# Secret Sister/Secret Santa?



## my2geldings (Feb 18, 2008)

Someone else started this thread but thought I would post it here where these is more traffic. We won't be doing this through the horseforum because I know admin won't appreciate us doing this here(privacy/safety reasons), which is understandable.

http://www.horseforum.com/girl-talk/secret-sister-would-anyone-interested-38297/#post431667

if anyone wants to do this, please message kelliannejoseph.


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## my2geldings (Feb 18, 2008)

It was just brought up to me that the thread was mentioning doing a monthly thing? I think it would probably be a bit pricey for most forumers. I think it would be fun to do it as a single time deal around the holidays.


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## TaMMa89 (Apr 12, 2008)

*Hope this doesn't sound rude but...*

I'm not sure joining 'a club' like that, but what do you guys think about the gift exchange of the last Christmas?


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## my2geldings (Feb 18, 2008)

That's what I was hoping for


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## MIEventer (Feb 15, 2009)

I like the christmas gift exchange idea much better. More feesable for me $$ wise.


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## free_sprtd (Oct 18, 2007)

Everyone, I'm running this past the admin to make sure we can allow this due to the personal information exchange thing.


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## Wallaby (Jul 13, 2008)

I'm interested in the secret santa bit! =D Sounds like fun.


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## TaMMa89 (Apr 12, 2008)

My2Geldings said:


> That's what I was hoping for


Me too .


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## TwisterRush (Sep 8, 2009)

i like the secret santa too  !


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## Moxie (May 28, 2008)

I think the arrangement we had last year was very well thought out and from what I heard, very well accepted through those who participated. For those of us who have become close friends through the HF, we wouldn't think twice about exchanging information, but I can understand where the authorities here would have issues, as stated last year when it was brought up.


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## TaMMa89 (Apr 12, 2008)

So,
if we wanted to do that how we could do it? Or where we could go to do it?


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## Moxie (May 28, 2008)

Last year I just did a private exchange through email. It's pretty easy to do and if anyone wanted to email me about it, I would be happy to discuss.


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## TaMMa89 (Apr 12, 2008)

Yea, I remember that. I think it was very successful way to do it.

I think I'll perhaps email to you soon when I've more time.


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## free_sprtd (Oct 18, 2007)

Everyone who is going to participate must be 18 or over for security reasons. If you have any questions feel free to pm me.


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## Moxie (May 28, 2008)

I will look forward to it, Tamma.


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## JustDressageIt (Oct 4, 2007)

I was involved in the gift exchange last year and it was quite a lot of fun, but the $20 limit was very hard to work with... especially if you have huge shipping costs to offset.


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## Dressage10135 (Feb 11, 2009)

I would love to be involved in a secret sister/santa exchange! But like Allie said, I think shipping might be a little hard for some people with an additional $20 for the gift..


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## TwisterRush (Sep 8, 2009)

free_sprtd said:


> Everyone who is going to participate must be 18 or over for security reasons. If you have any questions feel free to pm me.


What if our parents allow us to participate in it ?


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## Moxie (May 28, 2008)

Last year I tried to pair those of you in the same country together so we didn't have a whole lot for shipping costs. I know if you're anything like me, I ended up sending out 4 baskets, the $20.00 limit was really ... nonexistent (for the lack of a better term). Are you suggesting a higher/lower limit?


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## appylover31803 (Sep 18, 2007)

I really think there should be no money limit because of the costs of shipping.
I think the person that receives the gift will love it no matter how much it cost. It is the thought that counts right?


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## Moxie (May 28, 2008)

free_sprtd said:


> Everyone who is going to participate must be 18 or over for security reasons. If you have any questions feel free to pm me.


Does this mean that Admin's are on board with this?


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## free_sprtd (Oct 18, 2007)

If we can try and keep it between pm's and no one under 18 I'm sorry.


