G&T Secret Santa 2012: He'll be back again some day.

Hypatia

Sign-ups are now CLOSED!

What is this?

It's pretty much Secret Santa, except with partial strangers.

You sign up, you buy a forumer a gift, you get a gift, you post your gift on the thread, we all experience the joy that comes from getting gifts from strangers that are probably better than the gifts your own family gets you.


How do I sign up?
Sign-ups are now CLOSED

What now?

(1) Find your name in the spoilered list below. If it is not there, then we have a problem! PM me as soon as you can!
(2) Wait for a PM from me providing your Santee's information. If you do not receive one by 11/1 at the latest, then (again) we have a problem! PM me as soon as you can!
(3) Forum stalk your Santee! Do not ACTUALLY stalk him! This is as far as I know illegal and I will testify against you in a court of law.
(4) Buy your Santee a present! The goal here is to make your Santee as happy as possible! Challenge yourself to find out what s/he likes and send an appropriate gift of happiness (minimum $25, this minimum does not include shipping)! *There is no maximum spending limit*
(5) Ship your present to your Santee! Double, triple and quadruple check the address, and make sure your package has a return address! The deadline for shipping the gift is December 31, 2012! If you are shipping your gift close to this date, make sure that you get a tracking number and a receipt that says you sent it or you have no proof and we have no choice but to assume you are a deadbeat!
(6) Receive a gift from your very own Santa!
(7) PM ME WHEN YOU HAVE RECEIVED YOUR GIFT
(8) Post pictures of your haul! The more pictures, the better! See previous years on the gift wall for examples of good picture posts! getdropbox.com, imageshack.us, photobucket.com, and flickr.com all provide free picture hosting so you have no excuse THIS IS NOT OPTIONAL

Shipping Tips

HOLY SHIT I GOT SOMEONE FROM A DIFFERENT COUNTRY

ZackSchilling wrote: »

There should be a section in the OP called:

Q: How I ship outside US of A
A: United States Postal Service (USPS)

Really, it's the best if you're looking to not pay $60 for shipping. The proper customs forms are on the website, the post office has the proper plastic window guys to put the forms on the boxes. The package will get there and you won't have to sell your organs.

liquidlogan wrote: »

By the way, if you are sending a gift from the US to another country, if you mark on the package that it is a "gift," your receiver avoids paying taxes on stuff when it arrives. This is the case for a lot of the stuff that I have bought from Asia. Nothing is more annoying than having to pay for your gift.

These people speak truth! (and thanks to whomever else provided this info) Be sure and use USPS and be sure and MARK IT AS A GIFT!

Can I ship something straight from Amazon or something?
Yes you can, and it's a good idea to shop at the Santee's home country's Amazon site (www.amazon.ca for instance) if you want to save a bit on shipping. Be sure and provide a note upon checkout saying who you are, though!

BE SURE AND SHIP WELL IN ADVANCE
Get your act together NOW and try and ship your stuff by Dec 10th or so to make sure it arrives before the crazy Christmas rush that always happens at the latter half of December.

Shopping Tips
Not sure if you're getting something in the right size? Need to warn your Santee to expect something? Getting anxious about whether or not they received their stuff? Use a proxy to contact your Santee! You can PM Proxy the Elf or Hypatia to pass along messages. Please include who the message is for and the exact message you'd like to have passed on (it will probably be copied and pasted) and we will copy and paste the reply back to you. Please note: some people have specifically requested that you use one or the other of us, if such a request has been made that information will be included in your assignment.

Interesting Shops:
www.thinkgeek.com - general geeky stuff. Shipping can be high so be sure and shop around. Google for discount coupons.
www.play-asia.com - junk from Japan. Nearly everyone likes the little toys they have. Google for discount coupons.
www.buy.com - one of the best places to get used games, books and DVDs.
www.coolstuffinc.com - for heavily discounted board or card games.
www.bigbadtoystore.com - the absolute best place to get action figures.

Things to Note:
360 points are not cross-country compatible.
Most consoles are region restricted. The Nintendo DS is a notable exception to this, though.
If you need someone to contact your Santee for you to pass on a message or to ask questions, you can PM Proxy the Elf or Hypatia.

