SweetErika
Fingers Crossed
- Joined
- Apr 27, 2004
- Posts
- 13,442
The Secret Santa Exchange is now closed, since we've already everyone who was on the list by last Saturday has already been given a recipient.
Please keep an eye out around Christmas if you're interested in seeing how it goes, and watch this forum for similar threads before holidays in the future.
Thanks for your interest, and we hope you'll jump in next time!
****************************
I've seen Secret Santa and Card Exchange threads on several of the other forums, like the AH and GB. How To'ers can be a pretty tight group, too, so I was wondering if anyone is interested in exchanging cards and/or small gifts (even homemade would be fabulous!) this year.
If you are interested in sending another HT'er a card and/or gift (see the details below on how it'll work), please vote in the poll, add your thoughts here, and send me your name, address and the answers to the questions below.
The clock is ticking, but it's still not too late to get in on the fun!
I don't think it'd take much to connect and make each others' holidays a little brighter.
Here's the plan, questions and list I have:
.
The plan:
1) Everyone who's on the master list (those who have committed to participating) sends their name, address and answers to the following questions to the me (the organizer), ASAP
Questions (these answers will help those who choose to send gifts send you something you're likely to enjoy!):
2) The organizer assigns everyone on the list a number secretly.
3) Each participant chooses a different number, and posts the number so others know it's covered (e.g., you might post, "I'll take #4," and upon seeing you've already chosen #4, I might post "I'll take #8")
4) The organizer gives the address and preferences that correspond to the chosen number to the person who picked it.
5) Everyone sends their card and/or gift to the address they've been given in time for it to arrive by a certain date. Because we're getting a later start, I think we should just make sure they'll arrive by Christmas Eve, so everyone has something to open on that day, Christmas, or a little later if they're out of town. Remember the volume of mail increases many times over around this time of the year, so you'll need to send your stuff extra early to ensure it gets there by December 24th.
6) Starting on a day after everyone's opened their gifts (e.g., Dec. 28th), the participants share their excitement and what they got on the board (we'd do a separate thread for this, I think).
7)The Secret Santas can choose whether they want to reveal themselves to their recipient after everyone's opened their gifts. Whether you reveal, or not, is strictly up to you as the giver.
***Privacy Issues: Only two people will get your address if you participate: the organizer, and your Secret Santa. Ideally, you need to give your name as well (in case there's a mistake in the address, or you don't live alone), but you could give your first initial and last name, or chance it with your first name and last initial.
There's always a risk with this kind of thing, but the other boards have done this successfully for years, and there's less of a risk because no one gets to choose who they want to send stuff to (remember, only the organizer knows who's associated with each number). If I organize this, I'm going to trust my instincts and I'm not going to give an address out to someone who doesn't appear to be legit or who I just have a bad feeling about. I doubt we'll get anyone like that, but it's something I want to have a plan for, just in case.
If there's someone on the master list YOU don't want your address going to, let me know via PM, and I'll make sure that person doesn't receive your address. I want everyone who wants to participate to feel as safe as possible doing so.
What will likely happen, is we'll end up with a list of people we know well from here and would probably give our addys to all of them, anyway. There are MANY people here I'd feel comfortable sharing my info with because we've shared a lot of our lives with each other over the years. HT tends attract higher quality people, IMO, and while that's no guarantee of safety, it does provide me with some measure of reassurance.
My questions for you:
What do you think is a reasonable deadline for the packages to arrive, given our later start? Should we make it Dec. 24th or 25th?
The AH has asked people to spend under $15 (excluding postage and packing) when they send gifts. That's not a hard limit, and no one HAS to buy anything, they just use it as a guide and ask people to stay in that ballpark. Would this be a good guideline for us, too?
We don't have much time, and I'll add to this post as I get more info, so please check back frequently.
Evolving List of Participants: (If you don't have an "X" by your name, you need to send me your name, address and preferences right away!)
Cathleen X
VermilionSkye X
done_got_old X
Eilan X
Mazuri X
bobsgirl X
fire_breeze X
quoll X
Please keep an eye out around Christmas if you're interested in seeing how it goes, and watch this forum for similar threads before holidays in the future.
Thanks for your interest, and we hope you'll jump in next time!