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## TaMMa89 (Apr 12, 2008)

Okay, so we can do it here via PMs? I think we need one contact person who organizes the things; collects the list of memebers who participate and then keep the list updated about it who sends the gift to who. It'd be very disoragnized if we just started to PM each others and ask if you "User X" or you "User Y" can become my exchange friend. Very prolly the messages would cross and finally we were in the situation in which there are people who haven't found a exchange friend, people who don't know who's their friend and perhaps people who have more than 1 friend. In the last year we had a contact person and I think it was very clear way to work.

So could we be allowed to set some username to our contact person here publicly so that interested users over 18 can contact him/her via PM? And then some kind of deadline so that you have to PM the contact person that you're in before it? After that we could run it all via PMs.

What do you all think about this?

EDIT: And I guess we're talking about just this Xmas now, not the more large exchange network?


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## PonderosaMiniatures (Oct 2, 2009)

*Oh, I love Christmas...*

Oh, I want to exchange gifts....I want in.....


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## PonderosaMiniatures (Oct 2, 2009)

*I know Im new, here*

But I would love to volunteer , I am 44 and a multiple business owner, I will keep a list and match , members to others, if you will PM me with address and post here your favorite color's and idea of what you like or dislike, that way, secretly your Secret Santa can come here and look at what you posted...I have done this before on another forum, it went great. Just thought I would throw it out there. Im a very honest and trustful mother.
Michele


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## appylover31803 (Sep 18, 2007)

We'd like to keep the addresses off the forum, as it is a public place and any and everyone can view it. 
Please have it all send via PM or e-mail.


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## PonderosaMiniatures (Oct 2, 2009)

I prefer, PM..but email is even better, Keep a list, then set, up exchanging Santa's..


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## bubblegum (Oct 6, 2009)

so how do we do this??? who do i pm, and when do the pressies have to be posted


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## TaMMa89 (Apr 12, 2008)

^^I just meant it that we need a contact person who will take care of general things related to the gift exchange and to who we can PM or email that we want to participate. S/he collect a list of participants (not here publicly) and keep us updated about the list via PMs or email so we can find our partner without giving any personal information out on this public forum. S/he also checks that everyone has a partner. In the last year our contact person emailed us the list of participants and we picked out our partner ourself. Then everyone of us told to her via email with who we wanted to exchange and she checked if this person had still without a partner. Choosing a partner worked with a principle "first come, first serve" so if there were two people who wanted to change with the "user B", the person who picked her first out and told it to the contact person became her partner. For those, who tried to pick out a user who already had a partner, the contact person sent a list of participants without partners and it went on like this till everybody had a partner. After everybody had an exchange partner the contact person sent a some kind of "questionnaire" that we filled and sent to our partner so it'd be easier to him/her to choose a gift. The contact person also collect our email addresses and gave every participant to his/her partner's email address (in the last year we did this all through email). Then we could give our personal info straight to our partner via email, without giving it even to the contact person.

So that was how it worked during the last Christmas and I think it worked well. What was I asking is that what do you think about it now? Would it work now too? At least I'd prefer some kind of system in with a contact person, it'd be easier than just to start PM/email people on the forum asking "do you want to be my exchange partner?" without any kind of organization.

And if we want to pick a contact person we only need his/her username here because on HF we can PM somebody if we only know his or her username; we don't need any kind of personal information publicly. After picking a contact person out we could do it all privately.

I want your opinions. And IF we want to pick the contact person the first step (here publicly) is find an user who want to be the contact person and know his or her HorseForum.com username so we can start to PM his or her (obviously we already have one willing person to be this).

So what do you think? Other suggestions?


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## PonderosaMiniatures (Oct 2, 2009)

I think the fun in Secret Santa is not knowing who your gift is coming from, until you get it, or they dont say....after all it is Secret Santa.... In another forum I was on, Everyone emailed or PM'd....then I gave them one person info...who they are secret too, everyone posts here, as to dislikes colors, and what not. Some even asked for specific person. It went very well. and everyone who participated got a gift, I had one late entry, I sent them something myself.


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## appylover31803 (Sep 18, 2007)

When I did a secret mom thing, we e-mail the person in charge and she in turn gave us a survey type to fill out. Then she matched us up with other people.

