Er. I know it's a bit weird to call is a "forum activity" since I got unexpectedly busy this weekend and didn't even have time to consult any of the Admins and Staff about this... *gives fellow Staffers her bestest puppy dog eyes of sorriness*

:santa2: :santa2:

A few members have been talking about starting a Secret Santa exchange, so let's give it a shot! Here's how it'll work:

Who's involved?
Anyone who's a member of this forum, of course!

What's a Secret Santa?
(Don't laugh! I know I was confused as heck when I first heard about it, so I'm explaining it now to save anyone else the confusion x3)

Secret Santa is a gift exchange done usually around Christmas time. A bunch of friends/officemates/etc. throw their names into a hat and randomly pick from it. You will become the Secret Santa of the person whose name you picked out. Your job is to secretly get a gift for the person. Nobody knows who their Secret Santa is (unless you tell, of course!) and who their present is from. Of course, someone else will be your Secret Santa and you'll get a secret gift too!

How does it work on this forum?
The short version:

1) You sign-up on this thread with 3 keywords describing the gift you want.
2) I'll PM you the person you have to give a gift to.
3) Someone else will be giving you a gift.
4) You PM me your gift when it's done and I'll pass it on for you.

The long version:
I'll be the mediator between the Secret Santa and their partners. What will happen is:

1) You sign up in this thread if you want to take part in the exchange OR you can PM me directly. (If my PM box is full, please sign up on this thread.) Please say something like I want to join! so I know for certain that you're joining.

2) The thread/sign-up will be open from today to Friday.

3) I will randomly pick who will be whose partner. (Yes, you'll have to trust me. :razz: )

4) I'll PM everyone to tell them who their recipient is. It's completely private and you should NOT tell anyone whose Secret Santa you are.

5) You get started on that gift! I don't think we should put a deadline on when gifts should be exchanged, but a vague timeframe would be between Christmas and New Year since most people are already busy with real-life Christmas preparations. Suggestions pls!

6) When you're done with your gift, you PM it to ME. I will then PM the gift to your recipient. This is to keep your identity secret. To keep to the theme of the game, I'd ask that you don't reveal your identity to your recipient until after the gifts have been exchanged. Keep the anticipation going! :dance:

I don't know what gift to get this person! / Can I avoid getting a gift that has nothing to do with me?
While you're signing up, you will also state three keywords describing the kind of gift you want. Keep it simple, such as night, Aerith, screwdriver. These keywords will serve as a guide for your Secret Santa, who will then have some idea of what to get you. It might not be exactly what you want, but it's better than leaving them blind, right?

What kind of gifts are possible?
Anything you can think of! Virtual gifts are pretty much your only route, since I won't be asking for any personal addresses :3 But other than that, go wild!

And no, you don't have to keep your gifts Cleris-based. This is Christmas, not Clerismas!

Can I ask for a Cloti-based gift?
Okay, nobody's actually asked me this and I doubt it'll even come up. But just to cover all possibilities: Cloti is not allowed on this forum, but for now, I think it should be okay to put "Cloti" as a keyword. If your Secret Santa gives you a Cloti-based gift, I'll PM it to you and you can post it anywhere else. If your Secret Santa doesn't want to do something Cloti, I'll PM you and you can change your keyword.

Questions? PARTICIPATION? Post them here! ^__^

ME JOIN!!! aerithlove wants to join please~ :D


My keywords for the gift: warmth, love, snow. :fangirl:
Thanks for holding up this activity, Santa Lynn. :huggle:


YAYee I GOT THE FIRST SIGN UP POST~~~ :lmao:

Awesome ReTi Art. XD

Coffee, Strawberries, Snow
>_>

I wanna join, too. Sounds very interesting. ^_^

My keywords; Cecil (from FFIV, if somebody doesn't know), snow & the northern lights. :lol:

Meeee!

Keywords: Love, smiles, chocolate.

I'm signing up! Hugs to you Lynn for starting this up! :huggle:

Keywords: angel, star, wolf

I won't say no to anything involving Cloud, Aerith, or Clerith either. :D

I THUPPOSE I'LL TRY THIS. ^_^ Good idea Lynn!

Keywords: Cloud, Cloud, Cloud.

...Or Cloud, ARTZ, Skelanimals. :fish:

Does virtual gifts mean fanart/fanfic/graphics?? :unsure:

ZOMGWTFACRONYMZ, Lynn. Santa is leaving e-snuggies and an authentic oak wine rack under your tree this year. I am SO in. I owe you peeps some Christmas lovin' after I've been MIA so much lately. Whosagoodpig? *huggles you all* :grouphug:

Mmkay, for keywords... let's go with Fack, fanartz, and carp. (ORIGINALITY IS LIEK MY MIDDLE NEHM. LOOK AT MEH.) But, honestly, I'm game for anything. :D

This is... the best thing. EVER. :huggle: TANKYU LYNN <3333
I'd love to be a part of this. Looove to! :D

Keywords: Cloud/Aerith, random (funny? awkward?) animations (.gif), fanartz

:blush:

Yes, that's what I was wondering.