Stalking / General Shopping Help:
If your Santee has a unique forum handle, be sure and Google it. You never know where else s/he might post.
Keep an eye on the systems he owns if you're thinking of buying a game.
If your Santee has a PS3, don't forget it can play Blu-Ray movies.
If your Santee has a XBox Gamer ID, it's not hard to figure out what games he has / likes.
Be creative! We have lives other than video games! Is your Santee taking up an instrument? Does he want to start painting? Does he like tabletop games? Does he seem to like cars? This is your chance to get an interesting gift they hadn't thought of, yet!
Does your Santee have a favorite game, ever? Consider something related to that! Toys, old complete copies, art books, etc. are always fun.
Do you have something in your city / state / country that your Santee doesn't have access to?
Interesting candies, foods, posters / prints, and other various knick-knacks make for good box-stuffers.
If your Santee has a unique name, you never know what you'll find out by Googling him or her! They might have a twitter account or something!

Steam Gifting FAQ! by AaronKI

Q) How does sending a gift by e-mail work?
A) The e-mail that Steam sends contains a button with an activation URL. (the one that says "Yes, I have Steam" in the first picture below)

A snippet of the e-mail that steam sends.

A screenshot of the window that pops up in steam after the activation URL is opened. If the recipient clicks "Accept", they're given the option to either add it to their library or add it to their inventory.

Q) So.. if the e-mail just contains a URL, can I e-mail the gift to myself, copy the URL, and send it to my Santee another way?
A) Absolutely. You can send the URL via proxy or even send it in the mail. Just be aware of the possibility that your Santee might buy the game in a sale before they get the URL!

Q) Does my Santee need a Steam account to receive a Steam gift?
A) Nope! If they click the "No, I do not have Steam" button it will send them to a registration form.

Q) Do I need to e-mail the gift to the same address that my Santee's Steam account was created with?
A) Nope!

Q) Will sending a Steam gift reveal my identity?
A) Yes. Your Santee will see your Steam community name and the e-mail address that your account was registered with. Even if your change your community profile name, they can look at the previous names you've used.

Q) How can I send a Steam gift anonymously?
A) The only way to do this is to register a brand new Steam account with an e-mail address that can't be traced back to you. Remember to remove your credit card info before you let the account rot! To do this, go to the Account tab in the settings and click "view account history."

Q) Help! The e-mail with the activation code has gone missing! And/or my Santee already owns the game I gifted!
A) Open your Steam Inventory (Games > Manage Gifts and Guest Passes). You can re-send the gift from there. If they already own the game you sent, you can send it to someone else or keep it for yourself.

Veteran Info

If this is not your first rodeo, things to note that have changed:
- Minimum for gifting is $25, this does not include shipping.
- If you did not post pictures/a post in the thread last year, you are going to have to explain to me what you are going to do differently this year about posting when you receive a gift. It is not ok to let someone down after they've gone through the trouble of gifting you.
- If you are concerned at all about shipping your gift and it not getting there or you ship your gift on or after December 20, GET A RECEIPT AND/OR A TRACKING NUMBER AND KEEP THEM!! If you do not have any proof that you have shipped your gift, I do not have any way to know if you are a deadbeat. If you are a deadbeat and we have no proof otherwise, I cannot keep you from being banned.



Keeping Track of the Joy!

This year's gift wall (To be posted)
Twitter feed to get up to the date info on who's getting added to the gift wall


Past Highlights

Last year's thread
Last year's gift wall (2011)
Gift Wall from 2010
Gift wall from 2009
Gift wall from 2008

Confirmed Participants!
Total: 136

12gauge
AaronKI
AbsoluteZero
acidlacedpenguin
Ah_Pook
Aioua
Allforce
Anarchy
Angel177
anoffday
ArcSyn
ArcticLancer
Arikado
Asiina
Bear is Driving
belligerent
Big Isy
Blackbeard7
BradicusMaximus
Bursar
Cambiata
Cameron_Talley
cardboard delusions
Chen
chocobolicious
cloudeagle
CoJoeTheLawyer
cooljammer00
cj iwakura
Cornell002
crucialityfactor
Custom Special
Dac Vin
Dark Raven X
darleysam
darunia106
deveric
DiannaoChong
Draysoth
Dunxco
Dyvion
Elin
elkatas
Elvenshae
Entriech
EvilBadman
Fig-D
Figgy
Forar
FreeBryd!
freelancepolice
Frem
Goose!
grim123
Grove
Gutterkisser
Handgimp
Handkor
harvest
Hearthjaw
Hypatia
Icemopper
iMatt
Imperfect
initiatefailure
Iruka
Jam Warrior
jclast
jeddy lee
JHunz
Judge-Z
Kendrik
Ketar
Kias
Kirbith
Kitsunekari
Kyougu
LewieP's Mummy
Lewisham
Lindsey Lohan
Lord Yod
LoveisUnity
Mace1370
Madpoet
ManetherenWolf
Maz-
Mechanical
mere_immortal
Mighty
minor incident
Mint
Mr_Grinch
mxmarks
Nackmatholn
never-ending-reign
Niceguyeddie616
Nitsua
noir_blood
parabola
Peewi
Pemulis
Prime
Radiation
redfield85
RisenPhoenix
Robert Khoo
Rorus Raz
S-Starwind
Schide
see317
shadowane
Shadowfire
Shady3011
SirUltimos
SkyTurnsRed
SniperGuy
spookymuffin
strebalicious
SwashbucklerXX
Sweeney Tom
TeeMan
testsubject23
The Mantiz
The_Spaniard
thejaxx
THEPAIN73
TheRoadVirus
Turkey
Two Headed Boy
UEAKCrash
UnbreakableVow
urahonky
vegeta_666
Willeth
WraithXt1

