. After that the FB can be stored for future rainy days.

CRAMS
These are similar to FB's but a summarised version. In these you don't include any detailed information - just your name and address.

DECO FB's
These refer to decorated Friendship books. If you receive a deco, you have a whole page to complete and give your personal touch. You can decorate it with magazine cutouts and make sure you sign your name.

Mail Art
This is a type of letter that is not only about communication, but the presentation itself. When sending mailart you can use postcards, paper or anything that can and can't be placed in an envelope and sent via post. The main thing here is that the object arrives by post. Some people have even sent messages on bark or even cans that have come through the post. Get creative, make it look fantastic and its art.. so there are no rules.

Pocket Letter Pals
Here you make use of a 9 pocket trading card protector to exchange letters with your penpals. You simply fill each of the 9 pockets with various items, including, teabags, stickers, washi tape samples, pictures etc and in one pocket you will include your penpal letter. This form of penpalling can really be defined as mail art. When it comes time to send the letter, the pockets are folded to fit inside a standard size 10 envelope.

Sticker Slams
Otherwise known as sticker Friendship books are similar to decos, but here you decorate the books with stickers instead of magazine cutouts..

SLAMS
This is a small booklet that can come along with a FB.. There is space to sign your name usually on the first page. Then there is usually some questions on teh following pages.. For eg: What is your favourite movie or Book?.

Symbol SLAMS
This is where you write a symbol (@ $ & etc) alongside your name and you put this beside the sentences you think are appropriate to you. For example you may see a question like.. Would you like more penpals and alongside this you would put your symbol if you did want more penpals.