Anyone for Secret Santa?

lunar

I was taking a look at all the hamper pictures over the weekend and absolutely love them. I have made them over the last 2 Christmases and have started getting bits together for this year. I would love to receive one but despite the hints I don't think my family get it.


Do any other hamper/Christmas lovers out there want to do an mse secret Santa hamper. They can be very low spend with home made bits, freebies, recycled gifts from last year that were not your taste and you cant remember who to re-gift them too. If people are making things you can just make one extra to pop in. ive been making Christmas decorations and will put an extra on in my hamper.


I think we would need to set a date for how long people have to sign up so that we have loads of time to make the hampers. Everyone could write down the sort of things they would like in a hamper, and the sort of crafty things they are good at so I can match people up. Any suggestion's how we could match people greatly received, we could draw it randomly and keep a list, or match people in pairs and if there was an odd number I will make 2 hampers.


One thing to consider for everyone will be the cost of postage for the hamper. I hope someone else wants to join me.

Members
1. Lunar
2 Rainmac
3. s_michales
4. Mrs Bones

rainmac

I'd love to join you lunar, what a fab idea :T

I am slightly crafty. I make cards, bit of scrapbooking, cross stitching...

Love your idea, come on everyone join in

s_michaels

That sounds brilliant, you could also ask for location so that you can pair up people local to each other so that they can figure out a drop off and pick up point to maybe save on postage.

Sounds like fun, so I am in

Mrs_Bones

I'd be interested in this, I love doing hampers up.

I've been in various christmas swaps in the past on craft forums, some things I've learnt is it's best to have a send by date, the parcels should go special delivery so they can be tracked and are insured (unfortunely royal mail isn't always to be trusted) and have a weight limit so everyone pays the same postage, currently SD is £6.40 upto 1kg and £8.25 upto 2kg, which is the weigh we used in the last christmas swap I was in. Anything over 2kg and the price rockets to over £20 which is just stupid postage. If we are being crafty but frugal it makes sense to take postage cost into account.

lunar

Ive just been into the kitchen to find out how how much 2kg feels like! Do you know the cost of recorded delivery first class? would we get a little more weight and is it as secure? Not that i have a clue how much hampers i have previously made have weighed!

Its a good idea though to have set guidelines for weight, when and how to post etc.

When do you think we should close the thread to new joiners? once we reach the date i will PM everyone to make sure they still want to go ahead with it before we assign recipiants to everyone.

Im so glad others were interested in this idea. I thought you might all think i was mad.

pinkladymel

I was thinking of doing this last year but wasn't sure if I would be allowed to so I just left it. (I was thinking MSE secret santa.. nothing as spectacular as hamper santa!!)

I have taken part in a lot of swaps over the years and there are a load of tips I can share with you.

1) Prepare yourself for disappointment. One mans treasure is another mans trash and sometimes people are very disappointed with what they received. The organiser is usually the one who is left feeling like it is their fault that people are unhappy and it really brings the mood down.. so strengthen yourself for that eventuality x

2) Keep the first post of this thread a clear guide to the swap. How to join (Get people to email you with there name and address, likes and dislikes/allergies and then you can pass this onto their swappee) , rules of joining (You must post your parcel before the designated deadline, must obtain proof of postage, a guide price for the hamper and people need to decide the value of their work themselves, only send things you would be happy to receive etc.), deadlines (last day for joining, day emails with swap details will be sent, day parcels are to be sent, day people can open them), people signed up so far.

I hope you don't think I am sticking my nose in or anything. Just wanted to offer you some support and tell you that your idea is no way stupid and you have made a lot of people excited xx I hope it goes really well x

Mel x

Edinburghlass_2

Great idea but it is actually against the MSE rule of no swapping/buying/selling/gifting I'm afraid.

s_michaels

Why don't we set up a blog about it, then surely it's not against the MSE rules as it wont be through MSE?

lunar

oh sorry, didnt realise it was against the rules.

i have no idea how to set up a blog, do you s_michaels?

pinkladymel

Go to www.blogspot.com it is really self explanatory from there. You could also start a facebook group.

lunar

can i post the link to the blog here?