this year's secret santa

[Khrysty]

For those who've contacted me about secret santa, I regret to inform you that I will not be organizing an exchange this year. Anyone else is more than welcome to organize it, however, and I will be willing to participate

 

[Desdemona]

How much time does it usually take for you to run it? I loved the Secret Santa and would do so if A. I wasn't so new that people wouldn't trust me, B. it wouldn't completely eat way my soul, and C. I was told about all possible liablity issues.. ie what do you do if someone doesn't send their gift?

 

[Jade Icing]

I want to participate but being in retail free time is a luxury.

 

[Jade Icing]

In other words I can do gifts but not run it.

 

[sunshinegeckos]

sent you a PM

 

[Khrysty]

Christina and Tosha, I kept track of everything in Microsoft excel spreadsheets and tables in word documents. Let me see if I can find them, and i'll pm you a copy of last year's stuff so you can see how I handled it

 

[sunshinegeckos]

ok cool I would be willing to oversee it if people are interested in participating

 

[geckogirl3]

wish i got do it, but I am to young

 

[Desdemona]

Christina, if you want it or want to split the duties let me know. I know that last year they asked for amount so that people were buying each other somewhat equal amounts for fairness. So if you want one could collect (for ease of the users) and then we could split by price and one could match up and contact half while the other person took the other half. It would make things a little easier. I am plenty familiar with databases and tables so that part would be simple for me. I have ran programs in the past that required contact lists and such so experience there as well.

Sent from my DROID PRO using Tapatalk

 

[tiedxupxinxknots]

I want to get involved [: but will it be like actual gifts? or geckos? either would be awesome though lol

 

[Khrysty]

In the past, people have gifted both live animals and non-live reptile-related objects

 

[Khrysty]

Ok guys, looks like I can't find last year's signups. I had made a table on word with sections for: name, address, age, screenname, wish list, and give list/amount to spend. In excel I kept it to: name, screenname, country, and whether they wanted or could give an animal. The second table was for matching people within the same country and for making sure that everyone who could give an animal would have the opportunity, and those who wanted one could have a chance to get one. The first table was to match everyone else up within the same price range and relative distance.

As far as liability and rules go, I had asked that no one under 18 participate (if parents are also members on the forum, they can receive a gift for their child but assume the responsibility of sending the gift to their match), that they were active members of the forum, and that they let me know up front their price range, whether they were giving an animal, whether they wanted one, and whether they had gifts on hand/would make gifts. Obviously you need all the information for the above-mentioned tables so I asked for that as well. There really isn't anything much you can do about people not sending gifts. I assumed responsibility for that in past years and would be ok with doing that again this year. I gave participants a month after the due date (so until mid-January) to contact their match if the gift was going to be late. Then I contacted them directly. Then, if I got no response, I offered to send something, myself, to the person who did not receive a gift. If either of you are uncomfortable or unable to do that, I can help with that this year. A few people stepped up last year and offered to do the same. That's the only solution I could come up with. If you can find a better one you're welcome to try it. The fact of the matter is there's always going to be one or two rotten eggs in the group and we try not to let them ruin the fun for everybody.

 

[Desdemona]

Well, depending on how busy I am in Jan I might be able to offer a few gifts... ie something artistic I might try my hand at breeding, but they would have to wait a while for any geckos. Though I won't keep everyone and I'm not in it for profit so "if" things go well and they don't mind waiting that is another option.

 

[Khrysty]

It seems pretty obvious, but I guess the most important thing in all this is to double and triple check to make sure everybody has a match. I color coded my word table. Highlighted yellow meant just matched to receive a gift, orange meant is both sending and receiving a gift, and red meant just sending a gift. To keep it anonymous, I tried to do a 3 way match with most people. Meaning, they don't receive a gift from the same person they are sending one to.

 

[Desdemona]

We plan on using excel too, since there are two of us I am going to see if I can find a secure site that can host. If not we could always split the group by price. Do you remember how many participants you had last year? Also how many where not in the US? I don't know if you've been looking at the other thread but we have already had some replies from Canadians and those in the UK.

 

[Khrysty]

We plan on using excel too, since there are two of us I am going to see if I can find a secure site that can host. If not we could always split the group by price. Do you remember how many participants you had last year? Also how many where not in the US? I don't know if you've been looking at the other thread but we have already had some replies from Canadians and those in the UK.

I had just a couple from European countries, and one from Canada last year. Most everyone else was from the US. If there's going to be a better turnout this year, i'm thrilled! I think I had about 25 participants total. The old thread is around here somewhere.

 

[Kristi23]

I had just a couple from European countries, and one from Canada last year. Most everyone else was from the US. If there's going to be a better turnout this year, i'm thrilled! I think I had about 25 participants total. The old thread is around here somewhere.

I think the one from Canada is the one who didn't send me anything.

 

[Khrysty]

I think the one from Canada is the one who didn't send me anything.

That's right. But she's banned from participating this year. Other Canadians are welcomed of course >.<

 

[Desdemona]

Do you have names of those who are banned so that we don't let them in this year? Were they banned from SS or the board? I personally think we should keep their real names and addresses (offline of course) so that they don't switch screen names. Some might try to really take advantage of the program.