Secret Santa 2014 (Real Gift Exchange)

[Sharifu]

I seriously can't believe it's that time again to organize Secret Santa, but I say that every year. :lol: I am just going to copy and paste my first post from the thread from last year, yes I am being lazy. :p I also added "(Real Gift Exchange)" to the thread title, just to let new people know right away that this is not an art Secret Santa. (Although you are more then welcome to include art in your gift if you want) But if any of you think this is stupid or not needed I can change the title.

Ok, so for those of your who haven't done this with us before, it's a real Secret Santa with members on this forum. You will be sending a real gift through the mail. (So if you are uncomfortable giving out your address, you can't join, sorry.) Please be aware you could be shipping internationally, so don't send super heavy gifts.

We don't really have a price limit, but I think anywhere from $5 to $15 is ok. But it's up to you, you can spend a little bit more, but don't go crazy. Really it's not the price that matters.

So here is how this goes, if you want to join, go ahead and PM me your email address. On September 1st, I will use a Secret Santa website we have been using for years, where I enter in all the email addresses, and then emails are sent to everyone, and in that email, you will get a link where you enter your wishlist and your address of where you want your gift to be sent to. Once everyone has done that, people will get an email with someone's wishlist and address so you can send them a gift! Make sure to send it in time so they receive their gift by Christmas. I know this seems early but we have been starting it this early for years so hopefully everyone has a few months or so to shop and ship their gift in time for their person to receive their gift by Christmas.

1. Deadline for joining: Monday September 1st.
2. How to join: PM Sharifu with your e-mail address before the above date.
3. Suggested price range for gifts: $5-$15
4. Do not reveal your identity to the person you are buying for. This goes against the aspect of it being a secret. People who reveal themselves will be banned from joining the following year.
5. It sounds cheesy, but have fun!!

Participating members
- Sharifu - Gift Received
- Sadiki - Gift Received
- HasiraKali - Gift Received
- Safila - Gift Received
- Azerane - Gift Received
- Kirauni - Gift Received
- Leorgathar - Gift Received
- King Simba - Gift Received
- Simbaspirit - Gift Received

[Leorgathar]

I'm not sure if I should participate this year, I'll decide in a couple of days I guess. But I probably will end doing it, it's fun and I'd really like to, hehe :)

[HasiraKali]

I was just talking about this to my mum the other day. I'm in, of course. :)

[Sharifu]

I'm not sure if I should participate this year, I'll decide in a couple of days I guess. But I probably will end doing it, it's fun and I'd really like to, hehe :)

Honestly I'm not sure if I should participate this year either, because I don't have a job and haven't had one for months... But I will still organize it and everything. But I think in the end I probably will still be apart of it, just because I have been apart of the Lea Secret Santa for every year since it started in 2007, and I really do enjoy being apart of it.

But I think this year's Secret Santa is going to be really small. Nathalie already said last year it was going to be her last, and Thiago said he might not join again because of the way the Post Office service is in Brazil.

I guess we'll see. You have till September 1st to decide if you want to join or not. :)

[Azerane]

^Even if you can't afford to buy a gift Audra, I can't see anyone being upset if you simply hand drew and coloured a picture for them. I know I wouldn't be anyway. A craft/art gift is still a gift after all :)

[Sharifu]

True... I think I will still join. :D I really do love being apart of this Secret Santa.

[ThiagoPE]

Audra, i tried to send a PM to you, but your inbox seems full.

I will not join this year SS, the PM was about other subject.

[KanuTGL]

Hmm, I'll have to think about it. I feel like I might be ready to take this on again now... :lol:

[Sharifu]

Audra, i tried to send a PM to you, but your inbox seems full.

Oh, is it? I'm going to make some lunch now, but when I am done I will go through my inbox and clear out some PMs. Sorry about that!

[HasiraKali]

I actually love getting and giving handmade things. :D Depending on who I get, I already have an idea of what I'm doing. :p

[Safila]

I'm in :lalala:

[mane6]

I`ll talk to my parents about this, see if i can. xD I do have some pocket money stashed.. somewhere, so it should be no problem secret Santering someone.

Mwahahahaha

[Azerane]

Aww, heck. I'm in too, how could I not be? :D

[Kirauni]

*jumps up and down excitedly* I've been waiting for this thread ever since I heard of your "Secret Santa with Reald Gifts"!
It's such a great idea and I'd love to take a part in it. :timonbiggrin:

[nathalie]

It tingles inside, lol, to maybe enter secretly :lol: :p

But I'm afraid, that last year was indeed my last time.

