The Christmas surprise of a lifetime, upcoming surgery, house hunting, and Project 365

In late November, I posted here about the fact that, in the wake of the fire, as much as it pained me to do so, I would have to cancel the annual Vintage Secret Santa, as it was simply impossible for us to conduct as usual under the circumstances.

I announced such with a heavy heart, but took solace in the fact that hopefully it's a fun tradition that we'll be able to revive again here in future years. Little did I know that more than a month before I penned that post, my good friend Barbara (one of the tiniest handful of fellow vintage lifestylers to be had here in the Okanagan region of British Columbia) and Tony had teamed up for what proved to genuinely be one the biggest and most incredibly heartwarming surprises of my entire life.

Together they had taken it upon themselves to contact all those who took part in 2015's VSS to let them know about the situation (re: the fire, VSS being cancelled, etc) and to suggest to past participants, if they were so interested, that they could send me a VSS holiday season gift instead of the usual swap between randomly assigned partners. Mind blowingly sweet of them, I know.

From late October to December 24th, I was completely in the dark about this incredibly thoughtful act - including the fact that Barbara and her husband (also a vintage lifestyler himself) were super kindly allowing their house to be used as the address to which participants in what had been dubbed "Jessica's Vintage Secret Santa" (complete with a private Facebook group of the same name) could send their gifts.

On a snowy, yet sunny, bracingly nippy Christmas Eve afternoon, Tony and I went over to Barbara and Jeff's house for what I thought was simply going to be a terrific holiday season visit with dear friends.




You can imagine my profound surprise then, when a few minutes into our get together, Barbara informed me that a sizeable pile of presents nestled beneath one of their Christmas trees was in fact for me/us and proceeded to let me in on the details of how that came to be and the incredible surprise that had been organized on my behalf.

Tears (of joy), shock, trembling, and gigantic smiles all proceeded on my end as I sat on their (gorgeous mid-century) couch in total disbelief.




I am one of those people who tries never to take anything for granted and who is grateful for every single kind thing done towards/for me, so to know that ore than thirty past VSS participants - some of whom had already, extremely generously, sent care packages our way in the wake of the blaze - had teamed up to give me/us the Christmas surprise to end all Christmas surprises was nothing short of overwhelmingly beautiful in the very best kind of way.




I opened some of the gifts that were sent at Barbara's house and then we loaded up the remainder in our vehicle and I unwrapped them as time would permit over the next few holiday season days.

Genuinely, I am still at a loss for words and cannot, really and truly, begin to thank Barbara and Jeff, Tony, and all those involved enough for their profound kindness, love and desire to help give us not just a "good", but a remarkably wonderful holiday season shortly after we lost everything last fall.




Thank you with all of my heart to each and every person who sent a VSS present our way. Some folks included items for Tony and/or Annie as well and we are so appreciative to everyone for their staggering generosity and compassion – as well as to Barbara (pictured below) who worked tirelessly for weeks to help make this surprise a reality.




Much as with the other (non-VSS related) care packages that we've received, you - our dear friends and fellow members of the vintage community - are helping us to rebuild our home and wardrobes (most of which, for example, the festive outfit I'm wearing in these photos, was created from) to no small degree and we are endlessly appreciate to every single person who has sent anything our way over the past nearly three months now since the fire.




Thank you today, tomorrow, and always.

You truly gave me an unforgettable and magnificently positive holiday season. I will never forget it as long as I live and sincerely hope that we can revive the group based VSS for 2017 and beyond, so that all those who wish to do so can send and receive gifts themselves, too.



{And a shot of Picasso, Barbara and Jeff's adorable cat, who was such a good kitty - never once laying a paw on the presents piled 'round the Christmas tree.}



House hunting

As many of you know, we were very fortunate to find a temporary home quite quickly after the fire, moving into our current digs precisely one month to the day since that fateful night.
As it is indeed a short term rental though, the quest to find something (hopefully!!!) more permanent has begun this month and we've already been into view some places.

The real estate market - both from renting and home buying perspectives - has utterly skyrocketed in terms of pricing here in the Okanagan over the past few years (it's not uncommon for houses to go for 25 - 50+ % more today than they did less than a decade ago) and what little does exist - especially that permits dogs - at a quasi-decent price is snapped up faster than you can say "sold".

