Sign up for the 2nd annual Vintage Secret Santa gift exchange

Whether you're joining us for round two of this super fun online present swap for the first time or took part last year, welcome!!!

Those who took part in the inaugural Vintage Secret Santa gift exchange here last year may recognize a lot of the same points in today's post, but that's simply because they worked so well and completely apply this time around, too.

The premise of this wintertime gift exchange is very simple. One signs up, is partnered with a randomly assigned partner, your name is likewise teamed with a random match, you send out a gift (or gifts) using the details that your VSS match provided when they signed up, and you in turn receive a gift from your own "Secret Santa." That's it, easy-peasy and fun as all get out!!!

Last year's Vintage Secret Santa was a roaring success with over 270 people taking part. At least 99% of all those participated received a gift, either from their original Secret Santa or, in a small number of cases, from one of the very kind "Angel Santas" who volunteered to send a second gift out to one of the people who had failed to receive their’s from their original match (or because it was lost in the mail). Again though, for just about everybody, the VSS went smoothly and very positive experience.

I'd love to not only meet, but exceed the same number of VSS participants this time around and can't stress enough how much I encourage you to share about this awesome holiday season gift exchange anywhere and everywhere online (your blog, social media, by email, etc).






If you'd like to participate in the 2015 Vintage Secret Santa Gift exchange, here are the guidelines:

❄ Please sign up using this quick and easy participation form (your information will be kept strictly confidential, with only myself and the person who will be sending you your Secret Santa gift being privy to it).

❄ Participants may sign up to take part in this Vintage Secret Santa until Wednesday November 25, 2015. On this date, I will begin assigning swap partners and will email everyone involved with their gift recipient's name by no later than December 2, 2015 (*edit* originally we had said by Dec. 1st here in this post, but Tony's extremely busy work travel schedule, including a trip for the last several days of November has moved the final match date up a day).

❄ This Vintage Secret Santa is open to participants from around the globe. You may be assigned a recipient in your own country or elsewhere in the world, just depending on the random Vintage Secret Santa recipient that you are matched with (each participant will receive one randomly selected recipient).

❄ You do not have to observe Christmas to take part. This festive Secret Santa exchange is open to everyone regardless of their personal beliefs, faith, or any other factor. You are welcome to think of it as a nondenominational wintertime vintage gift swap, if you would prefer.

❄ Gifts (or the combined value of the gifts in your Vintage Secret Santa parcel) are encouraged to be of a value of at least $15.00 USA. There is no cap on how much you can spend, but do keep in mind that shipping costs can quickly add up when sending larger items and/or heavier parcels, especially outside of your own country, so you may want to opt for smaller sized presents if such is the case.

❄ You may mail gifts to your Vintage Secret Santa recipient from your own home or order them online and have them sent directly to the person you're giving to. This can be a great way to help cut down on shipping costs.

❄ Gifts can be handmade, store bought, or a combination of the two.

❄ Gifts are encouraged to be vintage, vintage reproduction, vintage inspired, vintage appropriate (for example, a new, unused tube of your favourite red lipstick), handmade or similar, but ultimately so long as the present(s) given is/are thoughtful and abide by the rules in the next point below, the sky is the limit.

❄ Please do not send anything live, perishable, dangerous, illegal, of an explicit nature, or which could easily be perceived as racist, sexist, frightening, or otherwise offensive.

❄ Giftees are encouraged to send their presents out before Monday, December 9, 2015 in the hope that by doing so, they will arrive by, or right around, Christmas Day. Please keep in mind that parcels sent to international destinations will most likely take longer to arrive, so posting them out ASAP is always a very good idea.

❄ By signing up to take part you acknowledge that you will do everything in your power to send out a gift to the Secret Santa name that you are partnered with. If for some reason you do not believe you will be able to do so before the deadline to mail out gifts arrives (December 9th), please contact me immediately.

❄ Use the hashtag #vintagesecretsanta when sharing about this festive gift exchange and/or the present(s) you received on your blog and/or social media.  festive

❄ If you have not received your VSS gift by January 15, 2016, please contact me on, or after, that date so that I can look into the matter for you.

❄ And last, but not least, please keep in mind that I have no control over the how quickly your VSS match mails out their present to you, if they do so at all, or the postal system itself.

Should you run into issues, I'm here to help via email in any way that I possibly can, but ultimately it is up to those taking part in the VSS to live up to their commitment to send out a present and then for the postal system to ensure that said gifts reach their destinations.

If you email me with a concern, I ask that you please be courteous and polite. Belligerence and/or abuse will not be tolerated towards myself or anyone taking part in the VSS. Thank you very much for your understanding on this front.

❄ ❄ ❄ 

That's all there is to it, my dears. It's very straightforward and tons of fun! (And of course I’ll be taking part in it myself!)

The Vintage Secret Santa is naturally open to both male and female participants and it was great to see a small handful of chaps take part last year.

If you would like to send your Vintage Secret Santa partner something from my Etsy shop, I'd be thrilled about that and will provide complimentary gift wrapping and a holiday card for your recipient (please email or Etsy private message me to let me know and I'll do just that before posting your order out).

To help you get the most bang for your shopping buck at my Etsy shop, please use the coupon code VSS25 to save 25% off on all orders (be they for the VSS or otherwise) between today and December 10, 2015.

If you're taking part, I urge you to share the link to this post (and use the cute vintage festive image above) on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, your blog, or absolutely anywhere else you'd like (remember to use the hashtag #vintagesecretsanta when you do).

There's no cap on the number of people who can take part in this Secret Santa, so the more folks who hear about it, the better!

It was such a blast to unite many in the vintage community last year and I feel so honoured to get the opportunity to do so again this winter. We're a close knit group and I just love it when we can come together and brighten one another's day - or, in this case, holiday season - with kind, generous acts like sending out a festive gift to one of our peers.

I highly encourage you to sign up, send out a delightful gift, receive one in return from someone else, and have a wonderful time swapping vintage Secret Santa presents while sharing your passion for the past this holiday season!