[Sharifu]

Those of you thinking about joining, have you gave it more thought? I know there is still a couple more weeks to join, but so far our group is so small... This might be the smallest Secret Santa yet...

[Leorgathar]

Hmm alright, why not? I'm in :)

[Sharifu]

Yay! :D Don't forget to PM me your email address. Safila and Azerane, if you can PM your email addresses too, just to make sure I have your most current email address, that would be good. :) Plus for some reason it seems to help me keep more organized to have all the email addresses in my PM inbox.

[Azerane]

Not a problem, I was going to, I just hadn't gotten around to it yet and was waiting for the empty inbox thing after Thiago mentioned it :p

[King Simba]

I guess I could join. :)

But my parents are currently in the process of selling their house (they've not sold it yet, but hope to soon) so when they do eventually sell it, we'll be moving to a different address, so I'll let whoever is my SS know that before they send their gift. But we might still be here, who knows.

[KanuTGL]

Ah, I really don't know whether to join or not D= I know that this year's Christmas season is gonna be... intense, for me and I'm not sure how much a third Secret Santa would add to that stress. I'll have to think about it for a little while longer, hehe.

[Azerane]

^ Do it!!!! :D

[Sharifu]

Haha, yes, yes... :D I keep asking Petteri if he wants to join, and he keeps saying, "Maybe." XD I bet he will join at the last minute. :p

[Sadiki]

Not at the last minute but yes I'm in. Been meaning to join for long time, but every time I think of it, I'm away from computer. Even now I'm posting this from my phone. ;)

[KanuTGL]

I think I'll have to give this a miss I'm afraid. I've thought about it and concluded that it really isn't a good idea to add more pressure on myself this winter; a winter that I know will be extremely tough on me and I just fear that this Secret Santa would be more stressful than it would be fun :zazusorry: Maybe next year :3

[Sharifu]

I understand Kanu.

Anyone else want to join? Only a couple days left to join!

[cleargreenwater]

*shakes head* And I think I'm gonna be a dud and opt out of it this year, too. Between paying for the Disney Meetup trip vacation and being in Florida for that time right in the start of the holiday season, it's just wringing me a little too thin. Next year I won't have so many expenses & should be back in the game :)

[Simbaspirit]

I'm In!!! :D Thanks to Sharifu for giving me a heads up - I totally thought that I replied saying I'm in, but my phone doesn't always submit posts >.> Stoked!!

[Sharifu]

So glad you want to join again Simbaspirit! Don't forget to PM me your email address. :) That makes the group of people up to 9, that's pretty good! Only 2 people less then last year.

[Sharifu]

Ok everyone, I sent out the invitations. You should be getting an email with a link to where you can type in your address and your wish list. If you aren't sure what you want to add to your wish list yet, you can still enter your name in and update your list later.

[King Simba]

Done. :) Just one question though, do we need to enter our address in our wish list? :hmm:

There is also a chance that I may have moved address by then too, so whoever gets me should keep a good eye on that to see if it changes before they send it.

[Sharifu]

You could still add your current address if you want and mention you might be moving. Or you can wait to add your new address and update your wish list later. I believe if you make any changes or updates to your wish list, it will email your person letting them know. But you don't have add any address right now if you don't want to.

I actually gave my California address, but I also mentioned I might be in Oregon visiting my mom during Christmas. So I mentioned that if whoever draws me thinks their gift wont arrive in my mail box by December 12, to message me through that website (so it stays anonymous who you are) and I will give them my mom's address.

[nathalie]

KS: you can edit your wishlist at any time, and as much as you want. Every time you do so, your ss will get an e-mail saying that something has been added to the list.

[King Simba]

Alrighty, thanks. :)

Well, seems that the names have been drawn. :ooo: That was quick. :lol:

[Azerane]

Alrighty, thanks. :)

Well, seems that the names have been drawn. :ooo: That was quick. :lol:

That's because Sharifu poked me while I was at work ;) I figured I was the last one :lol: Then right after I did it, the site drew them :p Very exciting :D

[Azerane]

Well, my SS is super organised, received mine in the mail today :D

I haven't opened it, going to save it for Christmas, just have to find a spot to put it away where I won't forget about it :p

[Sharifu]

Wow, that is so early. But then again, I have gotten my SS gift that early one year, I wonder if you got the same person I am thinking about. :lol:

But early is better then late of course, so as long as you can put it in a safe spot and remember to get it at Christmas. :p

[Leorgathar]

I actually got mine too some days ago :) and even then, I still have no clue of who my SS might be :lol:

[King Simba]

So guys... how's it going? :D Are Leor and Azzy still the only ones who have received theirs?

