Secret Santa Exchange 2007
 
For those who are interested, we will be organizing a Secret Santa exchange.  The purpose of the exchange is to send a small gift to another person.  The recipient of the gift will not know who they will be getting their gift from until it arrives.    
 
A few rules for the exchange:  

All participants must have at least 25 posts at this board. (This is for everyone's protection, especially since real names and addresses will be shared).  
 

The value of the gift should not exceed $10 US.    
 

The gift does not have to be hair related, but we all know we love hair toys! Please do not send hair products such as shampoos or conditioners - these can be easily tainted and are heavy to ship.  
 

Since we have people here from all over the world, we will try to keep people within reasonable shipping areas, but if you are willing to do an overseas shipping, please let us know.  
 

To participate, please PM me by November 19th with your name and address, favorite color(s), hair color, type and length.  Suggestions of small items that would love to receive from your Secret Santa can also be included.  If you have colors you detest, or have other information you would like to pass along, please include it in the PM.  Once I have all the names I will PM you with your person's information.  Your Secret Santa may not be the person you are sending your gift to.    
 

I will update this post with the list of name of those participating and when they have received their gift.  
 

Gifts should be sent by December 10th. Be sure to include your screen name with your gift.  
 

Once you have received your Secret Santa gift, please post here what you got and from whom so we can all share in the fun.  

 
Please keep in mind that you are participating in this exchange voluntarily.  We certainly hope everyone will keep up their end of the exchange.  If unable to send your gift, please PM me so I can try to arrange another exchange.  

Here's the list of who has signed up!

Bikerbraid
Kiraela
Lisabelle
Trisha
Sakina
Curlgirl64
Angel Spun
Juri
Galadriel
La Diosa

Heyy gang!  We have a few names for the exchange, be sure to get your name in soon!  Trisha provided a great list of suggestions of inexpensive, easy to obtain items (not necessarily hair related) for her secret santa.  The rest of you can feel free to include such suggestions as well.  (And those of you who have already sent in your list, feel free to send another PM with any additions!

Please add me to the list!!!

*happy dance* I'm gonna be a Secret Santa!!!  Yay!!

Pm'd you as well!

Woohoo! My first year on the Secret Santa train!  :D

Just a reminder, the deadline for signing up for the Secret Santa Exchange is Monday!

I have sent out the Secret Santa assignments.  If you have ANY questions about how this works or your need any clarification, please let me know.  If, for some reason you are not going to be able to send your person a gift, let me know so I can work things out for that person.  

Please try to have your gift mailed as early as possible, especially for the international shipping.  We want everyone to have a WONDERFUL Christmas!  (and this lets us open presents early!  ;D

Don't forget to post here when you have received your package so we all know what goodies you received (and we know the package arrived).

Merry Christmas!

I got my gift from my secret santa and her name is La Diosa!!!

I got 3 packets of Sweet Sakura Tea, a long silver toned necklace w/fancy silver and black charms and cool brass toned and turquoise earrings.

Thanks, La Diosa, I love my gifts from you!!!

Aw, how nice!  I haven't even finished putting together my package yet...   :P

I'm glad the package arrived safely and that you liked the gifts, I was nervous about that. :)

I guess I'd better get my butt in gear and get my stuff out in the mail this weekend!  ;)

Quote:

Aw, how nice!  I haven't even finished putting together my package yet...   :P

Don't feel bad, Trish. I haven't either.  :P

Don't feel bad.. I've had my stuff together for four days now, and still haven't gotten to the post office to send it. Monday! expecially since I've got two ebay packages to ship out too.

Kiraela wrote on Dec 2^nd, 2007 at 1:08am:

Don't feel bad.. I've had my stuff together for four days now, and still haven't gotten to the post office to send it. Monday! expecially since I've got two ebay packages to ship out too.

Me too  :( It goes out on Monday come hell or high snow!  Say Kiraela, I would love to see the ebay stuff you sell.  Don't worry, no competition here!  I sell used autoparts for Volvo's and Saab's ::)

So far, it's pretty much chain mail belts... >> http://myworld.ebay.com/kiraela  I'm going to be listing two new styles of items soon, a 'byzantine' style necklace, and a modified byzantine style that I came up with when I was sleepy, drowsy, and screwwed up one too many times, then thought"hey, that looks darn cool" :D

yep, come hell or high water(or snow) I'm getting it out monday. If I have to WALK to the post office.

With all the people mailing things out now, I must apologize to my secret Santa recipient. Er, I can't exactly say who you are, but your package won't get out until the 10th. I'm very, very sorry.  :'( I can only get to the stores on the weekend and the past two weren't conducive to leisurely shopping or bargain hunting. I have a couple of things already, but I want a kick-butt gift, not a half you-know-what. Hopefully she'll find the wait worthwhile. *crosses fingers*  

Well, I finally got your present shipped, [name]. I hope you like it!

