2015 Holiday Swap! Sign Up Thread

[Waylah]

Hello and welcome to the 2015 Holiday Swap!!
Get ready for some thrilling mystery, fun shopping, and festive wrapping! Who will your partner be? What fun you'll have piecing together an exciting collection of gifts and treats, inspired by careful reading of your partner's sign-up post, and maybe some detective work too! And of course, your own special touch. A lot of thought and cheer goes into each package every swap time, and this year will surely be no exception.

For those who might be new to this, this is how it works:
Everyone wanting to participate will carefully read the instructions in this post, then post in this thread. Then, when the sign-up deadline passes, everyone will receive a PM telling them who their recipient is. You will be posting to this person. The person you will prepare a parcel for will not necessarily be the person you receive a parcel from. Everyone will let me know when you have sent your parcel, so that I can ensure everything is going smoothly. When you receive your parcel, you can post in the 'brag' thread to share the fun! This also lets me know that everything has arrived safe and sound, but PM when you get your parcel if you are not posting photos straight away.

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Sign-up Deadline: 9th November (This is soon, to give enough time to shop/make/pack. If more that one person miss this sign-up deadline, I'm happy to add them in, but there will be less surprise about who their partner is!)
Mailing Deadline: Domestic - 9th December
International - 2nd December
(if you encounter unexpected problems causing delays, please PM me.)

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The Rules:

The number one most important rule: Have fun!

Minimum value of box contents is $20, not including packing or shipping
*NOTE: You're welcome to spend more than $20 on your box's contents. Please realise, though, that the box you receive may not be of equal $$ value to the one you sent.

Theme: Holidays/ seasons! Your swap partner's wishlist will indicate which holiday they celebrate or if they would prefer a season-themed box. Or both! If your partner says they love having things themed, then go for wild with that theme! It's all about fun!

For the main goodies in your box, try to include as many LPS items as possible...otherwise, try to stick to your partner's other wishlist items. (A few venues to purchase LPS from, besides forum members and ebay, are Emery's Emporium, Sassi Toys, Pranceatron, and the Toy Stable).

Items within the swap box should be individually wrapped.

Box must include a card - either handmade or store-bought. Include your forum screen name in the card.

Do not include any damaged items in your box - no baits allowed, unless your swap partner specifically mentions an interest in having baity items for customizing, etc.! (for any new people, a 'bait' is a piece that is damaged or worn out. Some people restore them or modify them to make new little works of art.) You want to give your partner the sort of experience that you would love to receive, so nothing in poor condition.

You're welcome to include homemade goodies in the box!

Include some store-bought candies or other food-treats unless your swap partner specifically says they would not like any

Pay careful attention to any allergy/dietary requirements of your partner.

You must use a box - not a bubble-padded envelope - to post your package.

Packages shipped within a country must include Delivery Confirmation/Tracking

Please save your shipping receipt

Take a photo of your packed box before you ship it. Optionally, you can post the picture here in this thread as a 'teaser'!

Also optional, get a friend to film you opening your parcel when it arrives!


SIGN-UP POST INSTRUCTIONS
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Please indicate weather you can post internationally

Please indicate which holiday you celebrate and/or if you would prefer a general season-themed box. Please also indicate your level of enthusiasm for theme, e.g. "I love winter themes soo much!" or "I just love things colourful and sparkly" or "Surprise me!".

In your wishlist, please be sure to list all allergies pertaining to this swap, food or otherwise.

Besides posting a link to your LPS wishlist, also provide information on other collections you'd like to add to, candy preferences, favorites, etc.

Please make sure your wishlist is up to date, and be careful with making purchases of things on your wishlist during swap-time.

If you list that you collect another toy, please link to either a wishlist or a list of what you already have of that toy line, to avoid being given what you already have. (You can make a new post in the 'off topic' section of this forum to list your other collection if needed)

The following template can be copy-pasted into a reply on this thread, and edited to contain all your information.

After you sign up, please PM me your address.
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TEMPLATE SIGN-UP POST

International Shipping? yes/no

Holiday Christmas/None/Hanukkah/Pancha Ganapati/Solstice etc

Season Winter/Summer

Themes, colours etc example: I love reindeer! I like pink and yellow, but I love Christmas colours...