[Kirauni]

Nothing here. But I guess living in Europe, the parcels will take their time. :go-on:

[Kirauni]

I'm so happy, I need to use those Simbas Smileys now!:cs_surprise_2:

Just a few minutes ago our postman brought me my Secret Santa present. Thank you very much, Secret Santa!
I'll put it under our christmas tree right away and of course I'll open it on christmas day. :cs_biggrin:

[Sadiki]

Just letting my Secret santa know I got my present today.

[Safila]

:emo: haven't got anything here

[King Simba]

I think my SS gift arrived this morning but as there was no-one home to sign for it (international signature required apparently :hmm:) I'll have to pick it up tomorrow. If it is my SS gift my SS can relax knowing it has arrived in time for Christmas. :)

[HasiraKali]

Nothing here either. I'm not worried though. If it comes before Christmas, fine, if not that's ok too.

[Azerane]

There's still a couple days to Christmas so you never know, then again, Christmas postage backlog etc.

[King Simba]

Got my SS gift! :D

[nathalie]

Once again it's holiday madness for post offices. It's taking 5 days to get something delivered inside Belgium, haha, and what a small country are we, that it takes 5 work days to recieve a Christmas card :lol:

[Safila]

well Postman has been :stick: nothing for saff

[Azerane]

I'm going to open mine tonight. We traditionally do Christmas on Christmas Eve and since I'm spending it on my own, it'll help keep me in the spirit of things.

[King Simba]

So... do you guys think it's alright to reveal who and what we got now, or should we wait until everyone else has received theirs?

[Guntur]

Probably after Lunch or Dinner, ;) I'm glad This year SS went really well for Lea.

[Leorgathar]

Alright, I think it's safe to show you what I got, even though at this point... I still have no idea who it is from :lol: it was ordered online from an UK store, and there's no indication in it of who might have sent it or from which country. My Secret Santa said he/she would send me a card as well, which hasn't arrived yet. Sooo for me the mystery persists :p

But here's the gift I recieved, it's a companion book for the movie The Last Lions. It's really, REALLY cool! :D
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Thank you SO much, still mysterious Secret Santa! And Merry Christmas to you and your family ^^

I really hope everyone gets their gifts soon

[Sharifu]

I'm going to open mine tonight. We traditionally do Christmas on Christmas Eve and since I'm spending it on my own, it'll help keep me in the spirit of things.

Are you spending both Christmas Eve and Christmas alone? :(


So... do you guys think it's alright to reveal who and what we got now, or should we wait until everyone else has received theirs?

I am ok with people revealing their gift who gave it to them. I haven't received my gift yet, but it's alright. :) Holidays can be a crazy time for mail. I look forward to when I get it! Hopefully soon.

[Azerane]

Are you spending both Christmas Eve and Christmas alone? :(



I am ok with people revealing their gift who gave it to them. I haven't received my gift yet, but it's alright. :) Holidays can be a crazy time for mail. I look forward to when I get it! Hopefully soon.

No I spent Christmas Day with my family :)

I was thinking we could reveal what we got, but maybe not who we got it from, since there are still a few people missing gifts, but that's just me.

I did open mine, but I haven't taken a picture yet! :D I'm about to head off to work so will show your afterwards. I love it by the way, thanks SS ;)

[King Simba]

Ok, I got...

- A fridge magnet
- Some chocolate (which I devoured straight away :lol:)
- A Lion King make-up bag/pencil case
- Some lovely Lion King earrings :)

Thanks SS. :hugs: I love them all, and the chocolate was tasty. :slurp:

Sorry for the blurryness of the photos. I also took a pic of the package before I opened it (the wrapping paper was awesome), but I blurred out the tag, since that sort of gives it away. :uhno:

[ThiagoPE]

Nice to see all people from here enjoying their presents. I just hope in next year's we try to send the gifts ASAP, add everyone knows that in December the mail service enters in collapse everywhere, and do not deliver the gifts in time.

[nathalie]

In that case just make it "Christmas in July" then next year :) every year everything turned out just fine.

[Kirauni]

Thanks to Simbaspirit, my Secret Santa!
:cs_surprise_1:

I got this nicely wrapped gift:

527

And inside was a beautiful Lion King Greeting Card and the Lion King Legacy Colletion. Wow, Awesome!
Thank you very much for such a great gift, Simbaspirit! That's incredible and I love the CDs.

