Secret Santa

sweetmelissa0707 · October 2013

Has anyone been paired up with someone they've never seen before and who is also not on the spreadsheet?

snmetz7 · October 2013

I have.

ans she listed her real name not bump name and so far hasn't answered my secret question (course it hasnt been that long lol but im excited and wanna get going!)

kwolslager · October 2013

I've been paired with someone I don't think I've ever seen before. She put down her real name, as well as her screen name, and I don't recognize it. I will check the spreadsheet and let you know if she's on there or not.. It might be that she just doesn't post a lot.

sweetmelissa0707 · October 2013

I'm just curious if we have women from other boards. It's a fairly unique name so I'm quite certain I've never seen it before. Other boards like to mess with us, so who knows.

Bluebird2318 · October 2013

sweetmelissa0707 said:

I'm just curious if we have women from other boards. It's a fairly unique name so I'm quite certain I've never seen it before. Other boards like to mess with us, so who knows.

Have you done a Google search for it? As in "the bump <insertnamehere>" type of thing? I would really hope that people aren't so lame that they'd troll in a way that involved money and people's addresses...

kwolslager · October 2013

ok. I just checked, she's NOT on the spreadsheet at all.

curious, can anyone join the secret santa exchange group? because if so, it's highly possible there are people on there entered in multiple times just to get free crap.

sweetmelissa0707 · October 2013

Bluebird2318 said:

sweetmelissa0707 said:

I'm just curious if we have women from other boards. It's a fairly unique name so I'm quite certain I've never seen it before. Other boards like to mess with us, so who knows.

Have you done a Google search for it? As in "the bump <insertnamehere>" type of thing? I would really hope that people aren't so lame that they'd troll in a way that involved money and people's addresses...
That's a good idea, I'll try it out.

kali55 · October 2013

I can't find mine either, but it may be because she put her real name? Can we ask what their bump name is? Is that allowed in the rules?

Mamamonzo · October 2013

lia619 said:
I really hope no one would join just to get stuff! That would make me so sad and that's so low. I didn't recognize the majority of people who signed up (when I looked at the list on elfster), but I figured they just posted on threads that I never read. FX that you all did not get fake people!

That would be horrible!!

SeattleMomma · October 2013

I can't figure my person out for details. I'm as huge procrastinator, so I'd like to shop soon.

SeattleMomma · October 2013

A*

Bluebird2318 · October 2013

Mine only had her real name on Elfster but I was able to find her through the spreadsheet that way. Didn't recognize the screen name so I just Googled. She is an A14'er, just not a frequent poster. I would suggest using spreadsheet/Google/secret question feature and if it still looks shady, go from there. If enough time goes by and you are unable to/they are unwilling to confirm who they are, I'm sure we could do a re-pairing somehow.

RocksInTheWater · October 2013

I really, really would hope that everyone that signed up plans to participate. Given that today is the first day that we received our names, give it a few days to hear back from your person. If weeks go by and your person is not responding to any of your messages, we can make a game plan then.

RocksInTheWater · October 2013

kali55 said:

I can't find mine either, but it may be because she put her real name? Can we ask what their bump name is? Is that allowed in the rules?

@kali55 Definitely ask her bump name. It helps you connect with the person by seeing her posts. I have already found out a few interests of my person by reading some of her previous posts.

snmetz7 · October 2013

@loriMc12 lets put a time limit on now... its 6 weeks total from now to get the onesie in the mail so maybe 3 weeks. If you havent heard from your person in 3 weeks, we come up with something else?

KatieGummow · October 2013

I opted out of the emails, so hadn't heard anything until I saw MrsCalli's post, then I remembered to look. So this could be the case for others! I also had a question and didn't get it until I logged back on to elfster.

RocksInTheWater · October 2013

kwolslager said:

ok. I just checked, she's NOT on the spreadsheet at all.
curious, can anyone join the secret santa exchange group? because if so, it's highly possible there are people on there entered in multiple times just to get free crap.