Does the virtual gift have to be limited to fanart/graphics? I'm afraid my work will drastically and embarrasingly pale in comparison to other fantastic designers/artists here...

Oye! I wanna join! xD

Hmmm.. Keywords..
1. Naruto
2. KibaHina
3. sig.

:blush:
:blush:
:blush:

Oh and let me add, I'm not good with editing pics (As you can see with my crappy sig I made. Dx) and stuff, but i'm good with writing Doujinshi, xDD.

-Agen.-
:blush:

Aerith, Spiritual, Love

Be advised, however, that if I'm doing the gift, I have no artistic talent. Any gifts I make are going to be text based.

Before Lynn has time to answer, I'd like to say at least I dun care what kind of gifts I'm gonna get. A funny pic or stupid vid like this or this are all fine to meh. Therefore keywords are sth helpful for making it, right? Like Lynn says, it doesn't has to be CXA(if there's no keywords involves). For me, this is just a chance to communicate with all Cleriths here with fun, what's about the gifts really doesn't matter. :huggle:

Come join us Cleriths!!! :fangirl:

I'm going to help Lynn out a little with the questions: To those of you who are curious, no, the gifts don't have to be graphics or fanart, they can be writing pieces, or if you are good with a camera, maybe even some photography! Anything that can be sent virtually! I know myself I can't do graphics or art worth squat, so I'm most likely going to be doing some form of writing for whoever I get. ^_^ Use your imagination!

I want to be a part of it too. =)

My words? Cloud . Dark . Signature

=D

w00t. Posts! I LOVE YOU GUYS! :grouphug:

(you lurkers, coming back to lyfe! <333)

Alantie is right-- your gift can be anything that is sendable through PM/online/email/internet/youtube/radioblog etc. It doesn't have to be just fanart or fanfics. Heck, if it's something too big to be attached to emails, we can go all out and upload it to yousendit/mediafire/sendspace etc. :wink:

Coolies, though I'll probably end up doing fanart anyway. :lmao:

Okay, sign me up! Keywords are : Cleris, Horses, Sappy

I fear getting a fandom I'm unfamiliar with, BUT UH:

maria, mena, lyrics
(find inspiration, not a link XD)

OR ERR--if that's not allowed:

angel, devil, dance
(original stuff is good to me, btw, so don't feel limited by fandom!)

I wanna join! Pleaseeeee! :fangirl:



Cloud.Zack.Coziness!

*DIES*

I STILL LOVE YOUR ART SO MUCH UGHUGHUGHUGH. <333333333 You made me the best artz, I swear. :huggle:

Me. Join. OKAYZ? :woot:

Keywords: Boy love/shounen ai (not as serious as yaoi), pretty, specialness mystery. :lol:

If it's too hard or something, replace 'shounen ai' with mah current bishie, Allen Walker (D.Gray-Man). :wub:

LYNN I LOVE YOU FOR THIS!!!!!
umm lets see after much careful consideration of my keywords.. i have finally selected... here we go
Uchiha Sasuke(one word!), Riku, twilight/moonlight whichever suits you.. hehehe and no im not into Sasuke Riku yaoi so by putting those two there i dont mean that :P and yes i know this may be hard on some people so if you cant do it then Clerith is fine of course or something moonlighty or whatever with them whatever is good for you!!!
and P.S i cant draw for the life of me!!! so dont expect any great fan arts from here!

Ohoho, and that's a bad thing? I'm fairly sure anyone would KILL to get a Secret Santa art from you. XDDD *flaunts marriage ring wif yin-chan to everyone ohohoho* >D

No worries if you get a keyword from a fandom you don't know. The keywords are optional so you don't really HAVE to follow them (just strongly encouraged to :lol: ). Obviously, it would be tough to write a gift fic for a fandom you don't know, so don't feel too restricted by the keywords.

Though if you're writing characters outside FFVII as your keyword, it'd be best to include the game/series they're from too. ^_^

Alright, I was on the fence about this since like MT I feared getting a fandom that I don't know. But I guess I might as well do it anyway. Why miss out on all the fun? :P

Keywords: JAM (Jim and Pam from The Office :D ), love, winter.

When are we going to know who the person we have to give the gift for is?
I'm going to need some time to plan out all of this.

Sadhana: Yay, you're in! :huggle: Yes, don't worry too much about keywords. Heck, we're all part of this forum, so you already know one pairing your recipient would definitely enjoy. :giggle:

Wintercream: I'll match everyone up by tonight and PM you all.

On that note, this is a reminder that sign-ups will close approximately 12 hours from the time of this post.

So if you've been wondering whether or not to join, make your decision soon. Flip a coin, consult a magic 8-ball! Heck, just join! xD

If you miss signing up just after the thread closes, don't worry. PM me with your keywords and if I haven't finished the match ups yet, I'll certainly include your name.

