Tuesday 7 January 2014

Secret Santa 2013 Round Up

Secret Santa Handmade Swap 2013

I want to take this opportunity to thank each and everyone of the amazing Secret Santas who actively took part in the 2013 event. You have all had to be extremely patient and forgiving, so thank you all for being such wonderful individuals.

I would have loved to start this Round up post off by saying only how jolly and smoothly this Secret Santa Swap went, but instead I will have to start this post off with this: (Warning - Venting Ahead!)

What is up with our Postal system?

All parcels were sent out on the 22nd November giving them a good month to reach their global destinations.

In this year's event we had two returned parcels and hold on to your seats - some people are still wondering where their parcels are!

We have one parcel that when tracked on Saturday, yes this past Saturday, says it is in Transit - And this parcel was going to the same country!

What a frustrating time this has been for all involved.

Not only did the postal service give us a no show, but this year I also unfortunately had a partner who apparently only took part in this Swap to receive and that is it (even though all Secret Santas had to give me their word that in taking part in this event they would definitely send something to their partner :( ). 

In 2013, to make things interesting, each Secret Santa had a different recipient of their gifts other than the person who sent a gift to them. This meant that my partner's Secret Santa Recipient (Anne-Pia) was ultimately left with no gift and after continually trying to contact Marit, I decided to send Anne-Pia a gift myself, it is just a pity I didn't have more time to make her gift more special :(.

If you are reading this Marit, I would love for you to contact me and let me know what happened.

Okay, the venting is done and out of the way, sorry it had to come out, I have aged considerably since the middle of December, not one of my finest moments I must admit.

Let us now focus on the wondrous gifts received all-round thus far :)

I sent Marit this Pewter embossed book:

pewter embossed book

And I received this gorgeous parcel from Thuri

secret santa gift 1

Thuri in return received this super cute gift from Sara

secret santa gift 2

Sara in return received this awesome cowl/scarf from Katharina

secret santa gift 3

Katharina in return received this wonderfully packed gift from Carrie

secret santa gift 4

Carrie received this amazing box filled with goodies from Anne-Pia:


Anne-Pia's partner was Marit :( So she received this substitute gift from me:

secret santa gift 5

Millie received this great parcel from Jasmin:


Jasmin received this amazing package from Tina:

secret santa gift 7

Tina is still awaiting her parcel from Regula as it was returned to sender and is now still trying to find it's way back to Italy. As soon as she has received it I will share her amazing gift.

Regula received this cool parcel from Kayleen:

secret santa gift 8

Kayleen is also still waiting for her gift from Sarah as it has also been returned to sender with half the contents missing :( As soon as she receives her gift I will be sure to share it with you too.

Sarah is unfortunately also still waiting for her gift from Karen. Her gift is the one in transit (Transit must be somewhere close to Timbuktu, otherwise this remains unexplained) As soon as her gift is found and back on the way to it's rightful owner I will be sure to share this with you too :)

And last but not least, Karen received this lovely gift from Millie

secret santa gift 9

What wonderful gifts made with love and care, handmade is such a unique and awesome thing to behold.
Thank you ladies for all your efforts. Each one of these gifts are gorgeous.
Thanks again to all who took part this year.

I wish each of you a fabulous 2014, may you be blessed with love, happiness and good health.

x

custom canning labels

9 comments:

  1. Wow, I love seeing what every body sent! I'm sorry it ended up so much trouble but it was much fun. I hope we do it again next year! Thanks for hosting, Natalie.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Ladies,
      It is always so worth it if everyone enjoyed the whole process.
      I am glad you had fun :) Thanks so much for taking part.
      x

      Delete
  2. I wanted to join in for 2013 but just didn't have time for extra knitting... I hope I can find time this upcoming Christmas to join in. Those gifts are beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Christine,
      They are such amazing gifts aren't they :)
      Thanks so much for visiting.
      x

      Delete
  3. I'm truly sorry that my parcel is still on its way. I sent it on the 23 December, which makes it two weeks. Thank you for organizing Secret Santa 2013.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Regula,
      That is not your fault :) I am sure it will get there in good time. Thanks so much for taking part.
      x

      Delete
  4. It was sad to me that during a holiday which is partially about giving, I kept receiving emails that were unpleasant in nature about people not sending parcels. It definitely took away from the pleasure of the swap. I have been in other swaps that are "participate at your own risk". It's unfair but there are always people who don't follow through with their agreement. It shouldn't be up to the swap host to chase people down. Swap at your own risk. Definitely left as our taste in my mouth and may not end up participating again.... You did all you could

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Sara,
      I am sorry that I had to bother you with the chasing :)
      I can totally feel and understand where you are coming from too and to be quite honest I am not sure that I will host it again either - well definitely not in this form! I have been thinking how I could do it differently and I have come up with a plan that will bring the essence of the festive season to the forefront and there won't be too much giving, taking, sending and receiving. We will see closer to the end of the year.

      Thank you once again for taking part, I truly appreciate your input :)
      x

      Delete
  5. Happy new year to you too Natalie, and thank you so much for all your hard work. It was my first time paricipating I am not sure I will participate again this year, we will see. I´m so sorry for everyone who hasn´t received their gifts yet. I never got an answear from you Sara, just this one email after Natalie sent you one. It took forever but finally came and made it just in time for christmas. I was a bit disapointed since it had all the colours on my "dislike" list, but since it was all together and made a pretty patchwork rug it wasn´t so bad. I never before knew what a mug rug was untill now. I wish everyone a happy new craft year and keep up the good work, may the lost ones find their way home asap. xx Thuri

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for visiting my site and leaving a comment, I really appreciate each and every one.
I will reply to each of your comments, sometimes it does take a while to get around to all of them, but I will reply within 24 hours of you posting. :)

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