@kwolslager Have you searched for her bump name on TB's search feature? I did notice someone that signed up has never posted on A14 but is due in April (she's posted on other boards). I was curious why she would want to join since she has never intro'd on A14 or posted here but who knows. Hopefully you hear back from your person and can get to know her a little.

RocksInTheWater · October 2013

snmetz7 said:

@loriMc12 lets put a time limit on now... its 6 weeks total from now to get the onesie in the mail so maybe 3 weeks. If you havent heard from your person in 3 weeks, we come up with something else?

@snmetz7 Sure, doesn't matter to me.

@BiggerinRealLife If you make the question post for the sticky, can you add the cut off date? Let's say November 20th is the cut off, 3 weeks from today. If you have not heard from your person by then, you can message me and I'll compile a list (hopefully there isn't a list!) and reassign those people.

I may have to be slightly obnoxious and post an Elfster thread every few days so people who have opted out of emails see the thread and remember to check their Elfster account. I thought I opted out of emails but I still got the email saying I had been paired up. Hmmm...

Rogue237 · October 2013

Are we revealing ourselves once the present is sent or does it have to stay anonymous forever?

bubblybeks · October 2013

I missed the deadline for signing up so if other people's picks are not responding than I would be willing to get matched up.

RocksInTheWater · October 2013

Rogue237 said:

Are we revealing ourselves once the present is sent or does it have to stay anonymous forever?

@Rogue237 I plan on sticking a note in my gift revealing who I am.

@bubblybeks I guess there is a late sign-up feature you can do. Those who sign up today or after will have a chance to be paired with the other late comers at some point. Go ahead and sign up and I will figure out more about it later. I see that @meg.eliz1 did this and I got an email about the late sign-up feature. It's all good!

bubblybeks · October 2013

@meg.eliz1 & @LoriMc12 Thanks for the help. I think I signed up.

RocksInTheWater · October 2013

meg.eliz1 said:

bubblybeks said:

I missed the deadline for signing up so if other people's picks are not responding than I would be willing to get matched up.

You can still go on and sign up! I just did because I missed the deadline too. I don't know how this works with getting paired up though.

@meg.eliz1 The latecomers will be paired up with each other. I will wait a few days to see if any other latecomers join then update Elfster to pair them up. The only con is that it won't be very secret for you anymore as there may not be many latecomers. But at least you can still join in the fun!

Sisimama10 · October 2013

I've never heard of mine either... Hopefully the secret q's will help.

kwolslager · October 2013

LoriMc12 said:

kwolslager said:

ok. I just checked, she's NOT on the spreadsheet at all.
curious, can anyone join the secret santa exchange group? because if so, it's highly possible there are people on there entered in multiple times just to get free crap.

@kwolslager Have you searched for her bump name on TB's search feature? I did notice someone that signed up has never posted on A14 but is due in April (she's posted on other boards). I was curious why she would want to join since she has never intro'd on A14 or posted here but who knows. Hopefully you hear back from your person and can get to know her a little.

Hey, I'm getting really concerned about the name I drew for Secret Santa. Not only have I not heard of her, she is not on the spreadsheet, she didn't reply at all to the original SS post (I searched for her sn on all 8 pages).. and what is weirder is that she is NO WHERE ON THE BUMP. I did a Bump search on her sn AND her full name, and nothing. She's not mentioned anywhere, never posted, never replied, nothing.

snmetz7 · October 2013

@kwolslager
since its clearly not me since here i am posting, if you want to pm me her info i can do some deep sleuthing like sherlock holmes

Stace0616 · October 2013

I mean, you could basically get her a onesie that says "MOAR RANCH!!!!" and have all of your bases covered, right?

thomas930 · October 2013

jellysparkles said:

kwolslager said:

LoriMc12 said:

kwolslager said:

ok. I just checked, she's NOT on the spreadsheet at all.
curious, can anyone join the secret santa exchange group? because if so, it's highly possible there are people on there entered in multiple times just to get free crap.

@kwolslager Have you searched for her bump name on TB's search feature? I did notice someone that signed up has never posted on A14 but is due in April (she's posted on other boards). I was curious why she would want to join since she has never intro'd on A14 or posted here but who knows. Hopefully you hear back from your person and can get to know her a little.