Wishlist http://www.vintagelpsforum.com/MY_WISHLIST

Allergies/dietary requirements nuts/none/gluten/vegetarian/FODMAPs etc

Other collections none/baby buddies etc. [url]my_other_collection/wishlist.com[/url]

Interests reading, photography, Star Wars, gardening etc

Favorites Dolphins, miniatures, steampunk, butterflies etc

Candy preferences turkish delight/hard candy/gummy bears/caramel etc

Other example: I'd love to receive a custom, they're my favorite! I'd also love to have anything unique to your area.

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Phew! I think that's everything. Did I miss anything? Have fun everyone!

[TequilaMockingbird]

I am so excited by this! I can't wait to take part in the exchange again! Happy Holidays!!!

International Shipping? yes

Holiday: Christmas

Season: Winter

Themes, colours etc: Anything! Winter things like trees, snowflakes, mittens, scarves. Silver & Gold, yellow, blue and grey.

Wishlist: viewtopic.php?f=44&t=5290&p=31514#p31514 , although there isn't much on it at this point that is easy to come by so I don't expect anything from this.

Allergies/dietary requirements: none, but not a huge fan of nuts or gummies

Other collections: Baby Buddies, Nature items like rocks/minerals and cool "found objects" like driftwood, leaves, feathers, nests etc. I also collect miniature items other than LPS, like tiny animals, gnomes, Merry Miniatures, etc

Interests: I love (and studied) birds so any type of bird items are great. I also love the ocean and beach so ocean animals too. Inspirational books and good fiction stories.

Favorites: Birds, turtles, the outdoors, plants and related items for indoor/windowsill gardening (the joys of city living )

Candy/Food: I'd love to try anything unique! I love chocolate and sour candies, and holiday specific treats like gold chocolate coins, candy canes, etc. Also citrus flavors, home made baked goods, herbal teas.

Other: I love customs. And not only repainted LPS, but also LPS inspired pictures, ornaments, etc. Also I am really into the merpets lately, so anything featuring them is awesome. And anything unique to your area!

[katgyrl]

I will come back and finish this later!

International Shipping? yes

Holiday Christmas! We do the Christian side and fun Santa side

Season Winter!

Themes, colours etc I love things bright and cheerful! I also love things sparkly or shiny! I would love a holiday themed box, either Christmas, Winter, or the holiday that my partner celebrates!

Wishlist viewtopic.php?f=44&t=5201 (I think this is fairly up to date, since I haven't added anything new since last Christmas, but I will double check)

Allergies GLUTEN I am celiac and cannot have any goodies with gluten (in wheat, malt, rye, barley, and oats unless specified Gluten Free)

Other collections
My Little Ponies - I mostly collect G1 but I also like G3 and G4. I LOVE baby G1 ponies! My wishlist on the MLPArena is here:
http://mlparena.com/index.php/topic,291 ... #msg117189

Monster High and Ever After High dolls - I especially love EAH dolls! If you are crafty and want to make me clothes or accessories for them I would love that! (I'm a little obsessed with doll clothes, shoes, and accessories ) Here's my wishlist for them too:
http://mharena.com/index.php/topic,553. ... l#msg19336

I also collect foreign coins, reusable shopping totes, stamps (for my brother), buttons (not sewing ones, the pin-on ones), American Girl Dolls, tiny sewing notions for doll clothes - like tiny lace and trim and itty bitty buttons and such.

Interests I love animals (obviously ), reading, writing, sewing, scrapbooking, gardening, embroidery, I've delved a little into customizing ponies and dolls, I love historical fashion

Favorites animals - cats, jaguars, dogs, gerbils, horses, hummingbirds, bats, songbirds, chickens, goats, baby animals of any kind! Colors - anything bright and cheerful like raspberry and bubblegum pink, kelly green, turquoise, true purple. I love flowers, especially dahlias and other fluffy daisy-types. Christmas is my favorite season, I love pretty much everything about it! Love snowflakes, winter animals, sparkles and lights, reindeer, decorating the Christmas tree!!

