# Secret Santa Time



## Lacie's Mom (Oct 11, 2006)

:aktion033::chili::chili::chili:It's Secret Santa Time.

Here are the important dates:

1. Pm me to let me know that you want to participate - deadline for pms - *October 8th*.


2. When you pm me, please include your *email address*. I will email you a questionnaire to complete. Questionnaires will be due back to me - deadline for returned questionnaire - *October 16th*.

3. Secret Santa assignments will be sent to you via email on - *October 18th*. 

4. Deadline for mailing gifts - *December 4th*. 

This year we will have 2 different spending categories (because you asked for it  ). There will be a $20-$30 category and a $30-$50 category. Neither category includes the cost of shipping.

Now for the rules for those that have not participated in prior year.

Please read the rules in full before you sign up. Thank you.

*1. Secret Santa Spending Categories *– This year we will have 2 spending categories to choose from -- $20-30 and $30-$50 excluding postage. The questionnaire will have a place to check the category that you prefer to be in. In the event that I am unable to match you with someone in your category, both participants will be asked to adhere to the $20-$30 spending limit.

*2. Finding a Secret Santa/Gift Exchange Buddy* - Pairing up will be randomly done, and you will be informed by e-mail or PM as to who your Secret Santa is, their address and all their information on themselves and their furbaby(ies)! You may register more than one furbaby, however, you will most likely get furbabies from different households to give gifts to. I will pair households whenever possible to help with shipping costs.

*3. Privacy* - Your personal private information will only be gathered for the purposes of the Gift Exchange. The only person that will be given your name and address is the person that is sending your furbaby a gift. 

*4. How It Will Work* – Within a week after the signup period has ended, each person will get a Secret Santa to give a gift to. Keep in mind, just because you have "Sally" does not mean that "Sally" has you! 

*5. Price Ranges* - There will be a *suggested minimum spending limit as described in #1 above* so that everything can remain fair and no one will feel like they spent too much and received too little, or vice versa! This is the amount for actual items for the Gift, shipping will be additional (usually from $5 to $10 depending on the size and weight). Please adhere to the spending limits so that no one has a cause to feel guilty or slighted on the amount spent.

*6. Shipping and Receiving* - Please allow 1-2 weeks shipping time or longer if your Secret Santa lives overseas! If you are participating, we are putting all our trust on you to get your gifts and to send them out on time so that your Secret Santa on the other end and their furbaby will not be waiting for their presents for too long! It is in your hands to ship it and since we are all trusting each other, please do not forget to ship it out! If you do not ship out your gift, you will be held responsible for it. Again, this is based on TRUST so if you believe that you may not be able to ship it out on time or that problems may arise, please let us know as soon as possible! 

*7. Sending Out Your Gift - *There will be a set deadline of December 4th for mailing your gift. You will receive your Secret Santa approximately 4-6 weeks prior to this date, so that you have plenty of time to buy and mail your gifts. Remember, keep in mind the approximate amount of time it will take for your gift to get to its destination. We completely understand the inevitability of complications or that crucial personal problems may occur. If this happens, please notify me by PM or email. 

We can help you find alternate solutions to have your gift mailed out or if, early enough, we can withdraw your name from the Participants List. It is only fair that you send out your gift in the allowed time window because other members may use their best judgment and send out their gifts a month in advance. We believe you have the ability to do the same also.

Please DO NOT send your Secret Santa any USED toys or clothing. Re-gifting an item you may have received previously is okay, but only if it is NEW. Please give away or throw away your USED items you do not want, as they should not be given to SM members in the Gift Exchange. Rescue is always a good choice for used items.

*8. Receiving a Gift - *Your buddy has put a lot of thought, effort, money and time into your gift. We believe that the least you can do is thank them. Please start a thread after you have received your gift so that your Gift Giver knows that you have received the goodies. It shows your Secret Santa that you appreciate it and also lets us know that you received your gift so we know who or who did not receive their gifts. This is a requirement of participating in the Gift Exchange.* PLEASE PUT YOUR SM NAME ON THE OUTSIDE OF THE BOX SO THAT PARTCIPANTS THAT WAIT TO OPEN THEIR GIFTS CAN LET THEIR SECRET SANTA KNOW THAT THE GIFT HAS BEEN RECEIVED.*

*9. Tracking Numbers / Confirmation Numbers / Insurance -* *Please insure your package and get a tracking number (or delivery confirmation with the US Postal Service). *It will let us know where your package is and the status of it so your buddy can also be updated. We encourage you to use a shipping service that either has a tracking number or delivery confirmation number (either US Postal Service, UPS, or Fedex). The shipping services DO lose packages and it would be a shame if your Secret Santa did not get the package due to no fault of your own. Many packages are lost by carriers each year. Insurance has come in very handy in several cases already.

