The online vintage community is a marvelous, giving, fun filled place and as such it struck me recently that we should have an annual Vintage Secret Santa gift exchange. I floated this idea past some fellow vintage bloggers and it got a very enthusiastic response, which really encouraged me to go ahead with this exciting idea.
This Vintage Secret Santa will work like most Secret Santas. Interested participants submit their email and mailing addresses (along with an optional line or two about themselves and their interests). I will then create completely random pairings, and you'll be responsible to send out a gift to the person whose name and address you receive (you'll be their Secret Santa).
You will not receive a gift from the same person you're sending one to, unless such happens purely by coincidence. Instead another participant entirely will receive your information and send a present your way - so hence the "secret" in "Secret Santa". :)
I will be organizing this Vintage Secret Santa, Chronically Vintage's first ever, so if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask in the comments below or email me anytime.
If you'd like to participate, here are the guidelines:
❄ Please sign up using this quick and easy participation form (your information will be kept strictly confidential, with only myself and the person who will be sending you your Secret Santa gift being privy to it).
❄ Participants may sign up to take part in this Vintage Secret Santa until November 25, 2014. On this date, I will begin assigning swap partners and will email everyone involved with their gift recipient's name by no later than November 30th.
❄ This Vintage Secret Santa is open to participants from around the globe. You may be assigned a recipient in your own country or elsewhere in the world, just depending on the random Vintage Secret Santa recipient that you are matched with. (Each participant will receive one randomly selected recipient.)
❄ You do not have to observe Christmas to take part. This festive Secret Santa exchange is open to everyone regardless of their personal beliefs or any other factors. You are welcome to think of it as a wintertime vintage gift swap, if you would prefer.
❄ Gifts (or the combined value of the gifts in your Vintage Secret Santa parcel) are encouraged to be of a value of at least $15.00 USA. There is no cap on how much you can spend, but do keep in mind that shipping can quickly add up when sending larger items and/or heavier parcels, especially outside of your own country, so you may want to opt for smaller sized presents.
❄ You may mail gifts to your Vintage Secret Santa recipient from your own home or order them online and have them sent directly to the person you're giving to. This can be a great way to help cut down on shipping costs.
❄ Gifts can be handmade, store bought or a combination of the two.
❄ Gifts are encouraged to be vintage, vintage reproduction, vintage inspired, vintage appropriate (for example, a new, unused tube of your favourite red lipstick), handmade or similar, but ultimately so long as the present(s) given is/are thoughtful and abide by the rules in the next point below, the sky is the limit.
❄ Please do not send anything live, perishable, dangerous, illegal, of an explicit nature, or which could easily be perceived as racist, sexist, frightening, or otherwise offensive.
❄ Giftees are encouraged to send their presents out before Friday, December 12, 2014 in the hope that they will arrive by, or right around, Christmas Day. Please keep in mind that parcels sent to international destinations will most likely take longer to arrive, so posting them out ASAP is always a good idea.
❄ By signing up to take part you acknowledge that you will do everything in your power to send out a gift to the Secret Santa name that you are partnered with. If for some reason you do not believe you will be able to do so before the deadline to mail out gifts arrives (December 12th), please contact me immediately.
❄ Use the hashtag #vintagesecretsanta when sharing about this festive gift exchange and/or the present(s) you received on your blog and/or social media.
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That's all there is to it, my dears. It's very straightforward and tons of fun!
This should go without saying, but of course our Vintage Secret Santa is open to both male and female participants. As touched on above, and given the name of this Secret Santa exchange, it would be awesome if your gift(s) was/were vintage related in some capacity, but they don't have to be.
I will of course be taking part myself and in the event that an uneven number of participants join up, I'll send out packages to two different people to ensure that no one goes without a Vintage Secret Santa partner.
There is always a risk with Secret Santas of some folks who sign up not actually following through and sending a present, but given the very close-knit nature of this community and the fact that so many of us are friends or acquaintances already, I'm optimistic that such will not be the case here. Still, on the off chance that it does occur for one or more people, if you'd be available to send a second gift out to someone who did not receive one from their assigned partner, please let me know and I will put you on a designated list.
Of course, if you'd like to send your Vintage Secret Santa partner something from my Etsy shop, I'd be thrilled about that and will provide complimentary gift wrapping and a holiday card for your recipient (please email or Etsy private message me to let me know and I'll do just that before posting your order out).
We all love giving and receiving during the holiday season and this is your chance to help spread festive cheer within our own fabulous online vintage community.
If you're taking part, I highly encourage you to share the link to this post (and the vintage Santa Claus family image above) on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, your blog, or absolutely anywhere else you'd like (remember to use the hashtag #vintagesecretsanta when you do). There's no cap on the number of people who can take part in this Secret Santa, so the more folks who hear about it, the better!
This is going to be a marvelous experience for all of us and I wholeheartedly want to thank everyone who takes part in advance. I'll be posting a festive recap here of how things unfolded with this inaugural Vintage Secret Santa in the new year.
Sign up, send out a delightful gift, receive one in return from someone else, and have a blast swapping vintage Secret Santa presents while sharing your passion for the past this holiday season.
