★ FoG's Secret Santa Gift Exchange! ★

This year for the holiday season, we are going to hold our first ever Secret Santa Gift Exchange! Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or nothing at all, this is something fun intended for everyone. A wonderful means to unite our community further, this gift giving allows fellow FoGers to interact with one another outside the internet and bring us all closer during a time of year when love really is the foundation of it all.


Rules and Information

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You must be a member here for at least 3 months to participate.
Participation is entirely optional. All those who choose to participate will first need to reply here saying that they want to sign up. We would like to be able to include everyone from all parts of the world, so please be aware of where the person you get is from when you receive their address, as shipping could cost more if they live in a different country, therefore budget your gift wisely.

You must sign up before Friday, November 25th.
After you sign up, you need to send me a PM that includes both your home address and your e-mail address. If you sign up but forget to send me your addresses, you will not be considered for the Secret Santa. (When sending your gift, return names are optional. You can simply write your initials if you prefer.)

Gifts must be shipped by December 15th.
When sign-ups are complete, Axiom and I will randomly assign people to who they will be getting a gift for. We will contact each person participating, tell them who they have, and give them their address. It is up to the gift giver to send our their gift by the 15th to arrive before the end of December!

Gifts must be between $5 to $20, including shipping.
Gifts can either be store bought or handmade, but if you are making your gifts, the materials must be between those amounts. Gifts can be anything, so long as they are appropriate. Once you are assigned your person you will be buying a gift for, please see their questionnaire responses in this thread to get a better idea of what they would like.


Questionnaire

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Everyone who decides they want to participate in the Secret Santa must fill out this questionnaire so that their Santa can better judge what to get them. Everyone involved will be listed in this initial thread, and each person will have a link on their username to their questionnaire to make finding them all easier. Please copy and paste this in a reply and fill it out.

Code:

[b]What do you celebrate for the holidays?[/b]

[b]Favorite author or genre of book?[/b]

[b]Favorite hobby?[/b]

[b]Favorite color?[/b]

[b]Favorite scent?[/b]

[b]Favorite candy?[/b]

[b]Do you collect anything?[/b]

[b]Favorite TV show and/or movie?[/b]

[b]Do you wear jewelry?[/b]

[b]Do you have any pets?[/b]

[b]Favorite stores?[/b]


FAQs

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[Q] Will our secret Santa be revealed after the gift giving?
[A] Yes, after this is all done, I will release a complete list of who got who so you know who to thank!

[Q] Can I open the package as soon as I get it, or do I need to wait until Christmas?
[A] Some people can't wait to rip into the package and others want to save the excitement for Christmas Eve/Day or whatever day they may celebrate, depending on their beliefs. The choice is completely yours.

[Q] I wanted to participate but now I can't for whatever reason. What do I do?
[A] Life happens. We understand that. However, please let me know this as soon as you realize you are unable to participate. This is very important.

[Q] I'm not entirely sure I'll be able to ship in time or I completely forgot I needed to buy/ship the gift by December 15th. What do I do?
[A] Let me know right away. It is very sad to hear about someone who's waiting to see when their gift arrives only to not have it come. If for some reason it is shipped out later, I'll inform the person you are shipping it to that it may arrive a little late. However, shipping it late is not ideal, and I'm sure we will all be able to meet the shipping deadline.

[Q] I read my person's questionnaire, but I still have no idea what to get them or I have a question about something on their list. What should I do?
[A] You can PM me and I can contact your person and ask them for more info or clarification. Please don't be so dependent on the questionnaire though and feel if you stray from it, they won't like what you get them. Add in your own creativity!

[Q] How do you decide who gets who for Secret Santa?
[A] It's a secret! No, actually, Axiom and I will use http://www.drawnames.com/ (This is why we need your e-mails.)

[Q] Can I request to be a particular person's Secret Santa?
[A] No.

[Q] Can I change who I'm supposed to buy for once I receive their name?
[A] No.


Participants (Alphabetically)

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• Dreamless Days - Gift Sent; Gift Received
  
• Kalon Ordona II - Gift Sent; Gift Received
  
• Kathryn Lacey - Gift Sent; Gift Received
  
• Little Supernova - Gift Sent; Gift Received
  
• Ryona Noel - Gift Sent; Gift Received
  

What do you celebrate for the holidays?
I celebrate Christmas, but only because it's what my family and my love have celebrated my entire life. I don't follow it on a religious level at all.

Favorite author or genre of book?
Oh... This is tough! I'm really into everything, actually. I've never liked a book or disliked a book specifically due to its genre. I really love fantasy, supernatural, science fiction, modern, comedy, drama, tragedy, mysteries/thrillers, etc. etc. I know I'm missing some things here, but I don't know! I do know that the only genre I really haven't touched is steampunk if only because I have no idea where I would find such a genre of book.