528


I look forward to next year's Secret Santa, but I don't know if sending a parcel early will solve all problems. Sure it helps us to avoid the "crazy-mail-time" but how are you supposed to get Christmas chocolcate in July? :go-on:
Just kidding... of course starting early might help a bit.
However, we won't be safe from parcels getting lost, I'm afraid. But I'm sure in the end everyone will get their presents eventually. I checked the previous year's Secret Santas and every year somebody had to wait due to things beyond our control. That's really bad luck, but I'm sure everyone here is working hard to let his parter get the presents. :)

[Guntur]

Yeah, losing a parcel is not part of the deal or in SS, It just delivery guy or postal fault.

My friend bought me an iPod from United States like one year ago and my parcel didn't arrived. :(

I guess we should start saving for the delivery too, Especially using a secure delivery that might get expensive but it is confirmed that it will arrive on your SS Santa. :)

[Sharifu]

I think we should just reveal who gave us our gift when we say what kind of gifts we received, because for one, Kirauni already did it. And two, well for example, if Petteri showed what gift he got, it would give it away who gave it to him. Honestly I don't think it ruins anything to reveal who gave you the gift. There is still four people including me who hasn't received their gift yet, and I don't think it would ruin anything for me, or them either.

[ThiagoPE]

In that case just make it "Christmas in July" then next year :) every year everything turned out just fine.
The case here is not how early the secret Santa is planned and the names drawn... the case is the most early we ship, better.

I suggest in the next Ss, deadlines must be adopted, like setting a day, like 15 of November as last day to ship.

[HasiraKali]

That's unrealistic. Things happen. For me, I have to wait until the post office goes into holiday mode to ship because of my work hours. My local post office isn't open on the weekends, and I'd have to drive clear across town to get to one that is, and it closes at noon. I'm sorry but that's not happening. It's always worked out and everyone's received a gift in the past, so I don't see what the big fuss is.

[nathalie]

Not sure what the fuss is about, even you Thiago have always got your gifts, and you're not even in it this year.

Who goes Christmas shopping before November 15th? I don't. But then again, I'm a last minute kind of person :p

[Sharifu]

The case here is not how early the secret Santa is planned and the names drawn... the case is the most early we ship, better.

I suggest in the next Ss, deadlines must be adopted, like setting a day, like 15 of November as last day to ship.


I don't think this is really necessary. My SS emailed me anonymously though the SS website and told me she shipped my gift in October, and it still haven't arrived. So she mailed it very early, but still it didn't work out like she hoped. I hope it doesn't get lost in the mail, but we talked about it, we're going to wait until the end of January to see if it will arrive by then.

And I have never shipped my gift that early. It really depends on the location of where I am shipping it to. For example, if I am shipping it to a country in Europe, or Australia, I will ship by the end of November. It has always gotten there in time. If I drew someone who lives in the same country as me, I'll ship it even later. If I drew someone who lived in Mexico or Brazil, then yeah, I think I would plan to ship in October, just because I know it can take a very long time for mail to get to those countries. But I think that would be the only exception for me to want to ship that early. But so far, all my gifts I've sent in SS made it in time. Even this year I shipped it later then I normally do because of being so busy, going up to Oregon for Thanksgiving break, and so much homework with my class. I really had to wait until my class and finals were over to ship it.

[ThiagoPE]

People, i think I said I was giving a "suggestion", if you didn't liked it, to me it's OK, there is no need to overreact what I said.

Btw, I don't see any fuss about it (if there is any, I'm sure it's not me who are provoking it).

[HasiraKali]

I don't think anyone is overreacting. Just explaining how it is.

[Guntur]

I don't see any over reaction on anything, it just depend on the people, if you like to send something before mid November or even before November you can do it early. For me and my opinion that we could just go for a expensive shipping so it would be guaranteed that our shipment are going to arrived 100%. ;)

[nathalie]

Ever shipped something like that from the US?
Well ... I did. Costed me 50 $ to get my own stuff back to my house in Belgium.

I started this years ago to get something fun/nice ... not to have people spending a smashing amount of money, and especially on shipping.

[HasiraKali]

Yeah shipping is always ridiculous.

[Simbaspirit]

Kirauni, I'm so glad you liked it! :hugs: I haven't gotten mine yet but I don't mind :) I'm fine with getting things late - I know people try and I know every postal service is different, I just love doing the exchange every year!

[HasiraKali]

I received my gift today. It's pretty awesome.

[Simbaspirit]

I arrived home today and my gift was waiting for me - I love it! :wow: it was even packaged with TLK wrapping and tags :) I won't name who my SS was, but thank you so much!! I got a beautiful keychain and a Simba ornament :cheese:

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[Sharifu]

So with only me and Safila left waiting for their gift, I personally don't mind if people also reveal who gave them their gift. But we should wait to see how Safila feels about that too.

I just hope my package didn't get lost in the mail.