AaronKI

Due to some changes on Steam that happened late last December, I think my Steam Gifting FAQ in the OP is no longer accurate.

Also: Hooray! Secret Santa.

vegeta_666

Yes Secret Santa! This shall be my 4th one! I am quite excited.

SirUltimos

This is what, my fourth or fifth year now? I'm down like a clown. Charlie Brown.

see317

Yay secret santa.
Boo bad timing on trying to sell my house.

I'll need to get my parent's address, use their house for this.

UEAKCrash

Yaaaay. I was just wondering when this was going to pop up.

UnbreakableVow

PM sent!

I had to skip last year due to financial hard times

Not so this year!

Local H Jay

I always want to take part but I know if I do I'll suddenly be unemployed or go into a coma or something. I'd hate to be that guy who fucks someone over

AaronKI

Local H Jay wrote: »

I always want to take part but I know if I do I'll suddenly be unemployed or go into a coma or something. I'd hate to be that guy who fucks someone over

Coming from someone who's prone to irrational worries, it's nowhere near as scary as it may seem when you're thinking about doing it for the first time. It's really worth it to take the holly jolly plunge!

Plus I think deadbeats are mostly a product of indifference and negligence rather than circumstance.

Cornell002

YES! I think this will be my fifth year running. Usually one of the highlights of my holiday

UnbreakableVow

Local H Jay wrote: »

I always want to take part but I know if I do I'll suddenly be unemployed or go into a coma or something. I'd hate to be that guy who fucks someone over

Do ittttttt

Angel177

Local H Jay wrote: »

I always want to take part but I know if I do I'll suddenly be unemployed or go into a coma or something. I'd hate to be that guy who fucks someone over

I did it when I was unemployed....Do Itttttttt

cooljammer00

I did it last year for the first time and it was pretty fun. Of course, my Santee promptly disappeared forever. Santa's cool though.

Local H Jay

I'll probably sign up once I'm sure I can deliver, I've been enviously reading these threads for years

Dawasaurus

I am undecided on participating this time; but if I do, it'll be my third year. :O
Will lurk the thread, either way. I never even took off my santa hat.

strebalicious

Sent the PM, couldn't think of what advice or precautions to give, but now I just remembered what I should have said.

Even though I live in Japan, all my accounts (Steam, Xbox Live, PSN) are US region accounts. Just something to consider.

ArcSyn

Oh yeah! This is going to be awesome!

Dark Raven X

This seems early, but a'ight! I'm in! Felt too new last year, but I guess I've been here long enough now. :P

anoffday

Yeah! Secret Santa! I wasn't expecting sign ups to start for like another month, but this made my day. I'm in. I think this is my fourth year now.

TheOtherHorseman

I have been exceedingly foolish with my money this year, and doing Secret Santa would not be advisable. Luckily, though, I am on record as being exceedingly foolish with my money this year, and will therefore almost certainly sign up again.

Handgimp

Hmm, for the first time in years I'm actually available to do this. Sweet!

SkyTurnsRed

Year two. Cannot wait. Last year's was a blast.

astronautcowboy3

Do you try to match Santas and Santees by country of residence? Or is it purely random?

anoffday

I think it's random. I've done it 3 times and the first 2 times I had santas from other countries.

cj iwakura

Yep, my first out of country target was last year. That was interesting.

And I'm in.

