Secret Santa 2015 - Santas are Giving Their Thanks!

[Secret Santa]

Ho ho ho! Santa is well rested and ready to spread cheer and joy to the good little boys and girls of the Digital Press forum! Now that all that summertime business is behind us, let's have a little merriment. It's Santa's prime-time after all, and he needs to stay in shape for gift-giving this winter!

Finished Dates
November 27th: Volunteer by the end of this day to participate in the giving and receiving of Secret Santa presents.
November 27th: Send PM's by the end of this day to Santa with your mailing address and wish-list. (Remember, non-game things are fine for your wish-list too!)
November 28th or 29th: Santa will match up everyone and send out your wish-lists to each other.
December 9th: Due date to send your presents ~internationally~.
December 16th: Due date to send your presents -nationally-.
December 25th - 31st: Christmas Day! (Open your presents and post about what you got in this thread.)
December 27th - 31st: Reveal for whom you were the Secret Santa.
Rules
Your wish-list can have as many items on it as you want.
You can list things on your wish-list that have nothing to do with videogames.
You can list things on your wish-list that do have to do with videogames.
Each item should have a maximal price of no more than about $20 USD.
There is no minimal price on wish-list items. Make them as inexpensive as you please!
Givers should send at least about $20 worth of presents from their recipient's wish-list.
There is no maximal number of gifts or a maximal total price on what you send to your recipients. Please be as generous as you would like!
If you want to send presents to a Secret Santa, but you don't want anything for yourself, just ask that your gift be a donation to a charity instead.
For an example wishlist, let's say someone lists a $4 item, a $1 item, two $5 items, and one $6 item, you could send all of those as a set. ($4 + $1 + $5 + $5 + $6 = $21)

Gift-Giving Volunteers
Aussie2B
Emperor Megas
Niku-Sama
thetoxicone
xfrumx
Ho ho ho!

[Niku-Sama]

I was about to ask about this.

i'm in and i'll be thinking about what to ask for

[Aussie2B]

I'm down as always. :) But how do you want us to volunteer? Is posting in this thread good enough, or should we be sending PMs?

[Secret Santa]

But how do you want us to volunteer? Is posting in this thread good enough, or should we be sending PMs?

All Santa asks is that you make your intentions clear in this thread. A simple post stating, "Me too!" is good enough for good ol' St. Nick!

But remember, you'll also need to eventually send a PM to Santa with your wish-list and a current mailing address before the due date of November 24th.

[Emperor Megas]

I'd like to participate. ^_^

[Emperor Megas]

Will this be blind matched, or are we going to try to match people who are in the same country/region to keep shipping costs/time down?

[Secret Santa]

Will this be blind matched, or are we going to try to match people who are in the same country/region to keep shipping costs/time down?

Last time, we didn't have anyone outside of the U.S.A. so it wasn't a concern, and I imagine that will be the case again this time. But if we do get international Secret Santas, we'll need to make sure they get their gifts too. So if anyone is willing to ship internationally, please write so! Ho ho ho!

[Niku-Sama]

Need more peeps!
You get cool stuff!

[megasdkirby]

I don't think I can this time around, as I will be swamped with work and income will be a bit tight.

And besides I can't think of anything I am actually looking for, sans expensive amiibos.

Speaking of which, there were still folk who did not post on the Summer topic. Which was a bummer, since I wanted to see how everything went with everyone else. :(

[Niku-Sama]

I got an awesome tg16 game and Capcom stuff.

[Tanooki]

I'm tempted but with the wife's permanent health issues and lack of budget off my selling my own junk via ebay funds are tight. I'm considering it though, I'd be fairly easy between my gaming, related, and not related things I talk up.

[Niku-Sama]

I go off of what i already own so to me it's just shipping. There's not much in the way of games here except for thrifts but i can't count on them having it when i bed it for a gift so i just buy all i can

[xfrumx]

Been away for a few years, but i'm in. Perfer not to ship internationally.

[xfrumx]

It looks like there are like 4 signups. I did this break in 2011 and got some sweet stuff not on my list plus a few things that were, most notable a complete Raiden Trad for Genesis.

