Monster Joke Month 2018 - Announcement, Ideas And A Prize!

It's time for the fourth annual Monster Joke Month!! Way back in 2015 I created the Monster Joke Month snail mail project and it has run every year since for the entirety of October. For those of you who are new, the basic idea is that every piece of mail that you send in October, you write a monster joke on the envelope! You then share the ones you send/receive on social media using the hashtag #MonsterJokeMonth and/or #MJM2K18. It's a bit of fun and I'm sure it may brighten up some postpersons day. If you'd like to go check out the original announcement, that's right here.

Do remember to use the hashtags though so I can see what people are sending and receiving. I like to do a round up of some of my favourite I've seen at the end of October. I will also be choosing my favourite monster joke and I will send the person who wrote it a prize!

I know not everyone sends snail mail on the regular, so I always give some ideas of how to join in - 

 - Sign up for a pen pal at IGGPPC (International Geek Girl Pen Pal Club) - there's nothing more satisfying than sending and receiving old school snail mail. Don't let the name fool you, both males and females are more than welcome! It's also a wonderful community and there's a lot more going on than just pen pals, so check it out! 

 - Send a note, card or letter to a friend or family to let them know you're thinking about them or just to say hi!

 - Sign up at Postcrossing. Postcrossing is a super fun service where you can send a postcard and then you receive a postcard in return (it's explained much better on their site!) I've received and sent postcards from China, USA, the Phillipines and Finland just to name a few of the places. 

 - Regardless of Monster Joke Month Post Pals is a wonderful charity that helps brighten the lives of sick children through the power of snail mail. (I know this is a UK based charity, but I'm sure there are similar charities in other countries).

 - Send a card or letter to a soldier. There are hundreds of sites where you can send a morale boosting letter to a soldier overseas and I'm sure they'd enjoy a good monster joke too!

- I discovered Donate A Letter this year and it's a wonderful idea, regardless of MJM, this is something people should get involved with. The idea is to write a letter to someone with cancer, whether you know them or whether a stranger to fill their mailboxes with positivity. The site explains everything and you can follow them on Twitter @frommetoyou01

These are just a few of the many, many ways you could join in on Monster Joke Month! If you have any other ideas though, please make sure to put them in the comments. Also let me know if you're planning on joining in, the more the merrier!

Don't forget to post your pics on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and be sure to use the hashtags #MonsterJokeMonth and #MJM2K18 if you feel like tagging me, I'm @NerdishMum on both twitter and Instagram and my page is Life Of A Nerdish Mum on Facebook.

I can't wait to see all your jokes and the fun mail that you send this year!

Monster Joke Month 2017 - Welcome, Ideas and a Prize!

Monster Joke Month is back! This is the third year of me hosting Monster Joke Month since I launched it in 2015 and I still absolutely love it. (You can see my original announcement here).

For those of you new to Monster Joke Month, an explanation - During the month of October, any post that you send you put a joke about monsters either on the envelope or in the letter (or both) and you take a picture and use the #s #MonsterJokeMonth and #MJM2K17 on all social media so I can see what people are sending and receiving. I like to do a round up of some of my favourite I've seen at the end of October. This year I've also decided to step it up a bit and I will be choosing my favourite monster joke and I will send the person who wrote it a prize! I'll announce the prize later in the month so keep your eyes peeled for that!

If you don't normally send post but want to get involved, I have plenty of ideas for you to be able to join in.

 - Sign up for a pen pal at IGGPPC (International Geek Girl Pen Pal Club) - there's nothing more satisfying than sending and receiving old school snail mail. Don't let the name fool you, both males and females are more than welcome! It's also a wonderful community and there's a lot more going on than just pen pals, so check it out! 

 - Send a note, card or letter to a friend or family to let them know you're thinking about them or just to say hi!

 - Sign up at Postcrossing. Postcrossing is a super fun service where you can send a postcard and then you receive a postcard in return (it's explained much better on their site!) I've received and sent postcards from China, USA, the Phillipines and Finland just to name a few of the places. 
 - Regardless of Monster Joke Month Post Pals is a wonderful charity that helps brighten the lives of sick children through the power of snail mail. (I know this is a UK based charity, but I'm sure there are similar charities in other countries).

 - Send a card or letter to a soldier. There are hundreds of sites where you can send a morale boosting letter to a soldier overseas and I'm sure they'd enjoy a good monster joke too!

These are just a few of the many, many ways you could join in on Monster Joke Month! If you have any other ideas though, please make sure to put them in the comments. Also let me know if you're planning on joining in, the more the merrier!

Don't forget to post your pics on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and be sure to use the hashtags #MonsterJokeMonth and #MJM2K17 if you feel like tagging me, I'm @NerdishMum on both twitter and Instagram and my page is Life Of A Nerdish Mum on Facebook.

I can't wait to see all your jokes and the fun mail that you send this year!

Some previous years jokes


 

Ideas For Monster Joke Month

Monster Joke Month is nearly upon us and I thought I'd share some ideas on ways you can find a reason to send a post card or a letter if you aren't already a fan and user of snail mail! If you're new to the idea, check out this years announcement post HERE.

1. Sign up to IGGPPC - International Geek Girl Pen Pals Club is a place where geeks and snail mail collide! The community is super awesome and sign ups for pen pals this month are already open and will be till the end of the month. Also guys don't let the name fool you, there are plenty of male Iggles out there too!

2. Sign up to Postcrossing - You send a postcard and receive a postcard back from a random person in the world. This is super fun and I've used it a lot before and have received postcards from Russia, America and even China.