I tried to get to the post office monday, but the guys were out on a job site until past dark. Yesterday, we found out at 4:15, that the window now closes at 4, rather than 4:30. GRRR.

Anyway, it's out now.

I shipped mine on Monday, it went air mail! ;)

I got all my gifts shipped out today, including my package for my special Secret Santa recipient!  Hope she enjoys the goodies.  :)

If any of you are in need of getting a message to your person, or if you are concerned about not having received your gift yet, feel free to PM me and I can coordinate information for you.  Santa sometimes needs elves to help out and I've been officially assigned to Santa as a temporary elf.  (Hubby titled me as such, he figures since I'm "done" with Christmas, I have extra time on my hands!).

Don't forget to post here when you receive your package - we all want to know what you got!

My secret santa gift FINALLY got mailed out this morning.   :P  Oh, and I received my goodies on Friday morning.  Thank you very much, Lisabelle, for the tea and lovely handmade bun covers!   :)  

Your welcome!  Enjoy! :) :D

Well,my secret santa recipient's gift arrived today so I'll be sending out airmail asap!!  I hope she likes it and thanks in advance to the patience in waiting!!! :)

Yay, I got some great goodies today from my Secret Santa... thank you Bikerbraid! :D

I received items made locally in her native of Minnesota and a pair of beautiful hair sticks.  

The yummy Nut Goodie and Malted Nut Roll didn't last very long after I took the pic. They were very tasty snacks for my husband and I to share as we watched a DVD. :)  

I haven't tried the wild rice soup yet, but I'm sure it'll be delicious.  
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s297/goddessacelestial/ss.jpg
Thanks again Bikerbraid, I really enjoy and appreciate the gifts. :)

And my Secret Santa is....Kiraela!  :D  I was so hoping that it would be!  ;)

It was a pleasant surprise to get home from work this evening and find a package from her waiting for me on my bed. Inside was a pretty lace shawl which doubles as a hair scarf (I did notice the purple stitching, K  ;)) and a pair of looong drop earrings. Both black and both obviously handmade (such a crafty girl she is!). And the card with the little Christmas kitties was sooo cute! hehe My scalp is tingling, which only happens when I feel sincerely cared for.

Thank you, little sis! Well done.  :)  Merry Christmas and Brightest Blessings to you too! http://www.smilieshq.com/smilies/char1/character0181.gif

well, the shawl was only partly handmade, but :D nonetheless. I'm glad you liked it. *hug* merry christmas.  

hehehe Better than I could've done, babe.  ;)  *hugs*

LaDiosa - Wow - that got to you fast!  FYI, even the hairstick/chopsticks were made in Minnesota.   A little known fact about Minnesota - We are the largest exporter of chop sticks outside of China.  I'm glad you enjoyed the goodies - I had fun collecting them for you.

Got my secret santa gift off!!  Hope she likes it!

I was wondering if the hair sticks were made there too.  So wait they're chopsticks?  Wow, who would eat with those?  They're too nice for that. :)  

Anyway, thats quite an interesting tidbit about Minnesota being the largest exporter of chopsticks in the US...who would've thought?

wrote on Dec 12^th, 2007 at 6:29pm:

I was wondering if the hair sticks were made there too.  So wait they're chopsticks?  Wow, who would eat with those?  They're too nice for that. :)   Anyway, thats quite an interesting tidbit about Minnesota being the largest exporter of chopsticks in the US...who would've thought?

Technically they are chop sticks - but I love them as hair sticks!  ;)

My UPS man came this morning with my Secret Santa gift!!  My secret santa is Angel Spun!!!  Thank you so much for my beautiful gifts,Angel!!!  I  got a very plushy warm microplush throw and a beautiful votif candle holder.  I love my gifts!! :)

My Secert Santa arrived!!!  It was Juri Chan!

Oh my lord check this out!

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a90/Lisabunnie/jurixmass07.jpg

There's a calander, a hair clip, a paper Miako, lovley post cards, a hankie. I also got a video CD of pictures of Japan.  Way cool!!!

I was such a thrill to open the rice paper card, it so beautiful!  Thank you Juri I truely love everything you sent!

ありがとう!!
Have a great Christmas and a Happy New Year!!! http://smilies.sofrayt.com/fdm/victory.gif

Wow, those are very nice items, pretty hair clip! :)

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Thank you so much for my beautiful gifts,Angel!!!

You're quite welcome, Curlgirl! I'm glad you like them!  :)

Merry Christmas to all. http://www.smilieshq.com/smilies/char1/character0277.gif

Lisabelle--You're very welcome! I'm so glad you like your gift!! ;D

I got my package!  Trisha sent me a wonderful selection of fun things - a bookmark, 2 candles, a small box of chocolates (which were immediately consumed  ;D), a bag of peppermint candies, 2 tins of teas, a small bag of coffee, a rainbow of colors of hair elastics (I will have a ton of fun with those!), and......... 2 skeins of yarn!  WOW!  What a fun box of goodies.  THANK YOU!!!