Candy preferences I have celiac disease so nothing with gluten please - mostly comes as wheat, barley, rye, and malt, also no oats unless specified as gluten free. I love chocolate, especially dark chocolate. The Dove dark chocolates are super yummy. I also love melon rings, starbursts, peanut m&ms, peanut butter m&ms, herbal teas, hot chocolate (dark and peppermint are my fave). There are also some good gluten free treats I love - Pamela's Pecan Shortbread cookies (SO YUMMY), Glutino's chocolate covered pretzels and lemon wafers. If there is anything special to your area (and is gluten free) I love trying new treats!

Other (customs) I LOVE handmade things including customs! I would love to have a jaguar custom! Or a Christmas themed one!

[twincheckers]

International Shipping? Yes if the host needs me to, but I'd rather not (sorry!)

Holiday: Non religious Christmas.

Season: Winter

Themes, colours etc example: ... um... I love green. Love all animals. Gingerbread and/or winter themed is cool too.

Wishlist: viewtopic.php?f=44&t=5138&p=30667#p30667 Also will take any baity pieces especially food dishes, habitats.

Allergies/dietary requirements: No allergies but I'm not a fan of nuts. I LOVE junk food!

Other collections: 1990s Barbie, Star Trek TNG, Star Wars

Interests: Reading. Cooking (I'm always looking for quick recipes!), crafting (you name it, I do it!), writing, coffee, history

Favorites: Finding Nemo, Cheshire Cat, love geeky stuff in general (except Doctor Who... can't get into it for some reason), dogs (especially Cavaliers like my babies in my pic), Tennessee Titans, Denver Broncos.

Candy preferences: Surprise me. If it has sugar I'll eat it.

Other example: I'd also love anything unique to your area or culture. I use purple ink pens in my planner at work and I'm always looking for more since I go through them so quickly.

[chambychick]

I've been MIA for so long but I love swaps! I still need to get my WL in order since I know its outdated, so I'll come back and finish any parts I don't have yet

International Shipping? yes

Holiday: Christmas, but I love wintery themed things

Season Winter

Themes, colours etc example: I love pinks, blues, purples and greens, but really not picky

Wishlist : viewtopic.php?f=44&t=5771

Allergies/dietary requirements None

Other collections: So many... my Instagram: Shelvesofwhimsy has most of my collections. But I also collect: Fairy Winkles, My Little Pony G1, Charmkins, Bubblins, Takara Ponies, Furry Families, Tsum Tsums, Legos, Sailor Moon items, Madoka Magica items, SAO figurines, Cute 80's & 90's toys.

Interests : Cooking, Painting, Sculpting, CAD, Designing Jewelry

Favorites: Kiwi Birds, Shelties, Ponies, Foxes and Squirrels

Candy preferences : I love most chocolate, and hot chocolate from different places, but am not crazy about peppermint ghiradelli haha. Only candy I don't like: Butterfinger, Payday

Other: I love customs! Of any kind of toy I collect (MLP, Takara Ponies, LPS, other) and also love art of all kinds!

[Waylah]

Oh man reading all your sign-ups makes me want to make swap packages for all of you!!

International Shipping? yes! It'd be a bit tricky if it was 'no'

Holiday: None, but this swap is my Christmas! and I'm fine with anything

Season: Summer

Themes, colours etc: Even though it's summer here, it looks like everyone else is winter! So I don't mind wintry things. Or summery things! Basically, anything goes! I like purple and cyan, and shiny things. but anything is great. Red is a nice festive colour

Wishlist: http://www.vintagelpsforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=5339

Allergies/dietary requirements: Vegetarian (most soft candy has gelatine in it, which is from animals)

Other collections: Sylvanian families http://www.vintagelpsforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=5769

Interests: science (all types), entomology, gardening, age of empires, nature, board games, oh and of course animals!

Favorites: Animals: I like pangolins, praying mantises, geckos, finches, possums, foxes, small furry mammals, kittens, well actually any baby animals! oh oh and peacock jumping spiders! It would actually be quicker to list the animals I don't like: mole rats, and ... um ... flesh eating parasites I guess?
I also like: tiny things! Tiny anything really. Miniature versions of things. I like activities, kits, making things.

Candy preferences: CHOCOLATE! caramel, coconut

Other: I'd love to receive a custom! I'd also love to have anything unique to your area, or anything handmade by you. I like surprises!

[Waylah]

*bump*
Final call, people!

