2022 MetaFilter Gift Swap Sign-Ups are Open!! October 18, 2022 5:25 AM   Subscribe

The Metafilter Gift Swap takes place annually from roughly November - January. Each participant sends a gift to an awesome Mefite; each participant receives a gift from an awesome Mefite. Awesomeness and gifts abound. HOORAY!

The dates this year are:
Signups: Now - Nov 1
Assignments: Nov 5-7
Send-by: Dec 1


As always, the standard gift guidance is $20 USD.

Signing Up
There will be a link at the end of this post. Follow it! We need an actual MeFi username, an email address you check, your name & mailing address, and some good guidance for the person who draws your name.

You will get a confirmation email that will show you the information you submitted. It will come from google forms and it will look like the form you just filled out. Please check your spam/junk mail folder. If you do not get this confirmation within 48 hours, send an email to the swap gmail account (metafiltergiftswap@gmail.com). If you have not gotten a confirmation email, you may not be signed up or you entered the wrong email address. We can fix that.

Fun Fact: Every year, several people accidentally typo their own email addresses, which leads to confusion and consternation, and sometimes no gift for someone until late in the season.

You will get your draw via email. It will contain key information about the person you will be gifting: MeFi username, a real world name, mailing address, and hopefully helpful guidance from the person you drew. It should allow you to get off to a running start.

If you are having trouble putting together your guidance section, ocherdraco put together a list of questions to help you focus. You don't have to answer all (or any of) the questions, but this is a good place to start if you are stumped by the Guidance section.

We will not share, abuse, or sell any of your information. The person who draws your name will not get your email address. We will delete all emails sent and received at the end of the exchange season, as well as all personally identifiable information.

The Rules
1) Email us or use the gift trackinator when you mail your gift out, along with the tracking number(s) if available.
2) Email us when you receive your gift, as well as if you're going to wait to open it.
3) Please either post in the main gift exchange thread when you open your gift, or contact your gifter directly.

We get a LOT of emails from people who put time, energy, and a great deal of care into selecting and mailing gifts, and they want to make sure it gets to you okay. Please help us ensure that's as smooth as possible. =)

If you failed to send your giftee a gift last year without working it out with us, you're ineligible to participate this year. If you do try to sign up, your name will be removed from the swap. You can try again next year, but two strikes and you will be out.

If you find that you can't participate after signing up but before the draw, after all, send an email to the swap gmail account (metafiltergiftswap@gmail.com). We’ll remove your entry. If you find that you can't participate at all after the draw, please send an email to that same gmail account as soon as possible so we can contact the folks who drew you and whom you drew and redirect or reassign as appropriate.

If you do not think you can mail a gift in a reasonable amount of time, please do not participate. It's not OK to plan now on finding and sending your gift after your life calms down in January or late December or on Valentines Day.

Hey! You have a question!
We're happy to serve as anonymizing middlepeople if you have a question for your recipient, to send messages to your recipient on your behalf, to find out if a package has been sent or has been received. Send us an email at our gmail address (metafiltergiftswap@gmail.com), and we'll see what we can find out for you.

A Note About the Swap Groups
If we do not get enough people to do a swap in a group, we will contact folks in the underpopulated swap groups to see what can be done before the swap.

For 2022 we have removed the International Spirit group due to low participation and reverted back to a single International (Physical) group.

A Note about International Shipping
We STRONGLY recommend mailing as early as possible if you are going to send anything internationally, especially if the US is involved. Customs holds up lots of packages for varying amounts of time (with some, it seems forever). If you sign up for the International/Anywhere option, please be aware that shipping times may stretch out longer than you'd prefer.

Signing up for the international swap does not guarantee that you will get a gift from and/or will send a gift to someone outside of the country in which you live (particularly if you live in the USA). If you specifically do want to send/receive internationally, please note that at the end of the sign-up form and we'll do our best to accommodate.

A Note About Data Collection
The organizers have access to all of the information submitted, including names, addresses, and email communications. We promise that none of this is saved or shared outside of this group. At the end of the exchange (generally sometime in February when we're sure everything that's going to ship/arrive has done so), all of this information is deleted; no personal information is carried over year-to-year.

Communicating with Us
Unless you need to contact us specifically about one of the organizers, please use our gmail account, metafiltergiftswap@gmail.com. This will help us make sure we don't overlook anything and can be as efficient as possible.

Who we are
This year, the organizers are rhyspenbras and okayokayigive. If you drew one of our names and need information about your giftee without spoiling the surprise, contact the other one for answers. =)

Gift Swap funding help
As in previous years, we have a pool of funds to assist members who would like to participate in the swap but doing so would be financially difficult for them. If you'd like to take advantage of this, please complete the sign-up link and then contact the team at metafiltergiftswap@gmail.com with your username and the best way to get funds to you (Paypal or Venmo are easiest, but other options are available). These are first-come, first-serve. You won't be asked to justify or explain your situation; if you say you could use the help, we trust you.