You're very welcome.  Merry Christmas!  :-*

I finally got to the post office! My secret santa is: Galadriel! A beautiful handmade scrunchie, a hair clip that is both very pretty, and actually big enough to fit all my hair in it (!) and a box of flavored teas (they smell absolutely delicious, and I'm making a cup now). Merry Christmas, Galadriel! (a question, how do you pronounce Hyvää Joulua Ja Onnellista Uutta Vuotta? I don't want to mangle it too badly, but I'd like to be able to wish people a merry christmas in as many languages as possible. :D (I'm a little bit of a language nut, yes))

I'm glad you like your gift!

Finnish is pronounced very differently from English (some people say Finnish sounds a little like Japanese). The main principle is, that everything is pronounced exactly like it is written: if you see two vowels (like in Hyvää), you will pronounce it long, and same goes with two consonants. In vowel combinations (like in word joulu), you will pronounce each vowel separately.
 "Hyvää": Pronounce H like in "hard", y is like german ü, ää sounds like a in "bad"
 "Joulua": J: like y in "yard", o like o in "cord", u like u in "blue", a like a in "car"
  "Ja": pronounce j and a as before
 "Onnellista": "on" is on, but pronounce o like you did before, ll is like in "bell", and the rest is easy as long as you remember to pronounce the a in the end clearly.
 "Uutta": u is still the same, but a little longer now, tt -I'll play nice and compare this with tt in Jabba the Hutt-, a as before
 "Vuotta":  If you have survived so far, there's nothing new in this word.

I hope these instructions made some sense- it's quite difficult to find good comparisons from English.

I think so, although you lost me with Y, I picked it back up again after that. So I'll only mangle it slightly, LOL. Also, I've tried two of the teas, viisasten tee/ 'wisdom of stay'(which may have lost a bit in translation) , and sadepäivän ilo/'cheery rainy day'... I must say, I'm going to have to find a place where I can get them. Maybe an import shop, or something might have them... Is it that america gets crap tea in comparison, or just everywhere I've lived? Anyway, though, thank you very very very much.

LOL, yes, y is a tough one since I couldn't find any match for it in English. Luckily, this phrase has the nicety of not meaning anything silly even if you mangle it.
  Direct translations of the names of your teas would be: "Rainy Day's Delight", "Tea of the Wise or even Philosopher's Tea", and if I remember correctly, the remaining two flavors would be "Faithful Friend" and "Emperor's Bride". Forsman makes lovely teas. I just checked out- they do have a web shop www.forsman-tea.com . The selection looks smallish and I didn't find teabags, but you could always ask.  :)

Hm. the only one that did translate well is faithful friend. It seems that 'emperor's bride' didn't even come close, or else tis a different flavor: carribean sun. Whatever the names, though, the flavors... ooh, the flavors. pineapple, strawberry, cherry and raspberry all in one cup of tea? HEAVEN.

Yes, Emperor's Bride is the name of another very popular blend of theirs. I think you would like that as well. And let's not forget Chinese tea flowers, Chocolate Mint or Blue Eyes... You'll just have to order a big jar of everything and start your own little tea shop! ;D

Hmm. *ponders* you know.... that's not a bad Idea...

A battered-looking package showed up! :D But inside, everything was in perfect condition.

My Secret Santa was Sakina. She had packed me a lovely and thoughtful gift: a scentd soy candle (I have never heard of those!), a cute small Christmas sock that had dark chocolate and a box of strong mints in it, vitamin C drink and three packages of orange hankies with little bats in them. The perfect flu repellent gift! It surely comes in need this winter! ;D

Thank you!

I'm glad you like your gift-I can't believe it took so long to get to you.  Maybe it got lost?

I hope you enjoy it, and don't have to use the "flu repellents" too often!

Soy candles burn longer and cleaner than parafin.  I think they also retain their scent better.

You're welcome and sorry it took so long to arrive!!!!!!!

It sure looked like it had had an adventure or two on its way to me. Don't feel sorry- international mail does usually get glitchy (is that a word?) during the few weeks before Christmas.

By now, DH has "borrowed" two of the three packages of bat hankies. He adores them. I adore the soy candle- the scent is so fresh and lovely.

Awww, now I wish I had sent more hankies!!

Glitchy is now officially a word.  At least here, anyway.  ;D

I'm glad you like the candle.  Its tricky to choose scents for others, and this one will keep your sinuses clear!!!  (I hope  :-/)

Yay, I came back from my trip home and can finally say who my secret Santa was--Curlgirl64! She sent me a very cute stuffed bear made from a cool multi-colored fabric.

Thank you so much, Curlgirl! It's great!! ;D