It was a blast and I don't get why note people aren't doing it, it's prefect for us classic collectors.

Was there a bad experience??

[Daria]

I'm personally not doing this year because funds are tight. But the forums are a lot quieter than where you were here last.

[bb_hood]

I did it over the summer and it was fun, but right now I cant afford it either.

[Tanooki]

I'd do it, if I had something currently on someones want list, but I can't afford to go and just pick up stuff right now. My 4 year old and such come first during the season.

[xfrumx]

I'm personally not doing this year because funds are tight. But the forums are a lot quieter than where you were here last.

True, it sucks so many people left. People here are more rational and fun than a lot of other places. Part of the reason I came back.

[Aussie2B]

Yeah, practically everybody who participated in the good old days doesn't come around anymore. I'd love to have a Secret Santa like those days again, back when we had, what, like 50+ people participating, but with the current state of the board, that ain't gonna happen. I don't think bad experiences are scaring anybody off. I think the most infamous cases were actually during the height of it, and tons still participated the following years. Plus the community always stepped up on the rare occasions when we had a bad apple, and they were kept from joining in following years. I'm hoping maybe some people have joined this year's via PM, or they're just dragging their feet until the deadline comes closer. I kinda feel like it's not even worth bothering if we can't get at least ten people, but so long as it's being held, I'll keep joining since it's always a blast.

[Dashopepper]

I've been a member of the forums for a couple years now and have never heard of this, sounds cool though. Do people usually go out and buy stuff or give things they already have?

[Aussie2B]

Depends on what you have and what your recipient wants. I believe it was started with the intention of people hopefully using stuff in their trade box, but not everybody holds on to stuff they don't want. I don't think there's ever been a year in which I didn't spend some money, but I always try to throw in some extra stuff I have on hand. Me, I always make a wide-open wish list, basically saying anything I don't already have is okay, which both makes for a fun surprise and also hopefully makes it easier on my Santa to get rid of dupes or unwanted games they may have instead of having to go shopping.

[Daria]

I've been a member of the forums for a couple years now and have never heard of this, sounds cool though. Do people usually go out and buy stuff or give things they already have?

Either, sometimes a bit of both. There's a mimumum dollar amount set and you receive a wishlist from your person.

[eskobar]

I always wanted to try the secret santa but I am in Mexico and that could be problematic for the person shipping to my country and possibly a delay of the package I ship to :)

[megasdkirby]

I did it over the summer and it was fun, but right now I cant afford it either.

Same here.

I would love to, just as I did in the summer. But things are tight economically, plus time is slim (thanks to work), so I will be unable to participate.

Perhaps next year, as I love participating!

[JSoup]

I never do Secret Santa's.
No special reason, just not interested.

[Tanooki]

Seems it's a money issue, perhaps we can modify it??

Everyone here more or less has some trade or sale games on here, elsewhere, perhaps ebay? Maybe we can do it like a business job holiday meal -- pot luck. Everyone can go in, and everyone can put some items of equal value more or less and no higher than X dollars in value total, and then people can trade bundles. It's no longer a secret santa, unless someone is the arbiter and keeps the names off the goodies until after if people wish to speak up. Then the worst of it by rule would be eating the shipping.

[Aussie2B]

I don't really see the point of that. You're still spending money on shipping and potentially on items if you don't have trade fodder, you're just less likely to receive something you actually want. Unless the list of goods is public, but then how is it much different from a regular trade? And even then, you'd be at the mercy of what people offer and what hasn't already been claimed when you get to it.

If you have to shop for everything you give, you still don't have to spend more than, say, $25. The suggestion is around 20 bucks worth of stuff at a minimum, and if you're not sending heavy stuff, a few bucks should cover shipping. People can and do spend/give more on occasion, but you certainly don't have to. Personally, I think it's reasonable enough, though I completely understand if people want to minimize their holiday expenses because things can definitely rack up if you're shopping for many different people.