[jeapos88]

Here's mine, I almost forgot

International Shipping:Yes

Holiday: None

Season: Winter, I love snow/ice, snowflakes, snowmen.

Themes, colours etc: I like tropical, blues, greens, purple.

Wishlist: viewtopic.php?f=44&t=5186

Allergies/dietary requirements: I can't have gluten

Other collections: Books, American girl (just the original 5 characters) sea turtles, quints. I have lists of the quints and AG items I need.

Interests: I like tropical. I'm a nerd so star trek TNG, stargate, farscape, lord of the rings/the hobbit. Photography especially black and white

Favorites: I like cats big or small, sea turtles, crafts, jewelry, Polar bears.

Candy preferences: i'm not big on plain chocolate, gummy or sour candies.But don't limit yourself to candy, if there is a food local to your area, I'm game.

Other example: I love customs! I have a small collection of custom MLP, so don't limit yourself to LPS. I love handmade things. things local to your area, i love to try new things.

[Waylah]

Hi all! If you haven't done so already, please pm me your postal address.

[katgyrl]

Double checked to make sure I sent you mine! Excited to find out my partner!!

[Waylah]

Swap partners assigned!

[katgyrl]

Got my partner! (for some reason I didn't get an email like usual telling me I had a message :s ) I'm excited to start putting together a box!

[katgyrl]

Found some extras that are in my partner's list of interests! I think I'm going to theme my whole box around these.

[katgyrl]

The shipping deadline is coming soon!! Yikes! How does everyone's box look?

[jeapos88]

I still need to get some things for my box

[twincheckers]

Got a few anchor pieces for the box already... need to squeeze in some shopping tomorrow for some little stuff.

I *may* be a couple days late shipping out... I bought something on Ebay and the estimated delivery date has changed to the day of the shipping deadline.

[katgyrl]

I just PM'd you Waylah, but I'm going to be a tad bit late too. My city had some super major flooding happening and we got turned into an island for a bit, plus I spent the day getting things up higher and out of water, and freaking out in general. I do have my box ready now though and will be posting a teaser pic soon!

[twincheckers]

Shipped today.... Teaser pics!

[twincheckers]

Got home from shipping my partner's box today and found a box on my porch. Saw it was from Australia and thought to myself "What in the world did I buy from Australia?" Then I looked at it and realized it was my swap box!!

Thank you, Waylah! I love everything! My fiance and I have already started to devour the candy (and we both agree that the design on the Australia nerds box is better than the American version). Also, I may sleep with the Millennium Falcon tonight.

[TequilaMockingbird]

So excited! Teaser pic...

I just love Snoopy and Woodstock

[katgyrl]

Oh my goodness Waylah that swap box you made is awesome! Congrats twincheckers!! This is a good year for Star Wars, my hubby's stocking will be filled with that stuff too!

I mailed my box yesterday! I took teaser pics but haven't had a chance to upload them! Both my daughters had birthday parties this week and between that and the flooding I feel like I haven't had a second to myself! I'll try to post my teaser before my partner gets their box

[jeapos88]

I got my box already from katgyrl. I love it, thanks so much! I especially love the mug, its perfect for me

[jeapos88]

And I mailed my box out on sat. Here's a teaser

[katgyrl]

I'm glad you like your box Jeapos! I'm sorry I wasn't able to get any LPS for you! I really wanted to make you a winter custom but I way overbooked myself this year! I hope you like the goodies I put in there. I can't remember if I said that the almond rocca are one of my favorite holiday treats and are made close by in Tacoma!

[chambychick]

My box arrived last night from Joey aka TequilaMockingbird! I was so so surprised and beyond spoiled!!! After not actively collecting LPS for about a year, it was so exciting to get so many set completers I have needed! I love everything! I haven't had PEZ in ages, so that was opened pretty quick! I also was so delighted to find the Charmkins Paper Doll book! I love collecting those, and I've been eyeing this for ages!
My favorite part of the box has to the Japanese LPS Pets! I've been hoping to find some for years, so this was such an amazing surprise!
I also LOVE the salt and pepper shakers! They will be full soon and on my kitchen table, next to my fox cookie jar. Thank you so so much Joey!!! This was an amazing box!!!



Close-up of the Kitties, they're so cute!!

*cough* My poor partners box is going out soon, I have a big dislike for an ebay seller right now