It doesn't matter to me, if we get to pick or not.. its still going to be a surprise as to who has us.


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## Crimsonhorse01 (Sep 8, 2009)

Oh! This sounds like fun I want to join in!
There should be something that we keep a list of those who said they would and didn't. Unless they contacted the organizer before.


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## arabchica (Jul 5, 2009)

I want in Please can I play too


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## Dressage10135 (Feb 11, 2009)

When will we be starting this?


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## Moxie (May 28, 2008)

When I organized this last year this is what I did:

* I kept a list of everyone who was participating, and their country.
* I matched up each person within their country, at least I tried.
* I emailed each person their buddy, and I think I may have even put together a questionnaire for them to fill out and exchange info with.

I thought this was a good way to do it, seens how addresses were only swapped with the people who would be sending gifts to each other.


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## my2geldings (Feb 18, 2008)

Moxie said:


> When I organized this last year this is what I did:
> 
> * I kept a list of everyone who was participating, and their country.
> * I matched up each person within their country, at least I tried.
> ...


And you did an excellent job. It was a lot of fun.


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## Moxie (May 28, 2008)

My2Geldings said:


> And you did an excellent job. It was a lot of fun.


It was a lot of fun.

So first and foremost you all need to decide on one person to be running the show, then set a date for a cut off (cannot accept anymore people after so and so date), then set a date for the gifts to be sent out. 

I think last year I started this in sept or maybe oct? I know it was early. I wanted to give everyone ample time to sign up and shop for their partners. I do believe that the date to send gifts was early dec. again, I wanted to give ample time for the gifts to arrive to the person so that they would have them by Christmas.

I personally feel that if you guys are gunna do this, you better the the ball rolling! Indeed it sounds easy, but it can get complicated.


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## wordstoasong (Jul 8, 2008)

So, who is the main person of all this? LOL, I'm at a lost on who ask to signup.


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## Moxie (May 28, 2008)

I would set up and do it, seens how I ran the show last year, but I dont want to come in and start dominating the thread -- If it's alright with M2G.


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## TaMMa89 (Apr 12, 2008)

Bump.

Moxie or PonderosaMiniatures is ok to me.
What you think about that, M2G? Others?


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## Moxie (May 28, 2008)

I'm fine with doing it. And as long as the Admins are alright with it being done through here, people can PM me so I can start a list of who wants on.

If the Admins are not okay with it, then we can do it like we did last year and just go through regular email.


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## free_sprtd (Oct 18, 2007)

Count me in Bobbi! But yes, lets keep it through pm's and no one under 18


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## Moxie (May 28, 2008)

Alright, so everyone who wants to be included in the exchange this year, please pm me with:

Name,
Age
Country.


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## free_sprtd (Oct 18, 2007)

oh also, need to make sure it's ok with the person who originally started the secret sister thing in the girl talk forum.


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## Moxie (May 28, 2008)

I didn't realize there was another thread.


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## Moxie (May 28, 2008)

Okay, so I looked at the other thread, and that is more of a monthly thing. YIKES! I would have no problem handling the Christmas/Season's Greetings Gift Exchange, but a monthly thing just is not in the books for me. So in my mind that is something entirely different.

I have reviewed all of the emails I kept last year for the private gift exchange I did with a few of the gals here, and have a good jumping off point from where I sit now. Just need the go ahead.

Also, we should decide on:

EXCHANGE PRICE: Remember we need to factor in shipping. Again lets pair people within their countries.

SIGN UP DEADLINE: Although I think this is something that everyone should have an option to participate in, we do need to set a cut off date to sign up.

Another thing to point out, we did pick our own people to exchange with, that cut back on nervousness as to who was getting our personal information, I feel that this method was went over very well and I think it is something we should do again this year.


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## Annaland13 (Oct 28, 2009)

Who are we PMing?


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## TaMMa89 (Apr 12, 2008)

^^Yea, there's a thread in which it's suggested monthly exchange but can we have also this exchange that is just for upcoming Christmas? The monthly exchange is a beautiful idea but I think it's a bit too expensive at least for me.