[Niku-Sama]

we need a merger


http://forum.digitpress.com/forum/newreply.php?p=2032239&noquote=1

i'd be fine doing it in the summer, or Christmas or both and I usually pull from what I have

[Niku-Sama]

we need a merger...


http://forum.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?174253-Secret-Santa-2015-Sign-up-by-November-23rd

i'd be fine doing it in the summer, or Christmas or both and I usually pull from what I have

[thetoxicone]

I haven't been on this site in a year or so but I've done a few of these secret Santas here before and have plenty of goodies to give as gifts

[The 1 2 P]

I have never signed up for secret santa on an online forum but I would guess that the lack of participation here is due to the reasons already mentioned, specifically because this site isn't as frequented as much as it was 5-8 years ago. And secret santa isn't the only thing to suffer because of that. The monthly deals thread has been almost non-existent for over a year.

[Emperor Megas]

I've been here for years and I never recall there being a Secret Santa. Was it ways listed in Classic Gaming? It's pretty much the only forum I frequent here so if it's been in others I wouldn't have seen it.

FWIW, the only thing that makes me apprehensive about things like this is short notice and quick deadlines (the same with the Pumpkin Carving idea). I know allotted time given is probably plenty of time for others, but I honestly need LOTS of time if there's more of an investment than simply sending a gift. Like making wishlists for example. I have no idea what I would put on mine, and my free time is such that I rarely set aside mental time to even consider it.

I've done Secret Santa many times at another forum that's all but dead now, but we all new each other well enough that when we got the name of our recipient we had an alright idea of what they might like. I honestly don't know much about the members here, and there are only a few that I can put a personality to their handle, good or bad, which puts me at a loss.

[Aussie2B]

Pretty sure it's always been in Off-Topic, but there have been board announcements about it that show up at the top of every section like there is right now. There have been some years when it wasn't held, though, last Christmas being one of them (hence the summer exchange in its place).

Some years were super tight on time, but I'm glad that this year it's being done early enough to leave signups open for a while and a decent amount of time between receiving the wish lists and sending the stuff out. Since I always do some shopping, it's nice to have enough time for, say, an eBay auction to come to a close, get the stuff shipped to me, and then ship it to my recipient myself. I know some people have bought stuff and had it shipped directly to their recipient, but I like to make sure everything is okay, get everything combined, wrap it up, and all that jazz.

[Niku-Sama]

i'm going to leave my wishlist open to what ever, you can send me a friggin buffalo chip if need be as long as it gets participation

[Guntz]

My issue is I'm already part of two other Secret Santas and the DP one started too late. Chances are I'm not gonna enough from my stash to fill a wishlist. With such a short deadline, buying stuff online wouldn't be an option.

[Aussie2B]

Got my wish list sent off! :D C'mon, everybody, join the festivities while you still can!

[Niku-Sama]

I'll send my l my open wish list when i get home. Do we have enough?

[celerystalker]

I'd like to, but I'm having trouble even thinking of a wish list. It drives my wife crazy, but there isn't much of anything I can think of...

[alexzorg]

can i sign up?

[Secret Santa]

Ho ho ho! Santa's here, everyone.

Remember, Santa needs your wishlists and mailing addresses by Friday, November 27th. Send these to me as soon as you can! Make sure you've sent both your address and wishlist to Santa by then as a PM. Double-check your PM's sent messages folder if you aren't sure if you have already sent both, and if you still aren't certain, it is better to be safe than sorry: send them both again! Santa can handle duplicates better then he can handle missing messages!

I see that we've got quite a bit of discussion happening here. I'm glad to see we have some nice boys and girls who have already signed up! But I think we could use a few more. So I'm going to extend the deadline until the 27th for you to throw your Christmas cap into the ring and participate in our Secret Santa.

As for everyone that's concerned about not having enough ideas for your wishlist... don't be! Remember, the most important part of Secret Santa is participating and giving a nice gift to your recipient. That's the real meaning of Secret Santa: to spread the joy!

