College Students! discussion

In the past we have done a Secret Santa gift exchange. The last few times however, it seems people sign up to participate then don't so others get left out.
It seems to me that the main reason for those getting missed is time. In the past, we have had to hunt down addresses, get everyone assigned, then keep up on who received theirs and who have not, then try to contact those that haven't sent theirs, etc.

So here are my thoughts this year.
We would have sign ups for 1 week (probably Nov 24-Dec1).
When you sign up, you send me your address immediately. If I don't get an address, you will not be participating.
Post your list immediately too! (We had some not do this last time)
Then you have 2 weeks to send out your gift to whoever you are assigned. Gifts mailed between December 1-15.
Post that you received and your guess at your Santa's identity.

So, think this is something we want to try? Does anyone else have ideas on how to keep everyone happy? Is 3 weeks time too long? I don't feel that it is rushed, but maybe that is just me.

I would love to do Secret Santa again. I had a lot of fun shopping last year. At first I thought I was one of the forgotten, but eventually did get a book and some goodies in January.

That said, I did feel let down that I didn't get it closer to the holidays.

The new rules sound good. If someone signs up and then can't make the deadline, please tell the mods so they can tell your giftee that they haven't been totally forgotten.

Wouldn't there be a return address on such a package? That would make guessing your Santa's identity quite simple!

:p

Wouldn't there be a return address on such a package? That would make guessing your Santa's identity quite simple!

:p

I'd love to do Secret Santa! Reading about the past secret santa's when I joined this group I was looking forward to participating :)

I would love to participate in a secret santa! :)

I'd love to participate! Sounds like a good time frame to me.

I want to participate in this ...

Mike wrote: "Wouldn't there be a return address on such a package? That would make guessing your Santa's identity quite simple!

:p"
We had people write a family members address in another state or the recipients address on the return address too, but mostly we urged people to not look if they could help it.

Is everyone fine with the rules? too strict? or lax?

Am in. :D

I think the rules are awesome. Except for the fact that 2 weeks might be too short when you're couriering international.

I would absolutely love this :)

sounds good to me structure and timeline are good around the holidays.

I'm in but could only ship within the USA! (:

I'm in!

I would love to participate in this, but would it be possible to at least match countries because mail services could be really expensive for international shipping :(

Should tracking be a requirement?

Well, it looks like we are going to try it again. Signups will be next week. I will try to match up countries, but usually we don't have more than 1 or 2 international participants, and I don't think we have ever had 2 from the same country.
I will send out a message to all member when signups start. Post you want to participate, if you can do international, and message me your address immediately.
I like Yvonne's idea of tracking but that may make postage even more expensive. What are your thoughts?

So I was a little worried with the international so I think we are going to have sign ups today until next Tuesday (November 25th), then we will have 2 weeks to get things sent out, and that should give international people an extra week for theirs to show up. this will also allow those that do the Black Friday shopping an opportunity to get their gift then. Please post in the new thread if you want to participate and send me your address immediately.

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