Hello all,
As I have said in other threads, I am more of a reader than a poster. However, one thing I have admired greatly here is the exchange of special holiday gifts to other posters. I really would like to be included in any holiday gift exchange for the Christmas season.
I have no idea how this is initiated. Is it just an impulse of posters?
I would love to send a small gift to another doper somewhere.
How to go about it?
Ahhh, I love the Christmas exchanges (gifts and ornaments).
I haven’t been able to participate every year and I missed last year. I don’t even know if the ornament exchange still happens because I only participated in one. I’m not sure if the same person organizes it every year, or if the rules for them has changed.
The ones I’ve participated in, someone with a hell of a lot more motivation and organizational skills than I have has started a thread (with permission) announcing the start of it all. They take names and addresses, usually by setting up a dedicated email address.
After a certain deadline for entering, they send out emails with the details for each exchange and then it’s up to us to send out the presents. After that, we all post when we get our gift and tell what it was.
I think my favorite gift from any exchange was the year I got a bunch of clay. I used that clay to make a personalized journal for another poster. It was the gift that kept on giving.
I ran the Secret Santa last year, and it’s not that much work. thinks about it Okay, it’s a fair amount of work. I’ll be happy to help with advice, and you’re completely welcome to re-use my OP from that, but I’ll let someone else do it this year.
Bump.
I really have no skills to organize this - any one else who can help out?
How hard can it be? 
(famous last words) I’m game – I don’t have to have chemo this December, so my brain shouldn’t be any more soggy than normal. Somebody give me the 411 on this stuff!
Here’s last year’s thread. Feel free to use the OP pretty much entirely, though you’ll need different dates and a different email address.
Stuff going on behind the scenes: I created a master list as we went along, putting people’s info (username, IRL name and address) into one of three sections: US only, US/Canada, and international. That way, when it was time to divvy people up, the info was already gathered.
After the assignments were made, I made a list of all the participants and who they were sending to. As each person posted that they’d mailed, I mark their name; when their recipient marked that it was received, I marked that as well. Thus it was very clear at the end who needed to be followed up with. I ran an orphan-free SS last year, which I think was a first. 
And it was much appreciated!
Can’t wait for this year’s exchange. Everyone else I buy for gives me a list so this is pretty much the only present I get to pick out myself.