Hey everyone! How about a forum Secret Santa?
I really love the company we have here, and thought it would be cool to celebrate together in this way
The plan is like this:
we now have @santa on the forum! Everyone who wants to participate should send their address to him till the end of November. Please don’t forget to include your full name and your zip code!
Santa will appreciate if you drop a line about things you like or collect, your hobbies and interests. If you don’t like specific things, it is also worth mentioning
in the beginning of December @santa will tell you who you are sending the gift to, their address and preferences
choose the gift and send it - voilĂ ! International mail can take quite some time, so better send it sooner than later
For those who find it hard to choose a gift - here are some ideas:
Christmassy stuff - decorations, candles, candy and other sweet little things to light up the winter
local specialties - food, drinks, crafts you hardly find in other places
something travel-related: handy tools, souvenirs from your trips, maybe even a letter with tips and recommendations
something handmade
something with a story
Feel free to share other gift ideas in the topic, I’ll be updating the post
I was thinking, everybody interested texts their addresses to me till, say, the end of October. After that, I distribute the names randomly and tell who you are preparing the present for. Pretty much it) International mail will take about a month in general, I guess, so that’ll leave us almost another month to pick a present and send it.
As for choosing presents, those who have any preferences can send them along with the address Like, “I collect coins and don’t eat chocolate”. But anyway, I didn’t mean anything big, more like a sweet souvenir - local candy, tree ornaments, candles, cards, that kind of stuff. I don’t think you can go wrong with it
Should we make it a bit thematic about this network of travellers? Just a christmas postcard or letter with a secret travel tip? Someplace you should visit next year?
I suggest submitting a little blurb about each person’s hobbies and interests so that the person sending the gift can choose to personalize it more. That would lead to more meaningful and appreciated gifts put to good use.
But the recipient should try to keep themselves anonymous and unconnected from their Couchers profile for safety reasons.
You are thinking much bigger than I am I meant it to be for the forum only. We have a warm company here, so I wanted to kinda celebrate with you all that way Wouldn’t be so enthusiastic for the whole app… Actually, wouldn’t be very eager to share my address with the whole app either.
As for the topic - you think, we need a separate one? I can edit the start post here.
As you prefer! I just like the idea of the dedicated user receiving and sharing the addresses. So we can easily remove all the private data by retiring the santa account afterwards.
I would to be part of this(!), but I am going through the whole selling home/finding next home process. So in-other-words, I don’t know what my address will be in December and probably won’t know by the end of this month.
But I would definitely be down for sending a gift to someone or two or a few!!!
(we’re downsizing - house to condo - so can afford to send a few ;^)
If people have filled out their profiles with lists of hobbies & interests, it definitely makes it easier to send personalized gifts.
(Please fill out your profiles, people!)
But at the very least we know that we all share a for Travel and meeting new people and experiencing other cultures.
This sort of reminds me of Postcrossing which is a site that has a system that people send surprise postcards to people around the world (though you can arrange “private swaps” with people too).
If anyone wants a postcard from Vancouver . Just send me a pm!
Maybe you could go with an address of a friend who’ll pass the gift to you? I don’t mind randomly picking smb lucky so you can send an extra gift to them, but isn’t it better to receive one too?)
Also, I guess it’s a question for everyone to decide - can I give addresses to people who haven’t left theirs, so they can send extra gifts? And maybe there will be smb who left their address, but wants to send extra gifts - to random people or to smb particular. What about that?
- here are some ideas:
If it seems easy enough I could get on board!!
Like, “I collect coins and don’t eat chocolate”. But anyway, I didn’t mean anything big, more like a sweet souvenir - local candy, tree ornaments, candles, cards, that kind of stuff. I don’t think you can go wrong with it 
You’d want to write up a topic in the name of santa 
I meant it to be for the forum only. We have a warm company here, so I wanted to kinda celebrate with you all that way 
Wouldn’t be so enthusiastic for the whole app… Actually, wouldn’t be very eager to share my address with the whole app either.
to be part of this(!), but I am going through the whole selling home/finding next home process. So in-other-words, I don’t know what my address will be in December and probably won’t know by the end of this month.
for 
Travel 
and meeting new people and experiencing other cultures.
from Vancouver 
. Just send me a pm!