If you'd like to participate but can't think for what to ask, just do something simple like say:
I collect for these consoles, anything for them is fine.
This is what I already have, anything I don't have is OK to send.
I like these genres, please choose any one you'd like.
No games for me, thanks, but I like these kinds of movies.
I have enough games, but I really like gaming merchandise, so posters and figurines please.
Anything nice is fine, please send me whatever you wish.
No gift for me; please instead donate some nice items to a local charity or a needy family.
Please save your presents or a financial gift for Toys for Tots or another charity of your choice.
After all, you don't have to get to give, so just choose anything along the lines of these if you don't have something more specific in mind!

With all that said, Santa wants to remind everyone that if he doesn't get both your wishlist AND mailing address on time, you might not be able to participate, as once Santa matches up everyone and sends out your info to each other, that's that! So please, hurry with your PM's so we can all have a merry Christmas!

Santa's out for now, but I'll be back again soon. Joy, peace, and love to the world! Treat others as if they were your friends. :)

[xfrumx]

So excited for this can't wait to see the list of the person I'll be santa for!!!

[Secret Santa]

Niku, Santa still needs your mailing address and wishlist. Please hurry as sooner is better than later.


can i sign up?

Yes, you may. Please hurry, though! There isn't much time left! Friday is the last day for sign-ups, you know.

[Niku-Sama]

Apparently pm's over my phone don't work I'll get it to you later on today. In-laws are sleeping in the computer room.

Actually I'll try one more time on my phone but use the full version

Sorry guys

[Secret Santa]

Ho ho ho!

I have added Emperor Megas to our list of gift-givers. Counting him, that makes five!

If you haven't volunteered already, we still have room for you! You have until midnight tonight to get your name on Santa's list. Please send a PM to me, Santa, with your wishlist and mailing address and you'll be added!

Everyone who has already volunteered, expect a PM from Santa this weekend with information about your Secret Santa recipient including his wishlist and address. Be generous, have fun, stay safe, and have a good time compiling a Christmas care package for your recipient! Try to have your packages in the mail by December 16th so that your recipients can get their gifts in time for Christmas. :-)

[Secret Santa]

Ho ho ho! Away they go! Everyone's wishlist has been sent to his or her Secret Santa. If you had volunteered to be a Secret Santa, today you should have received a PM with your recipient's wishlist from me, Santa Claus. All five PM's went out, so you should have one in your inbox. If there was an error or you did not get one, please send a PM to me to let me know and I will resend the message!

Now, good boys and girls, everything is in your hands. Please pick some nice presents for your particular little one. And remember, when you send your gift, please reply to this thread to let us know your care package is on the way! Try to send your gifts by December 16th so that your recipient can get their presents by Christmastime.

Merry Christmas, everybody! See you in December! Ho ho ho!

[xfrumx]

Woo! I'm so ready!!

[Niku-Sama]

Pm sent Santa 17

[Niku-Sama]

Got my present picked out and I'll ship it off soon, sometime between Tuesday and Thursday

[Secret Santa]

Great to hear. Santa's glad to hear that you are making progress, and happy that you are sharing news of that with us. I hope everyone is staying busy, warm, and happy. Soon Christmas will be here! There are only twelve more days to go. Ho ho ho!

[Secret Santa]

7 days left until Christmas Eve, the last day for USPS postal deliveries.
8 days left until Christmas.

I hope everyone has picked out their gifts, wrapped them, and posted them to their recipients. We are getting close to Christmas, and I don't want anyone to run out of time!

By the way, who here has received gifts already?

[Emperor Megas]

My gift was shipped to my recipient 2 days ago, but since it was so close to the holiday I had it shipped to them directly, which means I didn't get to wrap it or add any swag, bells, or whistles. I want to apologize for that; I should've managed my time better. It's not that I procrastinated, I just wasn't very informed or imaginative. I ended up going with something that I liked since I don't know anything about the member.

Hey, it's the thought that counts, right?