We're working with a modest budget and have certain housing needs that must be met, but are certainly trying to be as flexible as possible and do believe that a good match will come our way before we need to leave our temporary rental house.

At the time of the fire we were living in Penticton, in the heart of the Okanagan, which is one of the local areas with the steepest housing costs, so while it is certainly included in our hunt, we have cast a relatively wide net of about three hours in various directions and are diligently searching high and low throughout.

I (we) will definitely be sharing the good news when we do find our next place and hope that such will happen at least fairly quickly. Please keep your fingers crossed for the three of us.


Hospital time again


This coming Tuesday, I'll be going into the hospital again for (thankfully, quite minor) surgery once again. Usually I don't even bring up such small procedures, which are part and parcel to my life as a multiple chronic illness fighter, here, but as I know such will have a further impact on my ability to be online in the coming weeks, I wanted to mention it today with all of you.

Rest assured that this procedure has nothing to do with the fire. It was booked back in mid-August 2016 and should - knock wood - be something that only takes a few weeks to recover from.

In general though, my health has taken one heck of a serious beating in the aftermath of the fire.

Initially I was quite literally getting through each day on a combination on adrenaline, shock and sheer grit, but as more time went on, greater than usual (for me) levels of physical activity persisted, and the continued emotional impact of what had happened to us really started to hit home, my health took a massive nose dive from which it has not really begun to improve (to my pre-fire levels, I mean).

It remains to be seen just to what extent this situation will have on my life and blogging (which, officially, remains on hiatus for the time being) in the long run. I will of course continue to let you guys know here and am trying to give myself as much time to rest and recoup as circumstances will permit (which, to be frank, isn't always a great deal).


Project 365 photo challenge


My health, rebuilding our lives, house hunting, and recently the holiday season have been/are at the heart of our lives right now and will continue to be for quite some time to come.
 
In the midst of such though, I thought it would be fun to *try* and do a Project 365 iPhone photo a day challenge over on Instagram.

I've taken the approach of pairing each Project 365 image that I share with a quote that fits, to my mind, the image and welcome you to follow me there, if you're not already doing so, to see what I share.

Though, back in 2011, I tried to blog here every day of the year (in an experiment that I called Vintage 365), I've not done a Project 365 before with photos and love that it gives me a chance to share more of my world - the natural beauty of the Okanagan Valley very much included - with all those who tune into my Instagram account.

It will be fascinating to look back at the end of 2017 and witness what really caught my eye each day throughout 2017 (I should point out that, naturally, I do plan to share other none #project365 snaps there still, too).

♥ ♥ ♥

My dear, wonderful friends, as we embrace this first week of the new year, please know that I am grateful for each of you, your support, understanding, kindness, and generosity.

Last year was a doozy for so many of us and Tony and I were, by no means, the only ones to face great hardship. The world in general was put through the ringer, too, and I'm sure that many of us share our immense happiness over the fact that 2017 is here at long last.

Though none of us know what the future holds in store for us, I enter this year with steadfast optimism, determination and hope that it a better, safer, healthier, happier one for all of us.

Thank you again for each unforgettable and poignant way that you've been there for us.

Both myself and Tony want to wish you all a stellar New Year and look forward to connecting with you in whatever ways we can throughout the coming twelve months.

What's been going on in my life this month and a VSS check-in

Yesterday marked exactly five months since my last birthday. It's staggering how quickly time flies, one month tumbling into the next, life a series of moments and emotions, smiles, highs, lows and memories. I'd hoped to get a new outfit post up this week, but there was no way that was going to happen as the days progressed.

This month has been - and will continue to be - staggeringly busy. The most jam packed, hectic one of 2015, topping even October, and while there will be outfit posts as the weeks progress, again, there was just no way for one to be squeezed in at present. Soon though, including a couple of stellar holiday season dresses that I can't wait to show you guys!

Since getting back from Vancouver last week, I've been crazy busy both vintage Vintage Secret Santa happenings, as well as packing up and shipping out a ton of wonderful Etsy shop orders that have been pouring in recently. I had some requests from blog readers for such to cover payday today, so I've extended the 25% off VSS coupon code there until tomorrow.

If you'd like to purchase anything for your VSS match, yourself, or someone else, you can take 25% off all orders when you use the coupon code VSS25 at checkout until December 12th.
 
