So excited
Ho! Ho! Ho!! Thank you all for your patience while we worked out the details, but without further adieu...
Let's get this party started!! It's our 2022 Secret Santa for Reef2Reef!!
This is going to be a great time to spread Christmas joy!!
We're getting a bit of a late start this year, but we're still going to have a blast spreading Christmas cheer!!!
NOTE: To those who have been part of our Secret Santa before, this one will be slightly different. I promise there are some good reasons for the changes, and we hope they will lead to a better experience over all.
Here is how it will work:
Here are a few guidelines for this year:
- Requirements to participate:
- At least 18 years of age (only exceptions to this will be participants who have been part of our Secret Santa before)
- At least 14 days as a member of R2R
- At least 10 posts on R2R
- Gift requirement: AT LEAST $25 value and a splash of Christmas joy! (Suggested gift range is $25-$50. More on this below.)
- As you sign up, you'll get a link to the gift exchange on Elfster (it's the Secret Santa exchange website/app that we use to organize the gift exchange) where you'll need to register so that we can easily match you with your Secret Santa.*
- The first matchup will take place on November 24th so that all of you eager Secret Santas can take advantage of Black Friday shopping. After this, matches will happen weekly through December 10th.
- Sign up will be open until December 10, 2022
- Buy or make gifts and ship them by December 17, 2022.
- Delivery tracking is mandatory and will need to be sent to @Santa Claus and/or updated in Elfster.
- International Participation: This year's Secret Santa will have 2 groups for those outside the US: 1) Canadian participants, 2) other international participants. While we wish that we had enough international participation to allow all participants to only send to members within their own country, that simply isn't feasible, so please be aware of the possibility that you may need to ship internationally to participate outside the US or Canada.
All R2R Secret Santa participants will receive a special Secret Santa banner under their username.
- Please, PLEASE, be sure your R2R username is entered on your Elfster profile as your nickname. This really does help your Secret Santa to find you on Reef2Reef and get better gift giving ideas.
- This is an event that is meant to spread Christmas joy, so we're asking all participants to try to make this special for whoever you receive. While we realize that this may look different for everyone, we're asking participants to avoid sending $25 e-gift cards as your only gift. Suggested gift range is $25-$50. You may give more, but be aware that you may not receive more than this amount.
- All participants MUST make a post or send a message acknowledging their gift and thanking whoever their Secret Santa is. Most of you do this anyway, so I don't think it's a problem to ask. However, due to some situations we've run into before, we're making this a requirement. We'll start a Thank You thread specifically for this and link it here.
- About Elfster wishlists: We're getting away from using these this year. Instead, we're asking each participant to make a more detailed profile and asking each Secret Santa to get a gift based on that profile. Our hope is that this will take some of the focus off of receiving and refocus us on giving and why we do this to begin with. We realize some of you may still enjoy making wish lists, and we're fine with you doing that, but know that your Secret Santa is being encouraged not to really look at that for gift giving this year.
- Your gift MUST be sent by December 17th. Now, we realize things can happen, and we're always willing to work with participants. However, if your gift has not been shipped and confirmation/tracking info sent to Santa by the deadline, you may be banned from participating in future Secret Santa exchanges on Reef2Reef.
- Failure to abide by these guidelines may result in not being allowed future participation in Secret Santa gift exchanges. (We're really not expecting to remove anyone, but we do reserve the right to do so if a participant does not engage in the spirit of this gift exchange.)
To sign up, you will need to do these 2 things (PLEASE DO BOTH):
Secret Santa Questionnaire:
- PM @Santa Claus with your contact information (name, email, and country you're located in so that we can PM you the link to sign up on Elfster and join the gift exchange).
- Post in this thread with your answers to the questionnaire (see below) IN THIS THREAD (this is our official registration thread).
At this time, we are unable to guarantee matching users based on a preference for shipping coral. If shipping coral we ask that you notify @Santa Claus via PM when you would like 2 ship so we can notify recipient and make sure they will be able to receive it. If recipient can't be there we will ask them for 2 other days and work out with sender. (We don't mind playing the go between here to keep it more a secret.)
- What country are you located in?
- What is one thing you always need more of?
- What do you like to do on the weekends?
- What are your other hobbies/interests?
- How do you relax after a long day at work?
- Do you collect anything?
- What is your favorite color?
- What is one TV show or movie you can watch over and over again?
- What type of music do you listen to?
- Do you follow any sports teams?
- What's your favorite fish?
- Favorite coral?
- Favorite invert?
- Tell us about your tank(s)! What size are they? What do you keep in them? Do you have a build thread?
- Do you have any planned upgrades or hopeful future tweaks to your tank(s)?
- What's your favorite thing to watch in your tank?
- Are there any parts of the reef hobby you get really excited over?
- What are some good gift ideas for you? (This isn't meant to be a wish list. Just some general thoughts or ideas for whoever draws your name.)
- Would you be interested in receiving livestock? If yes, what would you be interested in? *disclaimer due to the busy holiday season we recommend not shipping livestock*
- Are there any additional questions you wish we had asked that we didn't? (Add those questions in under these and post your answers.)
Also, notice that we have a special Secret Santa forum going on! Feel free to start other threads in here to talk about everything Secret Santa related, holiday related, or just anything you want to talk with all of us other SS peeps!
#R2RSecretSanta