Trying my hand at Holiday Gift Exchanges

The internet is a wonderful place full of crazy humans. I'm on a quest to find the crazy humans that are like me, so I decided to do some internet gift exchanges this year. I was kind of nervous about the whole process, because I've found people tend to not follow through on internet promises. When I was in college I signed up for Postcrossing, which is a site where you get and send postcards. I got back 6 out of 7 sent, which is pretty good, but it often takes months for you to get one back.

With that in mind I still signed up for three exchanges:


1.) Craftster Harry Potter Holiday - If you craft nerdy wonderful things and don't use craftster, I suggest you take a look-see. There is so much on there, and artists are normally very happy to share how to do things. I joined this one after seeing it last year and missing the sign up. To me it was the most nerve wracking because the group is small, and the other crafters have mostly all done the exchange before. I decided to make a little extra to make up for my inexperience and ended up sending some ornaments. These are the photos I got from the user I had as my recipient:

I was so relieved she liked them and I can't wait to do more exchanges. I got some wonderful ornaments back from my exchange:

2.) HRC Secret Santa - If you know me at all, you know I can't and won't run. It just can't happen. BUT, when you incentivize me to walk briskly for a Harry Potter themed medal I'll walk to Cali. So that's how I joined the Hogwarts Running Club (Check them out on Facebook). I asked if anyone wanted to do a Harry Potter swap and there was a lot of interest, and another Gryffindor set it all up. Super cool, and all I have to do is send someone some cool Harry Potter stuff.  I ended up sending this cool Wizarding world pin, because my match is a Gryffindor who collects pins! The ebay seller even wrapped and stamped it! So nice! (If you need any Universal things check out this ebay)

I got a gift back which made me so happy, and especially because it was something I was debating buying for myself. Check out this beautiful planner! Check it out on etsy here

3.) Reddit Secret Santa - The Reddit Secret Santa is kind of famous for the people that go above and beyond and send epic presents to those they're paired up with. The gift limit is $20 so I figured why not. I got kind of a weird person selected for me and I really didn't know what to send. The person listed their whole family and what they wanted to Christmas which kind of threw me off. For $20 what was I supposed to do? On Reddit you can also see if your Secret Santa has pulled your name and information yet, and mine never did. So knowing no one was going to send me something in exchange was kind of sad, but I decided I didn't want to be that person for someone else. I ended up sending a Haunted Oregon book because they said they're really into paranormal stuff, and some candy for the family and kids.

I'm glad they got it and seemed to like it.  If I get anything in exchange Ill be sure to update this post and show you all! I was "re-matched" and my re-matcher said it wouldn't be here for Christmas, but still no dice on any gift.

Does anyone else have any places they internet exchange? Did it work out for you?



Till next time,
- Maggie