Most Importantly, The Signup Link
Sign Up Here
posted by RhysPenbras to MetaFilter-Related at 5:25 AM (53 comments total) 10 users marked this as a favorite

IT'S THE MOST BEANISCAL TIME OF THE YEAR
posted by deezil at 5:45 AM on October 18, 2022 [4 favorites]




Woo! Already registered and can't wait till match time! Thanks for all the work I know you two must be putting into this! It is truly one of the highlights of the holiday season!
posted by Captain_Science at 5:53 AM on October 18, 2022 [2 favorites]


Thanks for including the link ocherdraco's list, cozendindigo!

I was too excited to get the announcement posted and forgot to link it XD
posted by RhysPenbras at 5:56 AM on October 18, 2022 [2 favorites]


Hooray! Thank you so much to rhyspenbras and okayokayigive!
posted by jedicus at 5:56 AM on October 18, 2022 [6 favorites]


Yaaaay!! This is my favorite part of the holiday season. Thank you so much rhyspenbras and okayokayigive!
posted by Sparky Buttons at 6:44 AM on October 18, 2022 [4 favorites]


Love the swap! Can’t wait!
posted by oomny at 7:07 AM on October 18, 2022 [1 favorite]


I can't believe it's already the most wonderful time of the year. Though it's going to be less wonderful if biffa doesn't hit some deadlines first.
posted by biffa at 8:00 AM on October 18, 2022 [1 favorite]


Yay yay yay!
posted by mochapickle at 8:05 AM on October 18, 2022 [1 favorite]


Thank you both for taking up the reins! Truly this is one of my favorite things every year.
posted by Lawn Beaver at 8:20 AM on October 18, 2022 [1 favorite]


I love that this is a thing. Thank you for making it happen. My overcommitment habit / Card Club behavior means I absolutely must not sign up for it.
posted by majick at 8:29 AM on October 18, 2022 [2 favorites]


I have signed up!
Thank you so much to rhyspenbras and okayokayigive for taking on what must be a monumental task.
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 8:35 AM on October 18, 2022 [2 favorites]


YAY! And I say YAY again!
posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 10:00 AM on October 18, 2022 [2 favorites]


Yayyyyyyyy! Signed up, looking forward to getting a gift for one of you great people!
posted by lepus at 10:26 AM on October 18, 2022 [1 favorite]


Woot!! It took me a while to work up the courage to join, but since then I've never missed it. Even if you are not crafty or have super cool hobbies (like me), it's still a lot of fun, both to figure out what to give and to get something from an internet stranger. Can't wait!
posted by widdershins at 11:05 AM on October 18, 2022 [5 favorites]


So, I skipped a couple Quons years. The last time I joined, my original sender's package was lost. How heartbreaking! (Please note that I did get a stellar 2nd-chancer gift.)

I decided to sign up again, and also to be a 2nd-chancer this year. And I hope that mystery sender from a few years back is still joining. Maybe someone who really needed some cheer ended up with that package.

Thank you, organizers!
posted by Glinn at 12:05 PM on October 18, 2022 [3 favorites]


Signed up and looking forward to it. It's going to be my 3rd Metafilter gift swap.

Question - how can we contribute money to the gift swap fund?
posted by Dotty at 12:17 PM on October 18, 2022 [1 favorite]


Signed up! thanks!
posted by bondcliff at 12:40 PM on October 18, 2022 [1 favorite]


Thanks so much for doing this again! I look forward to it every year and it's always been great!
posted by Twicketface at 1:31 PM on October 18, 2022 [1 favorite]


Signed up!
A thousand thank yous to the organizers!
posted by signal at 2:19 PM on October 18, 2022 [1 favorite]


Signed up! Yay!
posted by thomas j wise at 4:50 PM on October 18, 2022 [1 favorite]


Woo!
posted by holborne at 6:37 PM on October 18, 2022 [1 favorite]


so excited to do this again. just signed up :)
posted by needlegrrl at 7:03 PM on October 18, 2022 [2 favorites]


Long time gift swap thread lurker, first time participant.
posted by joseph_elmhurst at 8:51 PM on October 18, 2022 [8 favorites]


Yay! Thank you so much rhyspenbras and okayokayigive for taking this over!
posted by ellieBOA at 11:37 PM on October 18, 2022 [2 favorites]


I love this so much! Is there anyway to sign up twice.... in that I send two gifts and I receive 2 gifts. I do appreciate the work that goes on behind the scenes so I realise the answer to this is probably no.
posted by Lesium at 12:58 AM on October 19, 2022 [2 favorites]


Dotty - thank you for your willingness to contribute to the gift swap fund! Past Mefites have been so incredibly generous in this area that there is currently a surplus of funds. If that changes for next year, we’ll be sure to include it in the announcement, but for now we are all set.