Keeping pace with those happenings has been the holiday season itself, which as we all know, usually only gets busier and busier as the 25th draws nearer!

Also, before the end of the month, as a small business owner I need to file my Canadian PST and GST tax reports, which essentially means doing all of my 2015 taxes (in order to generate the precise numbers for each) this month, too. Not exactly what one wants to be dealing with for several days during Christmastime, but it must be done, so no sense in bemoaning it too much.
 
Further on top of those things - and very exciting - Tony and I recently decided that the time had come to get a new (be actually brand new or just slightly use) car. Our current one - which was actually our first car ever - was bought secondhand for a stellar deal back in early 2012 and has served us well for nearly four years now.

However, for a myriad of reasons, it's no longer the best fit for our current lifestyle (a big one being that we need a great deal more room than it provides, including for Annie, our energetic 65+ lbs dog, as well as for when we travel and for when I sell in person at vintage shows) and so this month we've been pouring our a lot of time, thought and energy into researching, test driving, and hunting for our next vehicle.

{The models – and prices! – might change, but the act of buying a car remains much the same as it did back when this photo was taken around the start of the 1950s. Vintage auto dealership image source.}

 
We haven't found "the one" yet, but we're getting closer and are both incredibly excited about this prospect. We've needed a bigger vehicle for ages and knowing that one will soon be ours is giving me some much needed pep to get through these crazy busy weeks!
 
Back, for a moment, to the VSS. For those taking part in this year's Vintage Secret Santa, 100% of the match emails were sent out to all participants by the (PST) morning hours of December 2nd. If you have not yet seen your email in your inbox (it should have been there about 1.5 weeks ago now), please check your spam (a lot of users who signed up with a Hotmail email are having their VSS messages land in their spam filters for some unknown reason - maybe Hotmail isn't in a festive mood this year ), deleted message, and archived message folders going back to November 30th.
 
If you don't see your VSS match email in any of those spots, please contact me by email right away and I get your match info out to you again. There's less than two weeks to go now until Christmas and if you signed up for the VSS, it's very important that you honour your commitment and mail out a gift to your match, who, just like yourself, is no doubt excited for, and expecting to receive, a festive gift as part of this fun online gift swap.
 
Definitely lots going on this month on our for sure, which is great! I've also been giving a lot of thought to the direction of my blog, my wardrobe, my social media accounts, and many other important aspects of my life and work as we head into 2016, so I've got oodles on my (vintage china) plate right now and am seriously excited to see how it will all play out in the coming year.
 
I hope that you're each having a terrific December and that, hopefully, yours is at least a bit less harried than mine!
 
Have an awesome weekend and countdown to Christmas, my dears!!!

Sign up for the 2nd annual Vintage Secret Santa gift exchange

Whether you're joining us for round two of this super fun online present swap for the first time or took part last year, welcome!!!

Those who took part in the inaugural Vintage Secret Santa gift exchange here last year may recognize a lot of the same points in today's post, but that's simply because they worked so well and completely apply this time around, too.

The premise of this wintertime gift exchange is very simple. One signs up, is partnered with a randomly assigned partner, your name is likewise teamed with a random match, you send out a gift (or gifts) using the details that your VSS match provided when they signed up, and you in turn receive a gift from your own "Secret Santa." That's it, easy-peasy and fun as all get out!!!

Last year's Vintage Secret Santa was a roaring success with over 270 people taking part. At least 99% of all those participated received a gift, either from their original Secret Santa or, in a small number of cases, from one of the very kind "Angel Santas" who volunteered to send a second gift out to one of the people who had failed to receive their’s from their original match (or because it was lost in the mail). Again though, for just about everybody, the VSS went smoothly and very positive experience.

I'd love to not only meet, but exceed the same number of VSS participants this time around and can't stress enough how much I encourage you to share about this awesome holiday season gift exchange anywhere and everywhere online (your blog, social media, by email, etc).






If you'd like to participate in the 2015 Vintage Secret Santa Gift exchange, 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 Wednesday November 25, 2015. On this date, I will begin assigning swap partners and will email everyone involved with their gift recipient's name by no later than December 2, 2015 (*edit* originally we had said by Dec. 1st here in this post, but Tony's extremely busy work travel schedule, including a trip for the last several days of November has moved the final match date up a day).

