Secret Santa

Hi everyone,

I read on another craft forum that they’re doing a “Christmas Secret Santa” there, but with beaded animals.
So I thought we could do something similar here on the CP forum.

I’m just not quite sure how it should work. My idea would be:

Let’s say, for example , there are 10 people who sign up for the “Secret Santa” and are added to a list (similar to the “yarn package” event). I’d roll up these names like lottery tickets and put them in a bowl.
The registered participants will be added to a list in the order they sign up.
Then I’ll, for example , draw a slip of paper and send a private message to the first person on the list with the name on the slip—the other participants shouldn’t know who it is, otherwise it won’t be a surprise anymore who’s sending them a Secret Santa gift.
This process continues until every participant has a Secret Santa partner without knowing who the others are.
Then, for example, December 6 (St. Nicholas Day) is set as the date for mailing the Secret Santa package so that it arrives on time on December 24 and may only be opened then.
As for the contents, it’s up to each person to decide what to include—ideally something homemade as a small token of appreciation, along with some treats and a warm greeting from the Secret Santa or something similar.
Each participant can also list any preferences so everyone has a rough idea of what the other person likes.

What do you think? I hope I’ve explained this reasonably clearly, the way I would go about it.

Warm weekend greetings from me

That’s how we do Secret Santa every year in the sewing forum I’ve been a part of for a very long time—we just agreed that the value of the Secret Santa gift shouldn’t exceed the €10 limit. I think you forgot that, Andrea, because it’s supposed to be just a small token of appreciation and not a huge gift.

Hugs, Inge

You’re right, Inge—I’d forgotten that. Thanks.
Up to 10 euros is fine

Andrea, that sounds great—we do that in our girls’ group, too. Of course, the gifts aren’t mailed, but only the “organizer” knows who’s giving what to whom.
I’m in.

That’s a great idea—yay, I’d love to join! Hopefully it’s not a problem that I’m from Austria because of the shipping costs? 

That’s a great idea.

I’d love to join in, too.

Hi, I don’t want to be a killjoy. But whoever is chosen to send something to baluque will end up paying quite a bit in shipping costs :-( Please check the shipping costs first so there aren’t any complaints later.

Best regards, Ina

So if anyone doesn’t want participants from other countries because of the shipping costs, I totally understand and won’t be participating. ;) 

Maybe we could make two groups—one for each country. We could start by collecting everyone’s names. 

me again,

first of all, thank you so much for your interest. I’ve never organized anything like this myself before either, and I’d like to do it, but there’s so much to keep in mind.
Ina is right about the high postage costs. That would be unfair to the others.

@baluque: maybe you’d like to take care of the participants in Austria, and I’ll take those in Germany? What do you think?

I’m definitely joining in too

Sure, Andrea, I’d be happy to do that. Let’s see how many people want to participate.

Have a nice Sunday,
Babsi

The postage isn’t that much anyway—they’re not big packages, just small ones.

I’d love to join in, too. 

Hi,

I helped organize our annual Christmas Secret Santa for a long time on a band’s fan forum. Here’s how it worked for us:

Anyone who wanted to participate sent a private message to the organizer. In it, they included their address, any allergies (in case someone was sending cookies or similar items), and whether they were, for example, vegan or perhaps didn’t like almonds at all. I think that would be important here too—if, for example, someone doesn’t wear wool or something like that, it would be good for the Secret Santa partner to know. Also, let them know if you’re willing to ship internationally, since that’s often a bit more expensive.

Our gift limit was about 10€, because it’s supposed to be a small token of appreciation and not overwhelming. There were actually one or two instances where people who weren’t so well-off received packages worth around 50€ and then felt really bad because they couldn’t afford to do the same themselves.

The organizer then assigned Secret Santa partners to people by lottery; sometimes he stepped in a bit—like when I ended up with my sister—but otherwise it was random. The addresses were then sent via private message—and only the addresses. So it could be that I’d known Darklady15 on the forum for years and didn’t realize that Annette Meier was actually the very same person I’d been chatting with for pages on end. :)

We were also given a deadline for when the package should be sent so it would arrive before Christmas.
The Secret Santa recipients would then let us know when their package had arrived, and on Christmas, we’d all share our excitement about the gifts together in the thread. :)

Andrea, that’s a great idea. I’d love to join in. I’ve done a Secret Santa on Facebook before.

Instead of candy, I could imagine including something like a delicious tea or homemade cookies. That’s not a bad idea, is it?

I definitely think it makes a lot of sense to know your Secret Santa partner’s preferences.

In any case, thanks in advance for organizing this.

Oh yeah, I like Secret Santa too, at least the personal kind.
Completely anonymous random Secret Santa—where everyone brings something and the gifts are drawn by lot instead of the recipients—isn’t really my thing. I’d be up for it if there were profiles involved.
I also know from Secret Santa exchanges on forums that people sometimes hide a clue about the sender in the package—for example, letter cookies that spell out the forum username or a little riddle.

I wouldn’t have any problem with the shipping cost to Austria either.

@Bastelfan,
it’s great that you want to organize this, but I think it’s important that you talk to Support about it if you haven’t already, since this isn’t an official Crazypatterns event.

Hi Josefa,
Thanks. I’ve already contacted support and am waiting for a reply.
I won’t do anything before then.

ok :-)

Dear Andrea, since this event was linked in today’s newsletter, I’m assuming it’s been approved by CP. :-)

Dear Andrea,
what a lovely idea. I’d love to join in, too.

Best regards, Marlies

Hi everyone,

that’s lovely, Monika, and where can I find it? Do only shop owners get this link?

great, Marlies.

Dear Andrea, if you’ve signed up for the newsletter, you’ll receive it. I think the knitting newsletter was sent out today.

Dear Andrea,
Please contact Support directly. A link in the newsletter is not sufficient approval.