So are we still going to PM to Bobbi if we want participate?


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## LeahKathleen (Mar 5, 2009)

Well, I want to do this. But I don't know who to PM or email.... so someone needs to get in touch with the OP and find out who's running this show.

I think Moxie is a good option, just since she's done it before and it went smoothly. :]


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## Moxie (May 28, 2008)

M2G actually drew my attention to this thread and asked if I was going to participate this year. Whether or not she wants to run the show, I'm not sure.

So how about this ... You can PM me with your Name, Age and Country and I'll keep a list. If we decide to have someone else handle it, I will gladly give that information to the next person in charge. 

On a side note, does everyone think Nov 15th sound like a long enough time period to have people signed up by? I'm open to suggestions! Sorry if this seems a little presumptuous, I just feel like we need to keep the ball rolling.


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## TaMMa89 (Apr 12, 2008)

Moxie said:


> M2G actually drew my attention to this thread and asked if I was going to participate this year. Whether or not she wants to run the show, I'm not sure.
> 
> So how about this ... You can PM me with your Name, Age and Country and I'll keep a list. If we decide to have someone else handle it, I will gladly give that information to the next person in charge.
> 
> On a side note, does everyone think Nov 15th sound like a long enough time period to have people signed up by? I'm open to suggestions! Sorry if this seems a little presumptuous, I just feel like we need to keep the ball rolling.


Same here. It's November soon and it'd be good to start organize things if we want to do that.

For me that suggestion sounds ok. Others?

Could we set up a new info topic for the Christmas exchange after we've decided what to do with this and tell in a nutshell how the things are going? I think it'd be more distinct eg if there are some more users who want to participate. Then they needn't to read whole this long (and occasionally a bit rambling) topic .


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## wordstoasong (Jul 8, 2008)

http://www.horseforum.com/members/10788/kelliannajoseph started this in the girl talk forum, I think we should let her run it, as it was her idea first.


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## TaMMa89 (Apr 12, 2008)

wordstoasong said:


> http://www.horseforum.com/members/10788/kelliannajoseph started this in the girl talk forum, I think we should let her run it, as it was her idea first.


Yea, but I think we have 2 different exchange types now? The monthly exchange thing that she wants and then this one which is coming just for this upcoming Christmas... or do we have?


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## LeahKathleen (Mar 5, 2009)

I'm not sure if we've made two separate ones or if we've just downsized the first idea...? Someone should PM Kelliannajoseph and M2G and find out what's up.


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## Moxie (May 28, 2008)

TaMMa89 said:


> Same here. It's November soon and it'd be good to start organize things if we want to do that.
> 
> For me that suggestion sounds ok. Others?
> 
> Could we set up a new info topic for the Christmas exchange after we've decided what to do with this and tell in a nutshell how the things are going? I think it'd be more distinct eg if there are some more users who want to participate. Then they needn't to read whole this long (and occasionally a bit rambling) topic .


I think thats a great idea, and once we get things hammered out, we'll do that! Great suggestion.





TaMMa89 said:


> Yea, but I think we have 2 different exchange types now? The monthly exchange thing that she wants and then this one which is coming just for this upcoming Christmas... or do we have?


This is how I perceived it as well. Two different exchanges, a monthly (which I do not want to run) and a Christmas exchange (which I took the lead on because it didn't seem like we were getting anywhere).


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## Crimsonhorse01 (Sep 8, 2009)

I already gave my name to Moxie...


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## Moxie (May 28, 2008)

I emailed them both and will keep everyone updated as to what they say. 

Crimson, if in fact that either Kelly or Kelli want to take over, I will give the list of the collected names to them.  I'm not here to step on any toes. I just know from the exchange I conducted last year, it does take some time to put together, and I'd like to see one be pulled off this year, because we all had a great time doing it last year.


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## Moxie (May 28, 2008)

M2G says go ahead. Still waiting on Kelli


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