As far as authors go, I'm just as open to them as to genres. There's just too much I haven't read or experienced to try and favor anything.

Favorite hobby?
This is probably going to be reading - at least lately. It's a wonderful pastime for me. ^^_^^

Favorite color?
I'm more a fan of colour combinations because one colour is highly boring all on its own. I'm particularly fond of cool colours ((blue, green, purple)), just a blue and green combo, and earth tones. I'm not a big fan of the pastel versions of those colours, though.

Favorite scent?
Ooooh... This is hard! There are so many good scents out there from which to choose! If this has anything to do with perfume, it's probably best to avoid that, though. I'm allergic to a lot of things that go on my skin like that, and some scents can give me headaches if it's too concentrated or something.

However, as far as subtle scents for whatever reason, I really love vanilla-y scents, and the scent of chai tea is just... amazing.

Favorite candy?
This is super tough because my mind changes so often! I guess I'll just hit the two ends of the spectrum... My favorite chocolatey candies are pretty much anything chocolate-mint ((especially dark chocolate, but milk chocolate is good with mint, too!)) and Haribo gummy bears are my fruity, not chocolatey candy of choice.

Do you collect anything?
Unfortunately, not really, unless you count books and movies as a sort of collection of sorts.

Favorite TV show and/or movie?
Again with the favorites! I think you should all refer to the question about favorite books/authors to be clear on my answer. =3

Do you wear jewelry?
I do! I love jewelry, but I'm not big on costume jewelry. I love smaller, daintier, simpler jewelry. Chunky doesn't appeal to me so much.

I wear bracelets, anklets, necklaces, rings, and I have my ears double pierced.

The only problem about earrings ((and no other type of jewelry)) is that fake metals make my earlobes hurt. I don't know why, but I can't wear those earrings from Clair's or Wal-Mart any more because after a few hours, my ears get really tender and red. It's sad. I have to wear real metals or none at all, so I generally choose to wear none at all. I only have two pairs of earrings that I ever wear relatively consistently.

Do you have any pets?
Nope. I really want one because they're adorable, but my love and I both have full times jobs, so we think it would be mean to get one when we won't really have time to be with it.

Favorite stores?
In all honesty, my store of choice is Target. I can find some of the most amazing things there like this dress and those shoes. They were more attractive, more affordable, and more comfortable than the stuff I found at the malls.

I do like Vanity and Hot Topic as far as mall stores go, though.

I'm also a huge fan of Barnes and Noble. ^o_o^


Anyway, as a side note, I just want to say that I'm perfectly okay with gifts that are handmade or store bought. I really think that a long as thought goes into a gift makes that gift special and beautiful and unique, no matter what it is.

What do you celebrate for the holidays?
I celebrate non-religious Christmas. I like rudolph the red nosed reindeer claymation film, and penguins and polar bears...my christmas is a bit more "Winter Wonderland" than "North Pole".

Favorite author or genre of book?
I love fantasy and historical fiction/literature. I'm always looking to try something new.

Favorite hobby?
Reading, writing, drawing

Favorite color?
Purple and red are both my favorite colors.

Favorite scent?
I like all sorts of scents, especially sweet smelling things like fruit or flowers.

Favorite candy?
Snickers (snickers with peanut butter are awesome!)

Do you collect anything?
I collect books, LOTR books/actionfigures etc, and purple dragons. As I'm running a daycare, I also collect toys, movies and games for kids.

Favorite TV show and/or movie?
Oh wow. I like so much, I don't know where to begin. LOST, firefly, House and Big Bang Theory are my favorite TV shows. I love any movies to do with disney, horror, fantasy, sci fi, drama...the list goes on.

Do you wear jewelry?
Yes, I wear necklaces and earrings.

Do you have any pets?
Yes, one flat coated retriever and one grungy little white kitten.

Favorite stores?
I like Target, Burlington, World Market, Kohls...anything cheap or with good deals

What do you celebrate for the holidays?
Christmass's-birth, but don't worry about holiday themes for me.

Favorite author or genre of book?
Medieval Fantasy 1st, Fantasy 2nd, Sci-fi 3rd.
Favorite books:
The Lord of the Rings trilogy [I own these, and I have the 4-disc collectors edition of each of the three movies. I don't own the Hobbit or Silmarillion, though. (Although if you think of getting me the Children of Hurin, that's okay--I've already read it, and I don't need a copy.)]
the Inheritance cycle [I own Brisingr, but that's it so far. Can't wait to read the fourth book, Inheritance!!]
The Sword of Truth series [I don't own any, but these are too numerous.]
the Deltora Quest series [My whole family likes this! We don't own it, but it's at my library. Still. Also, I hear there's an anime version, but we haven't tried to find it.]
the Discworld novels [Don't own any, but these also are too numerous.]
the Band of Four cycle [Don't own these either, but it's not high on my list.]

