care-tags.org

Ok guys, holidays are coming up (and more importantly I have wanted to do something like this for a long time but it hasn't worked out), so let's do a secret santa swap thing! Basically, each of us will send a package filled with goodies of some kind to another user on the forum, and receive a package in return (from a different person than the one you sent your package to). It can be anything: clothes, trinkets, possibly food depending on location, etc. Well, anything is an exaggeration, but you get the idea.

I'll run it, since I have nothing better to do. I'm going to lay out a few ground rules but obviously let me know if you think something should be different.

Value: I was thinking that you should spend somewhere between 50 and 100USD on your package, but this is not set in stone at all. I don't want anyone to feel like they can't participate because of money, so let's try to come up with a price range that works for most people, if not everyone. I think it's fairly important that everyone stay within the price range, just so we don't end up with a situation where one person gets an ACNE suit and another gets a jar of hot sauce. This is an extreme example, but stuff like that has happened before. Basically, I don't want anyone's feelings to be hurt since we are a relatively small group, so let's try to come to some kind of consensus about this before we start.

Shipping: I'm going to create an arbitrary deadline of December 1 by which everyone has to have their stuff shipped out. That gives you about a month to plan and execute your package. I feel like this is sufficient time, but please let me know if you feel like this is going to be burdensome. If the stuff is sent out by that date, it should ideally get to everyone before they leave college for break and the like.

Because we have people spread out across so many countries, I don't think anyone can opt out of international shipping, but if it's a real concern for you please tell me and we can try to work something out; I am a reasonably accommodating person.

Ingredients: Like I said earlier, I think most things are fair game. It would be cool if you could include something unique to your location but this is a requirement by any means. While I think it's cool to include clothing that doesn't fit or that you don't want that you think the person will like, let's not just use this as an opportunity to get rid of old stuff. Just be considerate.

Anyway, that's about it. If you're interested, let me know by the end of the week by posting in this thread.

Posting to say I'm in. 50-100 USD would be fine with me.

can i suggest that we throw our name in by PM'ing starfox64? this is in the interest of not only organization (not cluttering up the thread with "+1!"), but i think it spices things up a little to not know exactly who is playing the game.

that said, of course i am game. and very excited

Alright that's fair, especially since I won't be able to update the initial post with a list of participants.

When you PM me, please include basic sizes of clothing (and maybe shoes, dunno about that).

Should we include shipping info too?

Probably. I'll hit you up if you forgot.

careful sending food. I know that nz, australia and probably some other places are super super strict with that stuff. a friend of ours got a $1000 fine and bio-terrorist on her record (she can't teach in schools because of it) for bringing in rose petals

well any kind of produce or animal products is a no-go, but things like candy and packaged snacks should be fine

yeah just don't send home made stuff

this is going to be fun!
tbh i don't think we should spend that much money, i'd rather receive something you made yourself than something you bought

This sounds awesome, but without wanting to sound like a skin flint that's quite a high value. Secret santas are usually $5-20 in the UK and the best thing about them is finding something funny/cool/incredible for very little money.

Food and kitschy stuff is the way to go. And homemade stuff, if you're talented (or not, it's the thought that's counts )

i should probably explain my line of thinking with regards to the "value". first, it was just me picking an amount that seems somewhat reasonable to me; we can definitely change it if need be.

that being said, germ's post highlighted the cost of shipping things internationally. i sent a pair of pants to deadkitty (who lives in new zealand) and it cost like $35 to send them, so i was kind of thinking that the cost of shipping shouldn't exceed the cost of what's inside. but i mean value also has different meanings to different people. i probably should have clarified this above, but i didn't mean that you have to spend $50-100 on your box, just that that should be the approximate "value", whatever that means to you. obviously some people enjoy making things more than others, and i probably wouldn't participate if everything had to be homemade because i would feel bad for whoever got my box. like i said before, the only reason i wanted to put a set of parameters on the cost or value or whatever is because it's really awkward if we are not all on the same page with this and people start getting boxes that vary wildly. but at the same time it's pretty lame if everyone just buys like $50 worth of uniqlo and throws it into a box.

i hope no one minds receiving this http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004RZM7L4/

i will participate and make something 100% handmade
except for the parts made in china

should we include our measurements in our PM's?
if someone would like to send clothes/footwear etc

either way i'm all up for this tho
i will probably combine something handmade with something else

i don't need like exact measurements but like whatever basic sizes you wear is good

time to take up knitting again!

Just a reminder to anyone who is interested but hasn't sent me a PM to do so!

Alright, so here is what I am thinking in terms of timing. I'm going to make the cutoff Sunday night. On Monday, I will do the pairing. I'm going to do it randomly and then tweak it slightly with a few caveats. I should send out your results on Monday or Tuesday. As mentioned before, the shipping date will be December 1. Please don't miss this, as several participants are students and will likely not get their packages if you send them too late.

Though I will keep the participants a secret for now, I will say that we have more than 20 and we also have nice ratio of men to women. Hopefully this persuades some of you who were on the fence to join in.

I've been looking over the sufu swap page and there were some great packages sent out there. i hope ours will be just as good (or better!). If you couldn't tell, I'm pretty excited about this.

Also the official nomenclature for what we're doing is "The Care Share" so if anyone says that this is what they're talking about.

OK crew, last call.

Check your PMS (and let me know if I didn't send you one because that would be extraordinarily embarrassing)

just a reminder:

about two weeks left to send out your packages!

Picked up the last bits of my Care Package today. Waiting for some stuff to get posted and then I'll be ready to go. Beginning to feel excited. What stage is everybody else at?

i'm stressing hardcore because i don't have a good sense of what to give for my care share recipient. i have two items that i think will be really funny and (hopefully) appropriate but i'm a little unsure of what else to include

i don't want mine to feel lame ; n ;

I've posted one of those frog kits that starts out as a tadpole

Still trying to decide if I have the right gift or if I should get another one... in any case I'll be sending out mine probably next week if everything works out.