[Aussie2B]

Sorry that I missed the shipping deadline by a day, but I got my package off yesterday and it'll be there in time for Christmas! My Secret Santa, on the other hand, was lightning fast, as the box has been here for several days now, tempting me, but don't worry, I'll be good and wait for Christmas. :)

[Niku-Sama]

I shipped mine a second time now today. It came back for some reason but i made sure that it should be there by x mass. I think that happened to me last time too...


Edit:
I got a heavy box from amazon, origins unknown so i am guessing it's my secret Santa gift... Feels like a bunch of books?

[Secret Santa]

Ho ho ho! Only a few more days to go!

Be sure to return here after you open your gifts to let us know what you got this year for Christmas. :-)

[Niku-Sama]

yep it was a book
I got the Hyrule Historia hard back.
amazon kinda dropped the ball a bit on packaging and one of the corners got mashed but I might be able to straighten it out with a few more heavier books on top.


thanks to who ever my santa was

I was stressed out and still up so I opened it

[Emperor Megas]

Jesus, what's with Amazon not knowing how to pack anything properly? :angry:

At any rate, I was your Santa, Niku-Sama. I hope you enjoy your gift. I was at a complete loss for what to get, so I just picked something that I would like. I'm sorry about the crap packaging, that was out of my control.

[Nz17]

Jesus, what's with Amazon not knowing how to pack anything properly? I'm sorry about the crap packaging, that was out of my control.

This time of year, Amazon hires tons of temp. workers for its various distribution facilities. From what I've heard/read, the top priority is speed. Rush, rush, rush! Thus not much attention is given to careful handling. But this varies a bit from facility to facility, and of course you'll get better handling during the slower times of year from the regular workers.

[Niku-Sama]

Jesus, what's with Amazon not knowing how to pack anything properly? :angry:

At any rate, I was your Santa, Niku-Sama. I hope you enjoy your gift. I was at a complete loss for what to get, so I just picked something that I would like. I'm sorry about the crap packaging, that was out of my control.

no its fine I know you didn't, I left it open and its cool, I was eyeballing it at work a few years back but they all had slices in them so I never bought one

still, thank you!

[thetoxicone]

Mine must've been one of the late senders or else it got left at my apt building office and they didn't call either way it's cool I'll post once I get it

[Emperor Megas]

I haven't received mine yet either. I didn't check today; my post office is already closed (it's only opened for 2 hours on Saturday), so if I did get something and it doesn't fit in the storage locker I'll have to wait until Monday.

[Aussie2B]

Finally got a chance to post in here!

First off, I gotta offer a huge apology to my recipient that the package didn't arrive in time. I'm pretty peeved with the USPS, considering they gave me a 12/24 delivery date. I checked the tracking info on the 24th, and it said it was out for delivery that day so I have no idea what happened. :( Since my recipient hasn't received his gifts yet, I don't know if I should still keep who I was Santa for a secret, but the tracking info says that the package is now ready for pickup at the post office.

As for what I received, my Secret Santa was beyond generous and totally spoiled me with a huge bounty of awesome stuff! I seriously couldn't believe just how much was packed in the shipping box!

http://triacesuperfan.inverteddungeon.com/storage/dpsecretsanta_dec2015.jpg

Lemme try to list it all out:

Vegas Dream for NES
Crayon Shin-chan 2 for GB
Chou Gals! 2 and McDonalds Monogatari for GBC
Game & Watch Gallery 4 and Kirby & the Amazing Mirror for GBA
Zoobles! and the Japanese version of Brain Age for DS
Brain Dead 13 and Amok for Saturn
Raw Danger! for PS2
Gundam Battle Universe for PSP
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Splitz for Vita
Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2 and Tales of Symphonia Chronicles for PS3
Shenmue II for Xbox
Asura's Wrath and Akai Katana for 360
Gears of War 360 controller
Super Mario Bros. Super Show DVD
figures of Master Chief, Kratos, Murloc, Hatsune Miku, Mr. Miyagi, Predator, the Alien, and a Portal robot
Team Fortress 2 and Iron Man pins
Mario and Dragon Quest keychains/phone straps
Battle Athletes and Super Mario Bros. movie trading cards
DS wristband
Katamari PSP pouch
Sonic drawing book
Gravion and Pac-man stickers
Dragon Ball Z finger puppets
Hetalia bandanna

Whew, what a list! Thank you so much to whoever played Santa for me! You totally hit it out of the park, and I love everything! Some of these games I've been wanting for years and years (Kirby, Shenmue, Akai Katana, etc.), and others I've never heard of, like McDonalds Monogatari, but I can't wait to try them out. :) All the merch is fantastic too! Now to just get my game shelves decked out and start playing. :D I hope you had an excellent Christmas and have a happy New Year!