Favorite hobby?
Gaming!
Artwork!
Writing!

Favorite color?
Favorite color combination is Silver, Green & Gold.
But for one single color, there can only be one answer. And that is... *drumroll*
Green, as evidenced by avatar -- > and signature |
Green, as evidenced by avatar -- > and signature ^v
Favorite scent?
Oh man, hm... well, being the holidays... Egg nog and coffee? xD
I kinda like Old Spice deodorant, the original whatever it was. Brings back memories.
Oh man! I wish I could identify this one scent! It's like... outdoors. But how do you make a scent of that? I dunno. It's this one Spring smell that just takes me back and makes me feel all creative.
I don't know if they've synthesized it, though.

Favorite candy?
Dark chocolate is always win, but probably my all-time favorite is Hershey's Cookies'n'Creme.

Do you collect anything?
Zelda stuff. It's not like I have a huge collection, but that's the kind of stuff I'd collect. Any Zelda hats, T-shirts, especially anything with the Hylian crest on it. Not so much hats--I'm not much of a hat person, though I'd happily make an exception for Zelda--but T-shirts definitely.
Also the games, though I have most of them already. All but the Oracles. ^_^
Zelda gaming accessories also awesome. (Can't WAIT for that gold Wii remote bundled with the pre-order Skyward Sword. )

Favorite TV show and/or movie?
Lord of the Rings
Star Wars
mostly Lord of the Rings
kinda Matrix, and Equilibrium (awesome)
Oh right, duh! The Princess Bride!
and yeah, Star Wars some more
and Lord of the Rings

Do you wear jewelry?
Nah. Watches are nice, but I already have a good one.

Do you have any pets?
No, just stuffed animals.

Favorite stores?
Barnes & Noble (even though I don't buy anything there--don't have the budget)
Gamestop

What do you celebrate for the holidays?
I celebrate regular old Christmas. While I know it holds some religious meanings to my chosen religion, I prefer it to be a day about family. It's more or less the one day a year all my family is connected.

Favorite author or genre of book?
Well, my favourite author is Christopher Pike, but the genre of book would have to be Horror/Murder/Mystery.

Favorite hobby?
I spend most of my time playing video games. Anything related to games are my forte. Haha.

Favorite color?
It would have to be a tie between dark Purple and a very dark Blue (despise Navy though. >_>).

Favorite scent?
I don't really know how to put it into words, but I'd probably say something like the smell of Rain, or Wood... Musky smells I suppose.

Favorite candy?
I'm not really a fan of candy, and since I'm on a diet most of the time I generally stay away from them. But honestly? I can't say no to Gummi Bears. They're delicious. >_>

Do you collect anything?
I collect anything that is collectable that I can get my hands on. Coins, Basketball Cards, Toy Cars, etc. I'm also partial to anything to do with gaming, Final Fantasy is a fan favourite. XD

Favorite TV show and/or movie?
My favourite TV show would probably be a tie between LOST, Heroes and if it counts (It's an anime) Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. Favourite movie would be Summer Wars, it's an amazing Sci-Fi/Romance plot. ^_^

Do you wear jewelry?
I wear a silver chain with a cross on it around my neck, and a silver ring with an onyx band on it. But only when I am going out.

Do you have any pets?
I have two cats, one of each sex. The male is very long, he has a grey back and a white belly. And the girl is small, she's a dark coloured tortoiseshell with white on the belly again.

Favorite stores?
I don't really have a favourite store, at least, not one accessible outside of the state I live in (They are a local store, nothing outside of the state let alone the country, haha). It's called Shin Tokyo though, if that's any help. Other than that, I spend most of my time in GAME, EB Games, Gamestop... are you seeing a pattern?


I should mention, I don't live in the US. So if I'm not eligible for this then just let me know and I'll edit all the info out. I'm an Australian you see... so yeah, just let me know.

What do you celebrate for the holidays?
Just because really. I love being around my family during the holidays since I don't get to see them often.

Favorite author or genre of book?
Anything supernatural/horror/etc. I do have a soft spot for John Green books.

Favorite hobby?
Crocheting. I crochet a LOT. I do everything from dolls to hats/scarves.
I also happen to be a gamer as well.