TheOtherHorseman

One of these days, I'll get somebody that lives relatively near to me, and someone get a case of home-made wine with a bow on it ding-dong ditched at their doorstep.

Anarchy

Whoop! Can't wait to take part. Fourth year running!

Dunxco

I felt the calling to check the forums for Secret Santa. And it answered.

LET'S GO THIRD YEAR WHOOP WHOOP I'm so in.

Athenor

Man. I love these threads.. but ever since I got burned by not receiving anything my only year doing it (back in 04 or 05?), I've been wary to throw my hat in the ring..

On the other hand, I actually make enough income that I can get something decent..

Choices...

mere_immortal

Oh man it's getting to that time of the year already.

Signed up!

ArcSyn

Its so funny, usually people are itching for sign-UPS to open, now this is too early?

Waiting for the obligatory, "When do we get our santees?!" post.

I'm not sure how many times I've done this. 4-5? Look forward to it every year. Last year was my first international, ordering online in foreign currency was odd, but not bad.

Angel177

Athenor wrote: »

Man. I love these threads.. but ever since I got burned by not receiving anything my only year doing it (back in 04 or 05?), I've been wary to throw my hat in the ring..

On the other hand, I actually make enough income that I can get something decent..

Choices...

Do Ittttttt... the number of deadbeats has dropped significantly in past years.

Grove

I did this the past two years, but I'm hesitant to do it again. The first year was fantastic, but last year was a real letdown. I know it's about giving, and while I was happy to gift Skyrim to my Santee which was awesome, I was given an intentionally terrible gift, designed to disappoint.

Granted we can all get terrible gifts or something we don't like which is fine and I wouldn't be upset about it, but gifting someone something intentionally bad is just pathetic. I literally threw it away as soon as I got it.

I don't know, I think I'm gonna chew it over for a week or two.

I enjoy the participation. The stalking, the gifting, THEN the anticipation of knowing you yourself are a santee. It's cool the way people get creative or dialed in to what you like. That's what makes it worth it to me. Otherwise I'd just as soon give the $60 to a friend in real life.

Shadowfire

Handgimp wrote: »

Hmm, for the first time in years I'm actually available to do this. Sweet!

Same here. Income has been shoddy the last few years, and last year I was going to but we were in the middle of a move.

This year? On board!

urahonky

I'm in!

Sterica

Sign me up.

AbsoluteZero

If my next paycheck turns out good then I'm in like flint.

Cornell002

Grove wrote: »

I did this the past two years, but I'm hesitant to do it again. The first year was fantastic, but last year was a real letdown. I know it's about giving, and while I was happy to gift Skyrim to my Santee which was awesome, I was given an intentionally terrible gift, designed to disappoint.

Granted we can all get terrible gifts or something we don't like which is fine and I wouldn't be upset about it, but gifting someone something intentionally bad is just pathetic. I literally threw it away as soon as I got it.

I don't know, I think I'm gonna chew it over for a week or two.

I enjoy the participation. The stalking, the gifting, THEN the anticipation of knowing you yourself are a santee. It's cool the way people get creative or dialed in to what you like. That's what makes it worth it to me. Otherwise I'd just as soon give the $60 to a friend in real life.

What in the world did you get

ArcSyn

Grove wrote: »

I did this the past two years, but I'm hesitant to do it again. The first year was fantastic, but last year was a real letdown. I know it's about giving, and while I was happy to gift Skyrim to my Santee which was awesome, I was given an intentionally terrible gift, designed to disappoint.

Granted we can all get terrible gifts or something we don't like which is fine and I wouldn't be upset about it, but gifting someone something intentionally bad is just pathetic. I literally threw it away as soon as I got it.

I don't know, I think I'm gonna chew it over for a week or two.

I enjoy the participation. The stalking, the gifting, THEN the anticipation of knowing you yourself are a santee. It's cool the way people get creative or dialed in to what you like. That's what makes it worth it to me. Otherwise I'd just as soon give the $60 to a friend in real life.

Uh oh... by Hypatia_PA, on Flickr

Santa was Rorus Raz.

AaronKI

Oh, bummer. Some changes to the way the forum displays URLs broke all of the past gift wall links. Good thing the flickr page exists!

cj iwakura

Boy, you don't know what a bad gift is. My first year someone sent me some burnt CDs and a package of candy.

I found the experience kind of surreal. Someone at CF made up for it in spades, so I never minded.


I've come to enjoy the gift/stalking more. Getting stuff is bonus.