[Emperor Megas]

Geez, that's not a Secret Santa package, it's a dowry. I hope you said 'yes'.

[Emperor Megas]

Wow, I'm pretty overwhelmed. I've done Secret Santa quite a times in another forum, but we just send an item or two. I just got my package from Aussie2B and there was a TON of stuff in there.

Altogether I received...

Double Dragon on VHS (Ha, awesome!)
Princess Peach Amiibo
Resident Evil: Damnation Blu-Ray
The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time Manga (part 1)
3 DVDs (King of Kong: A Fist Full of Quarters, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, Bloodrayne: the Third Reich)
3 Video Game Collector Magazines
3 CD Game Soundtrack Mixes (Contra 4: Rocked 'N' Loaded, Lonely Rolling Stars Carnivore, Select Start)

Even the note was on awesome paper with little Darumas on it. I love Darumas, so that's such a weird coincidence!

Man, I feel a little crappy now. I only sent my recipient a book, and it was shipped straight there, so it wasn't even wrapped. Damn. I'll have to do better next time. :shameful:

[Aussie2B]

Haha, I love the pic with your cat. :) I hope you enjoy the stuff, and sorry again that it came late!

[Emperor Megas]

Oh please, that's SUCH a non-issue. This could have come after New Years and I wouldn't have cared. I'm really blown away by this awesome loot crate you put together for me. Thank you SO much!

:hail:

[Secret Santa]

Oh dear, the numbers from the posts just aren't adding up like they should. It seems we have at least one person who might not have gotten the gift which is due to him! Who is missing a gift? Hopefully it's just that your Secret Santa was a little slow to send, or the package had to go a l-o-n-g way, or perhaps your Santa was absent-minded and needs a reminder.

If you wish and you let old Santa Claus know, I can send a PM to your Secret Santa to ask him to let us know what is occurring.

We haven't had a naughty Santa in years! But if it turns out to be a sad case where we do have a naughty Secret Santa who won't play nice, then we'll have to make sure his name ends up on our Naughty List. Those who end up on the Secret Santa Naughty List never get to participate in our special event ever again unless they go to big, big measures to make amends.

Perhaps I, good old Saint Nick, could give a consolation present to you if your Secret Santa falls through. I'd hate for your stocking to be left empty even if it is a bit late.

Ho ho ho!

[Niku-Sama]

i'm curious if my recipient ever got their present. they haven't been active since the 23rd and haven't posted since late November

edit:

well I just checked the tracking number and it said it got delivered so what evs

[Secret Santa]

Ah, January. It's Santa's time of the year to take care of all the little things left to do after the big rush of Christmas.

Looking over my notes, it seems we still haven't heard from xfrumx nor thetoxicone since December. xfrumx was supposed to provide for thetoxicone, but xfrumx stopped responding to Santa's PM's. thetoxicone hasn't written since December. Back then he wrote that he never received anything in the mail but that he would write if he did get something.

Yet we can't keep Christmas 2015 running forever. So while Santa would love to wrap up everything in a tidy little bow, I suppose we'll just have to leave these two and their fates as a mystery for now.

I want to thank all of the good boys and girls for their participation in DP's Secret Santa this past year. It was good fun and a very interesting ride.

I hope that we shall see your smiling faces again when we have our next Secret Santa event here at the Retrogaming Roundtable. Speaking of which, when would you prefer the next Secret Santa to be: June or December? If you pick June, remember we can have two that way! Ho ho ho!