*10. Not Received a Gift -* If you have not received your gift within 2 weeks of the posted deadline, please PM me or email me to let me know. I will contact your Secret Santa. It is not fair to you if you have sent out a gift and did not receive one in return. 

*11. Eligibility - *The Gift Exchange is open to all SM Members.
We have had challenges with former SM members that DID NOT mail out a Gift in previous Gift Exchanges while they did accept a gift. This is totally unfair and unjust, especially with all the effort, time, and energy everyone in the Gift Exchange has given. We do not want to impose stringent rules on the Gift Exchange and ask that, if you sign up to participate, you send your gift or, in case of emergency, notify us that you will not be able to, so that other arrangements can be made for your Secret Santa. *TO PARTICIPATE, YOU WILL NEED TO EITHER BE AN ACTUAL SM MEMBER (PAID YOUR SUBSCRIPTION) OR YOU WILL NEED TO HAVE POSTED AT LEAST 100 TIMES PRIOR TO THE ASSIGNMENT OF GIFT EXCHANGE BUDDIES.*


*12. Rescue Donations *- If you prefer your Gift Exchange Buddy to donate to a Rescue Organization *INSTEAD* of sending a gift to you, there is a place on the Questionnaire to let us know that preference.


Now -- get ready to SHOP!!! :aktion033::chili::chili::thumbsup:


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## mom2bijou (Oct 19, 2006)

I always LOL at "Just b/c Sally has you, doesn't mean you have Sally." 

Great organizing once again Lynn! You know Ben and Emma are in. I'll email ya this week!!!!


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## Orla (Jul 5, 2009)

:chili::chili::chili:


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## jenniferhope423 (Jun 25, 2007)

WAHOO!!! We are ready to hit the stores and shop, shop, shop! This is always SO MUCH FUN!!! :chili::chili::chili:


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## Hunter's Mom (Dec 8, 2008)

Hunter's in!!! His most favorite thing came from his secret santa last year!


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## The A Team (Dec 1, 2005)

i'm in this year - but only for one. With four dogs - it's just more than I can to handle that time of year. Also, my spoiled dogs already have plenty of everything :blush:


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## heartmadeforyou (May 16, 2009)

Oh, yea! I didn't get to do this last year!


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## Canada (Jun 4, 2009)

Bless you, Lynn for all the organizing you do to make this such a fun event for everyone!

I love looking at the reveal pics! And the shopping and wrapping!!! So much fun!

Count Paris & Coco in! :chili:


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## donnanj (Aug 19, 2010)

Sounds like fun!


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## Johita (Jul 10, 2009)

Wah-hoo! Aolani is in! He's been waiting to participate as he didn't last year.


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## Lacie's Mom (Oct 11, 2006)

I sent out questionnaires to all of you that pm'd me with your email addresses and also to those of you that indicated in this thread that you wanted to participate again (you know who you are). So happy that everyone seems excited for Secret Santa once again.


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## angel's mom (Feb 14, 2007)

Angel & I are in and looking forward to it again this year!


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## Terry36 (Jan 21, 2009)

Woohoo Kodi's in again.:chili:Thanks Lynn.:thumbsup:


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## maggieh (Dec 16, 2007)

Sweetness and Tessa are in!!! Can't believe it's that time again!


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## donnad (Aug 22, 2006)

I can't believe it is that time again! I am so excited!


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## aprilb (Jul 9, 2010)

Oh, boy-this looks like fun!!!:chili::chili:


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## yukki (Aug 22, 2007)

I am so excited that I saw this post this year. I missed the post the last two years, although we were still fortunate enough to be able to participiate. Please count Yukki and Genki in as well again this year. I am SOOOOO excited!!!!!


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## Lacie's Mom (Oct 11, 2006)

Cookie -- I know how much you love SS and I was going to PM you because I wasn't certain if you saw the post. Glad you did.

I'm so happy that so many of our prior participants are participating again.

For our new participants -- I just hope you have a great time. This is, imho, such a FUN event every year.


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## Matilda's mommy (Jun 1, 2005)

the girls would be soooooo upset if they missed out, looking forward to shopping:chili:


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## Snowbody (Jan 3, 2009)

Count Tyler in again this year.:chili::chili: And thanks so much Lynn for doing this. And it's even more complicated for you than last year. Will you never learn :smilie_tischkante::HistericalSmiley::HistericalSmiley:You amaze me.:hugging:


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## Lacie's Mom (Oct 11, 2006)

BTW -- I have received several questions about whether or not other breeds can participate too. Yes -- if you have a different breed in your house-hold, they are also eligible to participate in our Secret Santa.