****************************
I've seen Secret Santa and Card Exchange threads on several of the other forums, like the AH and GB. How To'ers can be a pretty tight group, too, so I was wondering if anyone is interested in exchanging cards and/or small gifts (even homemade would be fabulous!) this year.
If you are interested in sending another HT'er a card and/or gift (see the details below on how it'll work), please vote in the poll, add your thoughts here, and send me your name, address and the answers to the questions below.
The clock is ticking, but it's still not too late to get in on the fun!
I don't think it'd take much to connect and make each others' holidays a little brighter.
Here's the plan, questions and list I have:
.
The plan:
1) Everyone who's on the master list (those who have committed to participating) sends their name, address and answers to the following questions to the me (the organizer), ASAP
Questions (these answers will help those who choose to send gifts send you something you're likely to enjoy!):
- Allergies, including food and metal (think jewelery):
- Do you have any dietary requirements aside from allergies (eg. vegetarian, vegan, halal, kosher etc.)?
- Favorite color(s):
- Shirt size:
- Hobbies:
- Favorite author/genre:
- Music preferences:
- Repulsive scents:
- Level of Sexual Innuendo Allowed in your gift (none/some/XXX):
- Can you send stuff overseas?
- Is there someone on the list you're NOT comfortable sharing your name and address with?
- Other (favorites, ideas, wants, hates etc):
2) The organizer assigns everyone on the list a number secretly.
3) Each participant chooses a different number, and posts the number so others know it's covered (e.g., you might post, "I'll take #4," and upon seeing you've already chosen #4, I might post "I'll take #8")
4) The organizer gives the address and preferences that correspond to the chosen number to the person who picked it.
5) Everyone sends their card and/or gift to the address they've been given in time for it to arrive by a certain date. Because we're getting a later start, I think we should just make sure they'll arrive by Christmas Eve, so everyone has something to open on that day, Christmas, or a little later if they're out of town. Remember the volume of mail increases many times over around this time of the year, so you'll need to send your stuff extra early to ensure it gets there by December 24th.
6) Starting on a day after everyone's opened their gifts (e.g., Dec. 28th), the participants share their excitement and what they got on the board (we'd do a separate thread for this, I think).
7)The Secret Santas can choose whether they want to reveal themselves to their recipient after everyone's opened their gifts. Whether you reveal, or not, is strictly up to you as the giver.
***Privacy Issues: Only two people will get your address if you participate: the organizer, and your Secret Santa. Ideally, you need to give your name as well (in case there's a mistake in the address, or you don't live alone), but you could give your first initial and last name, or chance it with your first name and last initial.
There's always a risk with this kind of thing, but the other boards have done this successfully for years, and there's less of a risk because no one gets to choose who they want to send stuff to (remember, only the organizer knows who's associated with each number). If I organize this, I'm going to trust my instincts and I'm not going to give an address out to someone who doesn't appear to be legit or who I just have a bad feeling about. I doubt we'll get anyone like that, but it's something I want to have a plan for, just in case.
If there's someone on the master list YOU don't want your address going to, let me know via PM, and I'll make sure that person doesn't receive your address. I want everyone who wants to participate to feel as safe as possible doing so.

What will likely happen, is we'll end up with a list of people we know well from here and would probably give our addys to all of them, anyway. There are MANY people here I'd feel comfortable sharing my info with because we've shared a lot of our lives with each other over the years. HT tends attract higher quality people, IMO, and while that's no guarantee of safety, it does provide me with some measure of reassurance.
My questions for you:
What do you think is a reasonable deadline for the packages to arrive, given our later start? Should we make it Dec. 24th or 25th?
The AH has asked people to spend under $15 (excluding postage and packing) when they send gifts. That's not a hard limit, and no one HAS to buy anything, they just use it as a guide and ask people to stay in that ballpark. Would this be a good guideline for us, too?
We don't have much time, and I'll add to this post as I get more info, so please check back frequently.
Evolving List of Participants: (If you don't have an "X" by your name, you need to send me your name, address and preferences right away!)
Cathleen X
VermilionSkye X
done_got_old X
Eilan X
Mazuri X
bobsgirl X
fire_breeze X
quoll X
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