[Safila]

I'm cool with that, go for it :D

[Sharifu]

Just letting my SS know my gift arrived today! :D I will post a picture tomorrow!

[Safila]

Mine arrived with the postman yesterday as well :)

[Sharifu]

Ok here is my gift, from Kirauni!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v242/birdygirl85/928cabe9-9203-4e89-a050-4d6402a56a93_zpsa27af05e.jpg

A TLK mug, and lots of yummy chocolate! Also pictured is a card she sent along with it. :) I collect TLK Mugs, so it's a perfect gift! And chocolate too! I love chocolate, and especially trying chocolate from other countries. European countries seem to have the best chocolate. :D She did have it nicely wrapped with clear cellophane with a gold bow on top, but I took it out of that for the picture because a couple of a the chocolates broke and there were broken pieces of chocolate on the bottom. (Although, I still ate the crumbs :lol:) But I am very glad the mug was safe and wasn't broken, the box it came in looked a little beaten up. I have a guess why that package might have taken a while to get here, my address number on the box said 226, when it's actually 266. But in the end I'm glad it got here safe and sound. Thank you so much Kirauni! :hugs: I'm drinking coffee out of this mug now! :D

[Kirauni]

I'm so relieved that it has finally arrived! And I'm glad you like the mug and that you got it in one piece. ;)
I don't know what happend to the address number... that's really stange, because I thought I used "copy & paste" but that's not possible, because you gave me the right number. Hmm... ah well, I'm glad it did arrive though. Sorry for the mess and thank you for your patience!
I have to be a lot more careful in the future. :scarconfused:

So it was a good thing I've sent it around September/October afterall. But it was hard to find any Christmas Chocolate in the stores at that time. :P

So... Is Safila the only one who hasn't gotten her present yet?

[Sharifu]

Safila did say she received her's as well. So everyone has gotten their gift! Not everyone has mentioned what it was though. :p

[Guntur]

Safila did say she received her's as well. So everyone has gotten their gift! Not everyone has mentioned what it was though. :p

Yeap, guess it's time to guess who's who for the Secret Santa now. ;)

[Safila]

:relax: My Secret Santa was HK (Amanda) and she sent me this awesome Alice In Wonderland necklace and bandana (as I collect AIW stuff)

http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l214/sassafrazz/IMG_3714.jpg (http://s97.photobucket.com/user/sassafrazz/media/IMG_3714.jpg.html)



:hugs:

[Safila]

SO... I PM'd you.. who I was secret santa to.. Did you get your card from me, seeing as you know who your pressie was from ???

[Leorgathar]

Eeek! Sorry I didn't see it :nalawet:

I already PM'd you back, but I'll thank you yet again for such a nice gift! It's good to finally know for certain that it was you all along :D
Unfortunately the card never arrived here -.- So I couldn't know before.

Thanks a real lot, and have an awesome year, Safila :hugs:

[HasiraKali]

My Secret Santa was Azzy! She got me this super cool Mickey Mouse birthstone figurine from Jim Shore. I had actually shown this to my dad when he was trying to figure out what to get me :lol: He ended up getting something else though, don't worry.

http://i57.tinypic.com/11htkih.jpg

[HasiraKali]

:relax: My Secret Santa was HK (Amanda) and she sent me this awesome Alice In Wonderland necklace and bandana (as I collect AIW stuff)

http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l214/sassafrazz/IMG_3714.jpg (http://s97.photobucket.com/user/sassafrazz/media/IMG_3714.jpg.html)



:hugs:

You're lucky you got that necklace. My sister tried to steal it because she liked it so much too. :lol:

[Guntur]

You're lucky you got that necklace. My sister tried to steal it because she liked it so much too. :lol:

:lol: I would try to steal it to be honest, that's a cool gift from HK, Safila. ;)

[HasiraKali]

It's a watch as well. ;) I liked it too...

[Leorgathar]

Whaaaaat?! It's June already, and I just received Safila's SS card on the mail today! :gasp:
Wow, I think this is the longest it has taken to get mail here. I wonder why it took this much ><

But at least it finally got here. I'll just say I love this picture in the card. Even if it's quite late, thank you so much, Safila :) :hugs:

791

[Safila]

wow 7 1/2 months from Aussie to Mexico, maybe it went around the world first. Merry 2014 Christmas :lol:

[ThiagoPE]

Now mexican mail is doing same as brazilian one :/ (I already had a package from a internet purchase that took 6 months to arrive!, even tough 75% of that time the package was in Brazil, and took a lot of time just to be delivered to my home.)


Anyway, is better late than never, your gift is very nice, and so, the wait worth.