3. Tell a friend/family member you miss them - We all have that one friend or family member that we love but we just don't get to see as often as we'd like. Send them a card or a quick note, or heck even an 18 page (front and back) masterpiece just to say that you're thinking about them.

4. Send a letter through Post Pals - Regardless of Monster Joke Month, this charity is one that you should definitely look into as you can brighten the lives of sick children. Taking a few minutes to write a card could really make a difference.

If you have any other ideas, please share with me! Lets get as many people as we can involved and excited about Monster Joke Month.

These are just a few ideas and there are other options for each idea, there are lots of places online where you can find the right pen pal or right mail exchange etc for you. These ideas are ones I've had personal experience with and so can say they are good to use!

How many people are planning to join in with Monster Joke Month between the 1st and 31st of October, lets see a show of hands/claws/paws/tentacles?

Monster Joke Month 2016 Snail Mail Project

I can't believe it's this time of year again already and I'm here to announce that I will be hosting Monster Joke Month for its second year this October!

If you're new to the idea, see my original announcement post here from last year. But the general idea is that for every bit of post that you send in the month of October, you put a monster joke on the envelope and then when you send or receive a piece of post with a monster joke on, you use the hashtag #MonsterJokeMonth and/or #MJM2K16 to post it on Instagram/Twitter/Facebook etc. At the end of October I will then do a new post collating my favourite from throughout the month!

It was popular last year, but I'd really like to see loads more people join in this year! Even if you don't normally send snail mail, find a reason to send a friend a post card or write to someone you haven't seen in a while. (You could even sign up to somewhere like IGGPPC and get a pen pal and introduce yourself with a joke!).

As another idea, last year I made Halloween cards and sent them out to my penpals and this year I'm hoping to do something similar, just to more people!

The cheesier the better for your jokes. I've included some pictures of ones I used last year to show how hilariously bad some of them were. I also included bonus jokes on the inside of the cards too, so feel free to put your jokes wherever you prefer!

So get writing and posting between the 1st and the 31st of October and lets have some monsterish fun!

Don't forget to let me know if your are participating and as long as you use one of the hashtags, I should be able to see all your lovely photos.

I'm really looking forward to seeing what people come up with this year!

Monster Joke Month 2015 Snail Mail Project

A few weeks ago I had an idea which I thought was really fun and the more I've thought about it the more I wanted to share it with other people and hopefully for those people to get involved and join in.

My idea is that for the entire month of October, every piece of mail that I send out, whether it's a letter, package or a post card, will have a monster joke on it. I absolutely love Halloween and I thought this would be a really fun way of celebrating it using snail mail and sharing the fun with other people.

For other people to join in, I thought that I would create a hashtag and then every piece of mail you receive/send with a monster joke on, you could post a pic on Twitter or Instagram (or any other form of social media that you use) with the hashtag #MonsterJokeMonth or #MJM2K15

I really hope that people get involved as I am really excited about this and I'm really looking forward to seeing the monster jokes, the cheesier the better!

Please let me know if you're planning on joining me and I'll be watching the hashtags and re-tweeting/re-gramming any and all that I find. I'll also be blogging about the project throughout the month of October and I'll share some of my favourite jokes.

Snail Mail August 2015 Round Up

I thought I'd share something a little different this month and show my snail mail stats. I'm a member of the International Geek Girl Pen Pal Club (IGGPPC) and through them I have met a lot of wonderful friends that I exchange letters and postcards with. During August I've been keeping a record of how far each of my letters have travelled for both incoming and outgoing mail. I recorded the distances as the crow flies rather than by transport as I have no way of knowing which route any of them would take.

I sent a total of five letters and 2 postcards throughout the month and individually they travelled the following distances

Letter one travelled 4049 miles
Letter two travelled 33 miles
Letter three travelled 4782 miles
Letter four travelled 70 miles
Letter five travelled 5198 miles
Postcard one travelled 155 miles
Postcard two travelled 65 miles

I received one letter and two postcards which travelled the following distances

Letter one received travelled 70 miles
Postcard one travelled 4043 miles
Postcard two travelled 3797 miles

I then thought it might be fun to add up the distances to see how far in total everything has travelled, I'm thinking of maybe doing an quarterly and annual round up to see just how far my post travels

Letters sent total distance travelled 14.132 miles
Postcards sent total distance travelled 220 miles
Post sent total distance travelled 14,352 miles

Letters received total distance travelled 70 miles
Postcards received total distance travelled 7840 miles
Post received total distance travelled 7910 miles

Overall total distance travelled
Letters - 14,202 miles
Postcards - 8060 miles
Combined - 22,262 miles

I really hope you enjoyed having a look into my snail mail life, I'm hoping to do more blogs about the kind of things I do with my pen pals in the future.

A Decision Has Been Made

I've been thinking about my book reviews and how I want to go forward with them, making sure I have enough time to do all the things that I want to do as well. I have decided that I will for the time being at least only be doing a full review on books and comics for my reading challenges. All other books I read will still get a mini review on Goodreads with a star rating, but they will not currently get a blog review. What I will do though, is a monthly wrap up blog post listing the books I have read outside of the challenges and what ratings I gave each of them.

Looking to the future, I will also be blogging about snail mail, crafts and any conventions that I attend (I have a few in my diary already) so making this decision gives me more time to dedicate to my other passions and to be able to share them with you.

This has been a big, scary but exciting decision to make and I am looking forward to bringing a more diverse content to my blog.