Hey, I'm getting really concerned about the name I drew for Secret Santa. Not only have I not heard of her, she is not on the spreadsheet, she didn't reply at all to the original SS post (I searched for her sn on all 8 pages).. and what is weirder is that she is NO WHERE ON THE BUMP. I did a Bump search on her sn AND her full name, and nothing. She's not mentioned anywhere, never posted, never replied, nothing.

Yeah, that was one of my biggest concerns with this. It's essentially open to anyone on the internet who can google 'secret santa', which freaked me out, so I didn't do it, personally. I don't know how we could have gotten around that, though, so this isn't a dig to anyone.

Somebody could potentially have Springs1

This was my fear too. I really hope you guys can figure something out. I had also saw on the original sign up post that someone who has never even posted on A14 say that they signed up....they've still never participated on the board

snmetz7 · October 2013

ultimately i guess i dont care if you post or not as long as you do your part and pass on the onesie that you were supposed to .

RocksInTheWater · October 2013

kwolslager said:

LoriMc12 said:

kwolslager said:

ok. I just checked, she's NOT on the spreadsheet at all.
curious, can anyone join the secret santa exchange group? because if so, it's highly possible there are people on there entered in multiple times just to get free crap.

@kwolslager Have you searched for her bump name on TB's search feature? I did notice someone that signed up has never posted on A14 but is due in April (she's posted on other boards). I was curious why she would want to join since she has never intro'd on A14 or posted here but who knows. Hopefully you hear back from your person and can get to know her a little.

Hey, I'm getting really concerned about the name I drew for Secret Santa. Not only have I not heard of her, she is not on the spreadsheet, she didn't reply at all to the original SS post (I searched for her sn on all 8 pages).. and what is weirder is that she is NO WHERE ON THE BUMP. I did a Bump search on her sn AND her full name, and nothing. She's not mentioned anywhere, never posted, never replied, nothing.

@kwolslager I just realized I have the ability to see who everyone drew so I can always remove people that don't respond by the 20th. If people don't respond, I will make sure the people they drew get a new secret santa as well as giving a new person for you to buy for. Does that make sense? I will make it my personal mission that everyone ultimately gets paired with someone who is going to participate!

I thought about the issues with an open link invitation but didn't know how to limit it either. Hopefully it works out for everyone.

Stace0616 · October 2013

P.S. to whoever has me--I'm totally a real person! Just one who is on mobile and lazy--I'll add myself to the spreadsheet ASAP!

Lauraa00 · October 2013

The other thing we need to consider is that we may have an "unknown" who's supposed to send us a gift. I think we need to set up some sort of "contact your Secret Santa" guideline otherwise there could be those that don't know who they're sending a gift to, and others that don't receive one.

I'm sure we'll get this sorted though! It was such a damn good idea!

AcaAwkward · October 2013

My person also appears to be serial lurker... Only one post ever (no mo ago), not on the spreadsheet, no intro, 8 profile points total... Kind of a bummer to have no clue at all as to who she is.

railroadRN · October 2013

I might be one of those non-responders. Been super busy.
Will check my elfater account ASAP!

Bluebird2318 · October 2013

I do agree that there should be some sort of guideline regarding contacting our recipient and our Secret Santa within the first 2-3 weeks of this being paired and ready, so that we have time to readjust if there are any issues. I feel like people who actually intend to participate would have no issue contacting their recipient/Secret Santa within 2-3 weeks.

railroadRN · October 2013

I have been paired up. How do we get the shipping address? Just ask them in a private message?

ETA: NEVERMIND! Found it

pannk · October 2013

jellysparkles said:

kwolslager said:

LoriMc12 said:

kwolslager said:

ok. I just checked, she's NOT on the spreadsheet at all.
curious, can anyone join the secret santa exchange group? because if so, it's highly possible there are people on there entered in multiple times just to get free crap.

@kwolslager Have you searched for her bump name on TB's search feature? I did notice someone that signed up has never posted on A14 but is due in April (she's posted on other boards). I was curious why she would want to join since she has never intro'd on A14 or posted here but who knows. Hopefully you hear back from your person and can get to know her a little.