❄ 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, faith, or any other factor. You are welcome to think of it as a nondenominational 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 costs 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 if such is the case.

❄ 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 Monday, December 9, 2015 in the hope that by doing so, 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 very 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 9th), 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.  festive

❄ If you have not received your VSS gift by January 15, 2016, please contact me on, or after, that date so that I can look into the matter for you.

❄ And last, but not least, please keep in mind that I have no control over the how quickly your VSS match mails out their present to you, if they do so at all, or the postal system itself.

Should you run into issues, I'm here to help via email in any way that I possibly can, but ultimately it is up to those taking part in the VSS to live up to their commitment to send out a present and then for the postal system to ensure that said gifts reach their destinations.

If you email me with a concern, I ask that you please be courteous and polite. Belligerence and/or abuse will not be tolerated towards myself or anyone taking part in the VSS. Thank you very much for your understanding on this front.

❄ ❄ ❄ 

That's all there is to it, my dears. It's very straightforward and tons of fun! (And of course I’ll be taking part in it myself!)

The Vintage Secret Santa is naturally open to both male and female participants and it was great to see a small handful of chaps take part last year.

If you would 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).

To help you get the most bang for your shopping buck at my Etsy shop, please use the coupon code VSS25 to save 25% off on all orders (be they for the VSS or otherwise) between today and December 10, 2015.

If you're taking part, I urge you to share the link to this post (and use the cute vintage festive 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!

It was such a blast to unite many in the vintage community last year and I feel so honoured to get the opportunity to do so again this winter. We're a close knit group and I just love it when we can come together and brighten one another's day - or, in this case, holiday season - with kind, generous acts like sending out a festive gift to one of our peers.

I highly encourage you to sign up, send out a delightful gift, receive one in return from someone else, and have a wonderful time swapping vintage Secret Santa presents while sharing your passion for the past this holiday season!

Have you received your Vintage Secret Santa present yet?

Though you wouldn't know it by the towering hills of snow around town that have such a perfect December 25th quality to them, another Christmas season has come and gone and we're now officially half way through January (what a lightning fast couple of weeks it has been!).



{A full twenty days have passed since Christmas and while most folks have happily received their Vintage Secret Santa presents at this point, a few have not and are still waiting patiently for them to arrive. If you're in that group, please let me know by email asap. Image source.}



Thanks to Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and emails, I know that many of you have received your Vintage Secret Santa gifts already. A few "Santas" were a little late in mailing their gifts out and where such was the case and I was informed of it, I have emailed their respective recipients to let them know about it.

However, a few folks are reporting that they haven't received their presents yet and in most cases, I haven't heard from their Santas. As the holiday mail rush is winding down now, chances are (again, unless your Santa mailed their present fairly late) you should have received your gift by now. It's possible though that if you haven't, you may still and I certainly wouldn't give up hope quite at this stage in the game.

Indeed, both Tony and I are still waiting on each of our VSS gifts and are keeping a (Christmas candle) flame of hope burning bright that they may still reach our mailbox.

That said, if you haven't received your Vintage Secret Santa present as of today and you have not gotten an email from me letting you know on behalf of your Santa that it's going to be late, please email me whenever you'd like so that I can get in touch with your Santa (the person who was supposed to send you a gift) to see what information I can find out for you about it.

Ideally, I want to ensure that everyone who signed up for this exciting first ever Vintage Secret Santa receives a present. I have a few folks who have very kindly offered to send to a second person, if an individual's original VSS gift fails to arrive. If you're available to help in this capacity, please email me and I will put your name on the list (could those who have already offered also email me to ensure that I have your name and that you're still able to so generously help out in this way).

Hopefully between such incredibly kindhearted people, late deliveries and other possible reasons for delay, even if it ends up being closer to Valentine's Day than Christmas when the last parcels arrive, we can try to ensure that everyone who took part receives a Vintage Secret Santa present.

Many thanks, everybody - very much to all those who have been sharing their gifts on social media using the #vintagesecretsanta hashtag. Tony and I - and I'm sure many other participants - have adored seeing what you've been posting. There were some seriously awesome presents involved in this fun holiday swap and I love the thought, detail and festive spirit so many of you put into your wonderful VSS presents.