Favorite color?
Purple. If it has to be two than purple and teal.

Favorite scent?
Vanilla Sugar and Sweet Pea tend to be my two favourite scents.

Favorite candy?
Butterfingers. <3

Do you collect anything?
Books, yarn dolls, yarn, anything Power Rangers, anything Dragon Ball Z

Favorite TV show and/or movie?
TV Shows - Terra Nova, Heroes, Stargate SG-1, The Office
Movies - The Last Unicorn, The Princess Bride, Alice in Wonderland (disney), Matrix series

Do you wear jewelry?
Not often enough to want any for Christmas. : (

Do you have any pets?
I have a chihuahua puppy. :3

Favorite stores?
Hobby Lobby, WalMart, Target, Gamestop <3

I love the Happy Holidays animation. Did you make that, Fate? It's really neat.

I know! ^_^ I love it too. I actually found it while searching Google Images. I was really happy about that lol, since I was trying to find something seasonal but also FoGish. :]

Just a reminder -- everyone who wishes to participate in this year's Secret Santa has less than a week to sign up now!

Alright! Sign-ups for this year's Secret Santa Gift Exchange are now closed!

Those who are participating will be finding out who they received shortly.

Alright, everyone -- please disregard the e-mail you are all going to receive from www.drawnames.com.

I thought it would be handy to use that rather than literally drawing names from a hat, but now it added me to the group and also wants people to create a wishlist, which I do not want people doing. So please, just delete that e-mail.

I will personally PM everyone participating in the Secret Santa who their person is and what their address is.

This is going to be a lot of fun! ^^_^^

I know exactly what I want to get my person...

So if we have a gift tag or card, do we have to sign it from Secret Santa or at that point can we reveal who we are?

This is great. ^_^ Now there are two people I know of who already have the perfect gift in mind.

As I was telling Kathryn, I let Axiom pull each name, which I'm glad he did. He seemed to have done a good job.


That's a good question, Ryona. I suppose that's up to you if you want to be mysterious and let them find out when we announce it or when they get their gift.

My person is hopefully gonna be psyched with this gift. I just know it's the perfect one. I swear, Ima go down in history! I mean, I dunno if anyone can actually WIN Secret Santa but... in the words of Wario? "Ima gonna win, ahahaha!". (I'm just screwing around with the winning part, hand to god.)

Woot!

I think it's great that at least three out of five of us know what they want to get their person.

Personally, I'm not going to place my signature anywhere on my gift/card/letter because I don't want it to be revealed until the "big reveal" by Fate. Even if the person is reasonably sure it's me, they still won't be one hundred percent certain until then, and I think that mystery is more fun. ^^_^^

My gift is all ready to be shipped! I'm just waiting patiently for a little extra cash to send it off. :3

I haven't decided if I'll sign my card/gift tag/etc or not yet. I may wait until the reveal.

That's awesome, Supernova!

I really hope everyone says/shows what they got from their Secret Santa! ^^ I'm really curious to know what everyone gets.

I'll take a pic of whatever comes for you Fayt. Spread the Christmas Love and all that jazz.

I'm in Dreamless' boat. I'm totally taking a picture with whatever I get. ^^_^^

Just thought I'd mention the fact that I SENT MY GIFT YESTERDAY. WHOO!

My gift shall be sent either tomorrow or the following Monday. :3

Thanks for staying on top of everything so well, guys! I'm really glad we're having such a great first experience with this! ^_^

I finally got the gift, now I just have to mail it off

I really just need to get my present into a box and shipped since I wrapped it yesterday. =3

EDIT
I got Fate's card today! ^^_^^

finally got some extra cash so my present will ship out tomorrow.


EDIT ::

Gift shipped.

I'm going to send my gift on Saturday or Monday. It really just depends on if I can find the right sized boxes upstairs so I don't have to find the ones in the basement that may have spiders ready and willing to bite me. XD

Kathryn Lacey wrote:
I got Fate's card today! ^^_^^

Yay! I'm glad you got it! ^_^ Everyone involved with the Secret Santa should be getting a card from Axiom and I.

My mom is on the phone with me right now talking about cards and mail not always being delivered during the holidays and stuff being stolen. She sent me a Christmas card with a Walmart gift card in it 2 weeks ago and it still hasn't arrived, so I wonder if it "got lost" in the mail... I hope that we never have problems with that!

Well I know one thing. In my experience with mailing overseas and the like, it generally takes between 2 - 4 weeks for a package to reach it's destination. At least, on the normal postage costs. But it always seems to fluctuate. I remember sending a package of stuff to my friend in Ohio for Christmas, arrive like, 5 days after me sending it. Weird. >_>