Sign-ups closed! Keep an eye out for those PMs, everyone. :wink:


[EDIT PART DEUX] Okies! I've sent everyone their PMs, recipients and keywords. If you haven't gotten anything from me, please PM me and let me know! (But, er, I kinda flooded Invisionfree with my PMs, so give it some time, ya? XD)

If you need to clarify anything about your recipient's gift, just let me know and I'll pass your questions along (but nothing too exact!).

Good luck with making/choosing your gifts, everyone, and remember to have fun! :santa:

Okay, I couldn't think of another way to do this other than reopening the thread. XD;;

But if your PMs to me bounced, please try again! I didn't realise my Inbox was still so full. *is so NOT a packrat!*

I'll leave this thread open so that you can contact me some other way if my Inbox gets full again. I'll try hard not to let that happen, though! >_<

Kuja, Sephiroth, and Vayne sig.

Is this still opened? If so, my keywords shall be...

-Larsa
-Penelo
-PINK.

Errr....Yeah....I kind of overlooked this thread, but I want to do it, too! D:

Is it closed now, Lynn? ;o;

She already sent out the PMs of who has who so... I think it is closed. :(

<off topic> D: Somebody who ships Larsa/Penelo? Oh, I'm not alone~~ *weeps* </off topic>

What's gonna happen now, Lynn? :o

OMG. I am a RABID LarsaXPenelo shipper, lol. I mean, not a bad kind of rabid. I just really, really love the pairing. Which is why I refuse to play Revnant Wings, lol.

Well, after you've sent your gift to me, I'll make a list of the recipients here whose presents I've already sent. I guess all that's left is to reveal your Secret Santa identities, but I wouldn't recommend doing that until after Christmas. Just to keep the mystery going :giggle:

Lute, Bulletproof, Angelwing-- aww, I'm real sorry everyone, I closed the sign-ups last Friday >_< But if you guys want me to secretly deliver presents for you anyway, I'm more than game to help! :razz:


GIFTS ALREADY SENT TO:
- MistaCloudStrife
- Wintercream
- Zydalia
- yin-chan
- Angelalex
- aerithlove
- True_Serenity
- Aerithstrife_7
- Sadhana
- Kaldea
- Alantie
- illwaitforever
- Kit
- Luna-Nayru
- Rena
- Materia Thief
- Toxo

I send all the gifts via PM, so this is a list for people to check against, especially if they haven't gotten a PM from me a few days after Christmas. If you see your name here but did not get your gift, let me know!

To everyone else, please don't feel pressured to rush your gift, if you haven't finished it yet!

I love it. =)

^That's right! You can also use this thread to publicly thank your Secret Santa for your gift! At least until they reveal their identity. :giggle:

So many thanks to my not-so-Secret Santa, for the superb signature. :huggle: It was such an awesome surprise to see it in my Inbox! <333

It's Christmas Eve tonight, so have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, everyone! :santa:

To my secret Santa: I FREAKING F@#&)(&)#$%#%$#$% LOVE YOU!!!!!!!! ahhh :wub: :huggle: :huggle: :hyper: :dance: :glomp2: :glomp: *huggles Glomps and whatever the hell else there is* you know what my secret Santa did guys.. I didnt receive one present non not 2 presents BUT FOUR PRESENTS!!! FFFFFFFFOURRR!! and each of them were amazing!! they were hilarious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ahhh you brightened up my day so much!!!! a undeserving fool like me got some of the greatest gifts i could ask for and THANKKK YOU SECRET SANTA!!!!! if your ever running out of life force you can have mine anyday!! MERRY CHRISTMAS GUYSSS!!

HOLY EFFING CRAP
I LOVE YOU
MY SECRET SANTA
TO INFINITY AND BEYOND

I EFFING LOVE YOU! HOLY GOD! You are so frickin' awesome, and I totally have an idea who this fantastic person could be. <333 (I prolly do know who you are because you have such distinct BEAUTIFUL talent, and I've already hearted you for so long, so this just makes me boil with intense passion. <3) You made the BEST FRICKIN' GIFT EVER, and GOSH I SOUND LIKE AN UNEDUMAKATED TARD RIGHT NOW, but you rock hardcore that there are no words that can explain enough! I'm so sorry you had to go through the frustrating trouble of making the gift with ALL my keywords--I suck *headdesks till bleeding starts*--I thought those keywords would be just separate ideas, like different options, but you did it ALL COMBINED. The effort shows so powerfully and MY GOD I LOVE IT LIKE WHOAAA. The fanart is SO GORGEOUS. klasjkjaskjfhjk I LOVE YOU.

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m71/snazzfiesta/try2.gif

^THAT'S MY GIFT PPL. I'D LIKE TO GLADLY SHOW IT OFF.
IT'S THE CUTEST MOST ADORABLE AWESOME THING EVER ;___;
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

ILU MY SECRET SANTAAAAA <3333
I'LL PROLLY THANK YOU AGAIN FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE
HAVE MY BABIES PLZ