Let’s all pull together and ensure that each person who signed up can experience the joy of having a gift of their own arrive.


*EDIT* If by January 31, you have still not yet received your gift and your Santa has not mailed it very recently, please let me know so that I can add your name to the list of people to try and match up with someone who can send out a second VSS gift.

An IMPORTANT MESSAGE to all Vintage Secret Santa participants

First and foremost, thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking part in Chronically Vintage's first annual Vintage Secret Santa gift exchange. The number of participants that poured in far exceeded my initial expectations, with the final count, landing in the 260s. What an incredible way for so many of us to come together in the spirit of the winter holidays - whichever those may be for you personally - to celebrate not just this festive time of the year, but also our mutual passion for vintage.

I'm penning this quick post this morning to cover a couple of further points as well.

First and foremost, I want to ensure that everyone has opened their Vintage Secret Santa match email at this point. We quadruple checked that everyone was sent an email, so if you signed up and haven't received/seen yours yet, please check through your spam/junk mail, deleted messages, and achieves folders going back to November 25th, which was the first day we started sending VSS match emails out (and by "we", I mean Tony and I; he has been incredibly helpful throughout this whole process, even writing the script that allowed us to quickly assign random VSS partners to one another).

It's integral to the success and spirit of this Secret Santa exchange that if you signed up, you receive/view your email and please send out a gift to the person you were partnered with. If for any reason, especially with Christmas Day so near now, if you aren't able to carry through with sending a VSS gift, please email me immediately. Likewise, if you can and still want to take part but can't seem to find your match email, again, please email me right away.

I know that if you follow Chronically Vintage on Facebook and/or Twitter, I may sound like a bit of a broken record here, but again, I really, really want to make sure that everyone both sends and receives a VSS present.

And on that note...we all know what a three ring circus of (hopefully jolly!) activity and excitement this time of the year is, so I ask one and all who are taking part to please be patient with your Santa (the person who is sending a gift to you). I'm starting to get a flurry of messages from Santas informing me that they are just now sending their gifts out, which is totally okay (I didn't set any hard and fast "mail by" dates, simply suggesting, if possible, that folks do so by December 12th) - the important thing is that they get in the mail.




{The real St. Nick might live at the North Pole, but this year over 260 Vintage Secret Santas from around the world joined together to each make this season an even more joyful another member of our fabulous online circle and the outpouring of support for this fun holiday season project, which I truly plan to make an annual event here on Chronically Vintage, has been nothing short of overwhelmingly positive. Vintage image source.}


If you're taking part in the Vintage Secret Santa and haven't received your gift by Christmas Day, please try not to worry. On top of how early or late your Santa may have sent their gift to you, most postal systems slow to the speed of molasses on ice at this time of the year and there's a very good chance that it will reach you in the last few days of December or early January.

Should you, however, have not received your gift by January 15, 2015, then by all means feel free to contact me and I'll get in touch with your Santa to ensure that they did in fact mail out your gift. Over the years I've had parcels I sent via Air Mail in early December not arrive to international locations until early February, so if you haven't received your VSS gift by then, I wouldn't give up hope entirely.

If, ultimately, your present fails to arrive for whatever reason, and we are working on the honour system here of course, I will do everything in my power to ensure that you are sent a belated gift. A few incredibly kind and generous Vintage Secret Santas have informed me that they can send out a second gift (to a second "match", that is), if need be, and I want to truly thank those folks for this kindhearted offer. Ideally, I won't need to take them up on it, but if needed, I certainly will.

Thanks to the power of social media and the handy-dandy #vintagesecretsanta hashtag, we're already starting to see some people's gifts arrive and be shared on social media (chiefly Instagram and Twitter so far). If you opt to share a photo (or photos) of the gifts you're sending and/or have received, please don't forget to use that hashtag so we can all delight in viewing what we've each received as part of this awesomely fun holiday gift exchange.

Once more and with an endless amount of joy, thank you to each and every person who took part in this first Vintage Secret Santa present swap. I've (very touchingly) had several people tell me that the VSS has been the highlight of their holiday season and I know that for all of who joined in, it is undoubtedly a bright spot in our wintertime festivities this year.

Join the first annual Vintage Secret Santa gift exchange

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.

❄ ❄ ❄

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.