The Qt3 Secret Santa Thread

[Ryan Markel]

READ THE RULES ONCE MORE IF YOU FORGOT!

The time to declare your participation in this event is now over.

Private messages have been sent out and everyone should have received their Santee's information at this time.

Here's how it will work:

1) Anyone interested in being a Secret Santa (and thus also a Santee) posts in this thread with an "I'm in" or something to the same effect.

2) You can provide for potential Santas to gift things to you either by providing me with your mailing information where you can receive a gift, or by providing me with a URL to an Amazon or Funagain or other such wishlist. This can be done by PM, so only myself (as coordinator) and your Santa will have this information. The wishlist option exists so that the exchange of personal information will NOT be necessary to participate in the exchange.

2a) Wishlists can be either private (only your Santa will see the URL), or public (people here might wish to give gifts to more than one person), at the Santee's discretion.

3) We'll keep track of who is in using a relatively long alpha post, just to keep things neat and orderly. You have until October 15th to declare your participation. You then have until the end of the month to send me your contact and shipping information.

4) After the cut-off, I will PM each person with the information needed to gift something to their Santee. Each participant will be responsible for their gift to another. No freeloaders! If you don't give a gift, we'll know.

4a) There is a $20 minimum gift value; no maximum.

5) You can now subtly or not-so-subtly talk about things you'd like to get, although that in no way means you'll get what you ask for.

6) When you receive your gift, you make a post in this thread mentioning who your Santa was, what you got, and some thanks to that person for your gift (it's only polite). Pictures are encouraged.

[Ryan Markel]

Now changed into a reference guide for Santa/Santee pairings (once the gift receipt has been posted):

Santa -> Santee

Troy S Goodfellow -> Ryan Markel
Nick Walter -> Skipper
AaronSofaer -> fire
fire -> TomChick
Skipper -> AaronSofaer
Drastic -> Wholly Schmidt
Moore -> Mike O'Malley
Spiffy -> Ben Sones
ElGuapo -> Drastic
Wholly Schmidt -> VegasRobb
Shift6 -> ElGuapo
VegasRobb -> Moore
NoWayJose -> Dean
TomChick -> Ryan A
Mike O'Malley -> shift6
Bill Dungsroman -> spiffy
Ryan Markel -> RichVR
Dean -> Nick Walter
Siren -> NoWayJose
JPR -> Bill Dungsroman
Bullhajj -> Troy S Goodfellow
Ben Sones -> JPR
Ryan A -> Bullhajj
RichVR -> Siren
John Merva -> Nellie
Hanzii -> John Merva
Nellie -> Hanzii

[Nick Walter]

I'm in

[Brendan]

If anyone is willing to post something to South Africa, I don't mind posting something smallish to where ever they are in the world. (Also, give me some extra time for postage (I'll need about 8 weeks for surface shipping to the US thanks to our useless postal service.))

[Matt Perkins]

This is a bad idea... Some people are going to get some disturbing gifts.

[madkevin]

At the very least, you should ban Whitta from it.

[Ryan Markel]

What sort of spending limit are we talking about here? Are we buying each other games or $5 Amazon gift cards? ;-)

The spending limit/minimum can be whatever we agree upon. When coordinating this kind of thing in the past, there's been a generally-agreed-upon $20 minimum, with a maximum at whatever the Santa felt like doing.

I don't mind setting either.

[bigdruid]

If anyone is willing to post something to South Africa, I don't mind posting something smallish to where ever they are in the world.

Diamonds are smallish, right?

[Ryan Markel]

This is a bad idea... Some people are going to get some disturbing gifts.

At the very least, you should ban Whitta from it.

Is there a history here of which I am not aware? If so, I demand stories, but then Gary's still in if only for amusement factors...

[madkevin]

Let's just put it this way: a pair of chogglepants would never make it past customs.

[polar boar]

(And hey, Wal-Mart has Christmas decorations on display already, so I'm not far behind the retail establishment in terms of timing.)

Heh, the supermarket closest to me has this area for seasonal products. The other week I saw them place Christmas stuff on one side, while the other side was still stacked with barbecueing supplies.

[Aleck]

Let's just put it this way: a pair of chogglepants would never make it past customs.

I'm sure Gary would vacuum seal them for freshness.

Blech.

[Ryan Markel]

I'm now going to pretend that I've never read any of the early responses to this thread.

[Skipper]

I'm in.

And I like your suggestion of $20 low limit and no upper limit. This places it squarely in "buy a buddy a game" category.

[Flowers]

I would only do it if we could send things of little or negative value, like surveillance pictures of a hobo from the recipients town that's bound to turn up dead, or maybe a piece of a bloody sweater, Lord knows I have enough of those lying around, so that the post office opens it, the Feds arrest us both, and take us to an undisclosed location to be interrogated together for the holidays.

Who wants a condom full of baking soda and the crumpled phone numbers of prominent local Republicans? Did I mention a little Thai elf with a forged passport might deliver it personally? He just needs your address so he can give it to customs as his destination. You'll feel like Glen Frey this Christmas.

[fire]

I'm in!

[Tom Chick]

I'm in! w00t!

-Tom

[AaronSofaer]

I'm in.

[Nellie]

I'm in. UK based for full disclosure :D

[edit] do you have a budget (inc/ex postage) in mind? I could, for arguments sake, send a game out, but somone in LA wanting that 64" HD tv from me is going to be disappointed. Also I don't want to send someone a £5 gift and get a £10 one in return.

[AaronSofaer]

budget

When coordinating this kind of thing in the past, there's been a generally-agreed-upon $20 minimum, with a maximum at whatever the Santa felt like doing.

I don't mind setting either.

Arrr.

[Nellie]

Doh! My bad, I didn't read the follow ons in enough detail.

That's fair game in my book and I'll absorb postage in "whatever Santa felt like doing".

[Athryn]

I'm in!

[Aeon221]

First, cut a hole in a box.

[Wholly Schmidt]

I'm in. Do you need my info like, right now? I need to decide if I'm doing wishlist or just going with my address.

[Mike O'Malley]

OK, I'm in too.

[Ben Sones]

At the very least, you should ban Whitta from it.

Are you kidding? Gary buys expensive electronics as casually as most people would buy a cup of coffee!

I'm totally in.

[Ryan Markel]

I'm in. Do you need my info like, right now? I need to decide if I'm doing wishlist or just going with my address.

No. I'll make a post after a bit to ask people to PM/post their information after the cutoff date as a reminder, but you can take until then to decide or shore up your wishlist.

If you want to send either piece of information, you can go ahead, and I'll file it (I have a document I'm keeping already with any information I receive).

[DeepT]

You can call me a Grinch, but I always hated the idea of secret Santa. It seems like such a pointless materialistic thing. If you buy a gift for someone, it should be because you want to and know the person well enough to give them a gift that makes sense.

[Drastic]

I wouldn't worry about it. It's just something those vile creatures called humans do.

I'm in.

[VegasRobb]

How cool :)

I'm in!