Hey, I'm getting really concerned about the name I drew for Secret Santa. Not only have I not heard of her, she is not on the spreadsheet, she didn't reply at all to the original SS post (I searched for her sn on all 8 pages).. and what is weirder is that she is NO WHERE ON THE BUMP. I did a Bump search on her sn AND her full name, and nothing. She's not mentioned anywhere, never posted, never replied, nothing.

Yeah, that was one of my biggest concerns with this. It's essentially open to anyone on the internet who can google 'secret santa', which freaked me out, so I didn't do it, personally. I don't know how we could have gotten around that, though, so this isn't a dig to anyone.

Somebody could potentially have Springs1

That was my thought too, so I didn't do it. Kind of sucks to be missing out on the fun, though!

mrscrcalli · October 2013

Haven't seen my person on there in at least a month!

Bluebird2318 · October 2013

I was worried about that too, but I signed up anyway. The person I'm buying for is not a frequent poster by any means, but she has lurked and posted a handful of replies, so I'm not really concerned about her being a "fake" and have no issue buying for her!

As far as who drew me, obviously I have no idea! Maybe we could compile a list of confirmed recipients on the FAQ thread? Like, if I get "BumpLady999" I can PM that name to @Biggerinreallife (or whoever, but I'm using Bigger for now since she's the one running the FAQ thread) and she can add "BumpLady999" to the confirmed recipients list, so that BumpLady999 knows she's covered? And obviously if there were a concern about my legitimacy as a sender, Biggerinreallife (or whoever is running the list) can easily just click my name and see if I'm truly an A14'er before adding BumpLady to the list, KWIM? That might be at least a LITTLE more reassuring than just the secret santa question feature on Elfster, but it sure does add work for the person making the list.

Since @LoriMc12 has access to a list of everyone we're paired with, perhaps that could be a help too? She could fairly easily check to see who has easily identifiable Secret Santas and add their names to the list.

I wouldn't mind making the list myself if Lori wanted to share just the pairing list with me (obviously I don't need addresses). I wouldn't mind taking PMs either to confirm the recipients, or trying to get in touch with the more obscure Santas. The list would require a new sticky though, since I obviously can't edit Bigger's FAQ post. Whatever works. I'm a SAHM and I can create butt-loads of time to try and compile the list, given that there were <200 participants last time I checked.

kwolslager · October 2013

LoriMc12 said:

kwolslager said:

LoriMc12 said:

kwolslager said:

ok. I just checked, she's NOT on the spreadsheet at all.
curious, can anyone join the secret santa exchange group? because if so, it's highly possible there are people on there entered in multiple times just to get free crap.

@kwolslager Have you searched for her bump name on TB's search feature? I did notice someone that signed up has never posted on A14 but is due in April (she's posted on other boards). I was curious why she would want to join since she has never intro'd on A14 or posted here but who knows. Hopefully you hear back from your person and can get to know her a little.

Hey, I'm getting really concerned about the name I drew for Secret Santa. Not only have I not heard of her, she is not on the spreadsheet, she didn't reply at all to the original SS post (I searched for her sn on all 8 pages).. and what is weirder is that she is NO WHERE ON THE BUMP. I did a Bump search on her sn AND her full name, and nothing. She's not mentioned anywhere, never posted, never replied, nothing.

@kwolslager I just realized I have the ability to see who everyone drew so I can always remove people that don't respond by the 20th. If people don't respond, I will make sure the people they drew get a new secret santa as well as giving a new person for you to buy for. Does that make sense? I will make it my personal mission that everyone ultimately gets paired with someone who is going to participate!

I thought about the issues with an open link invitation but didn't know how to limit it either. Hopefully it works out for everyone.

Thank you. I will definitely let you know if I don't hear from her by the 20th.

kwolslager · October 2013

mrscrcalli said:

Haven't seen my person on there in at least a month!

yeah, it seems kind of silly, if the person isn't around for a long time, then out of no where decides to participate in the boards SS exchange. Seems a little random.

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