For example, someone may have a Maltese and a Yorkie. You would simply indicate on the questionnaire which breeds they are. We're not at all prejustice -- we love all of the fluffs.  (But, of course, we know that the spoiled Maltese is the BEST - LOL.)


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## Lacie's Mom (Oct 11, 2006)

Bump


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## mary-anderson (Jan 12, 2010)

I looked at last years pictures I can see you all had
a wonderful time with Secret Santa. At first I decided
no because of having 4 fluffs. But then the light bulb went
on in my head :huh:. Liberty and Chloe can have a Spoiled
Maltese Secret Santa and I can be Alvin and Reginalds 
Secret Santa:chili:.


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## Lacie's Mom (Oct 11, 2006)

Mary -- a lot of us with mutiple fluffs just have an SM Secret Santa for 1 of them. That way we have fun, but don't have to "over spend" for the fluffs.


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## uniquelovdolce (Mar 10, 2010)

question , on best way to measure dolce , for the questionaire .


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## Snowbody (Jan 3, 2009)

uniquelovdolce said:


> question , on best way to measure dolce , for the questionaire .


Liza - I think it's neck, chest, length from neck to base of tail. That's the usual for clothes for fluffs. Correct me if I'm wrong. Didn't do the questionnaire yet.:blush:


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## Lacie's Mom (Oct 11, 2006)

Bump


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## dwerten (Oct 6, 2007)

thanks for the reminder will get that email to you


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## Orla (Jul 5, 2009)

Is it October 18 yet?


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## missiek (Jan 2, 2010)

I'm in!!!! I am so excited and so are the T's!


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## Lacie's Mom (Oct 11, 2006)

Just a very quick reminder that you only have 2 weeks left to sign up for Secret Santa and get your questionnaires back to me. Please pm me if you want to participate and please remember to include your *email address*.


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## suzimalteselover (Mar 27, 2006)

Thank you Lynn for the reminder. I'm going back and forth on this. I'm involved with a lot of local charities and am not sure if I will have the time to fully commit to this project. But, I sure want to! I have a question: I'm considering having my Secret Santa donate to my rescue organization I'm involved with for all three fluffs. Here's my question....would I be paired up with three other rescue donation requests too? I'm thinking.....maybe, maybe not. Also, since I have three fluffs, I would be getting three different names, correct? (I participated in another Secret Santa last year, where I was given just one name, but, we were to spend x amount...no matter how many fluffs your person had.) Also, with the two ranges of money to be spent, then, the other person would have the option to donate, i.e, at little as 30 or as much as 50 for my donation for each fluff, correct?


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## Sandcastles (Jul 7, 2010)

I'm in.

I wuv to shop fa mhaw fwends.


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## Orla (Jul 5, 2009)

Bump!


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## Canada (Jun 4, 2009)

Secret Santa is so much fun!
I searched for this thread to see when I need to mail my parcels.
And thought I'd bump it, in case others wanted to read it again. 
I still need to buy a few more things,
I am looking forward to wrapping things!


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## TB.TL (Oct 13, 2010)

I missed the deadline this year! I brought my pups home in the end of September and am pretty sure I wasn't even on this board until early October. Oh well. I'll have to remember next year!  Sounds like fun, though.


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## Snowbody (Jan 3, 2009)

I feel like a squirrel collecting acorns. I keep getting things either on-line or at stores and putting them away to wrap. The other day I suddenly realized that I couldn't remember where one gift was. :smpullhair: Some things for our guys are so small. So now I got a little carton and put everything in it. It's so much fun to try to find things that are special.:chili: Does anyone else feel like this?


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## Terry36 (Jan 21, 2009)

Snowbody said:


> I feel like a squirrel collecting acorns. I keep getting things either on-line or at stores and putting them away to wrap. The other day I suddenly realized that I couldn't remember where one gift was. :smpullhair: Some things for our guys are so small. So now I got a little carton and put everything in it. It's so much fun to try to find things that are special.:chili: Does anyone else feel like this?


Yes I agree. It's a wonderful feeling. :thumbsup:


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## Canada (Jun 4, 2009)

Snowbody said:


> I feel like a squirrel collecting acorns. I keep getting things either on-line or at stores and putting them away to wrap. The other day I suddenly realized that I couldn't remember where one gift was. :smpullhair: Some things for our guys are so small. So now I got a little carton and put everything in it. It's so much fun to try to find things that are special.:chili: Does anyone else feel like this?


Me too!
I have the presents in a few different places, 
so I gathered them up into a bag.
Or course Coco & Paris just have to try to investigate the bag! 
I told them it's not for them!


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