Lesium - we’re not sure! RhysPenbras is going to reach out to some former organizers and see if there’s a precedent, and if our existing processes would support it. We’ll post here with the results, and be sure to add it to internal documentation moving forward.
posted by okayokayigive at 4:38 AM on October 19, 2022 [4 favorites]


Thank you rhyspenbras and okayokayigive for taking this on, Metafilter would not be quite the same without it.
posted by 15L06 at 6:23 AM on October 19, 2022 [4 favorites]


I've just signed up for the first time. An actually in a position to do this, for the first time in many years. Will do my best not to disappoint with my lack of creativity and inventiveness with presents!
posted by Dysk at 7:25 AM on October 19, 2022 [3 favorites]


I haven't signed up yet but I'm planning to as soon as I figure out where I'll be during December. (Fingers crossed I'm able to leave Japan and visit my family this year)
posted by emmling at 7:47 AM on October 19, 2022 [2 favorites]


Thanks so much for taking on the task; it's such a terrific event. also, w00t!
posted by theora55 at 7:51 AM on October 19, 2022 [2 favorites]


Very stoked to have the bandwidth to participate this year. I've always enjoyed doing so. Thanks for organizing!! Yip
posted by PistachioRoux at 8:32 AM on October 19, 2022 [3 favorites]


Yay! One of my favorite things of the year! Signing up after work today.

I can't recall if this has happened before, but I received an e-mail letting me know about that sign up season is here. If this is new, it's awesome. If it's old.... I'll just blame the ton of e-mail I get and it slipped my mind.
posted by a non mouse, a cow herd at 9:23 AM on October 19, 2022 [1 favorite]


Is there anyway to sign up twice.... in that I send two gifts and I receive 2 gifts.

There may be another way that I'm not aware of (probably so, since I know very little about how the back-end gift swap stuff works), but one way that would probably work is to set up a second MeFi account.
posted by box at 9:46 AM on October 19, 2022 [1 favorite]


a non mouse, a cow herd (great name, BTW) - there's been an email in the past but it's been a little more general, which may be why you don't remember it. it's definitely something you would have signed up for though! :)
posted by okayokayigive at 10:56 AM on October 19, 2022 [2 favorites]


I've considered this for years and this is the year I decided to take the plunge. I'm excited! Thank you for organizing. :)
posted by notquitejane at 12:41 PM on October 19, 2022 [5 favorites]


THANK YOU!!!
posted by jeoc at 2:01 PM on October 19, 2022 [1 favorite]


I can't recall if this has happened before, but I received an e-mail letting me know about that sign up season is here.

I was curious so I went and checked! My first sign up reminder email was November 2012, which means I would have signed up for it after the 2011 swap, and I've been getting them ever since. I think 2011 was the year it went from Elfster to google as the swappin' database, and if I had to guess I'd say julen probably set up the reminder request as soon as we had the google forms utility.
posted by phunniemee at 3:06 PM on October 19, 2022 [2 favorites]


Yay I have signed up! Thanks to the organizers for putting this together!
posted by gentlyepigrams at 7:25 PM on October 19, 2022 [3 favorites]


Thank you to rhyspenbras and okayokayigive for taking this on! This is one of my favourite things about MF.
posted by invokeuse at 10:42 PM on October 19, 2022 [2 favorites]


I'm in! Woohoo!
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 7:43 AM on October 20, 2022 [1 favorite]


let's gooooo
posted by cortex (retired) at 9:02 AM on October 20, 2022 [2 favorites]


Signed up! I'm excited, this is my favorite silly little thing every year.
posted by charmedimsure at 4:40 PM on October 20, 2022 [1 favorite]


Hooray! Registered! Wasn't able to participate in 2021 so I'm HYPED about getting back to it. :)
posted by introp at 6:13 PM on October 20, 2022 [1 favorite]


Thank you for taking this over!
posted by lesser weasel at 11:18 PM on October 20, 2022 [1 favorite]


For we need a little bean-ness...
posted by kathrynm at 8:51 AM on October 21, 2022 [2 favorites]


Yay! Signed up.

Thank you rhyspenbras and okayokayigive for organizing it this year!
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 10:17 AM on October 21, 2022 [2 favorites]


I'm in! My favorite time of the year is autumn rollingoninto the swap.
posted by initapplette at 12:17 PM on October 21, 2022 [2 favorites]


Thank you so much for taking this on!

If anyone is on the fence, this is such a wholesome activity and a lot of fun. Join in!
posted by kimberussell at 10:42 AM on October 22, 2022 [4 favorites]


Today's the last day to sign up for the gift swap! Don't forget!
posted by mochapickle at 1:05 PM on November 1, 2022 [1 favorite]


Thanks mochapickle!!

On that note, sign ups are now closed. If you need to make an update/change, have questions, forgot to sign up, etc. please email us at metafiltergiftswap@gmail.com

Exchange details should be going out this weekend, so stay tuned!

We're really looking forward to seeing all of your swaps this year!

​Happy gifting!

Your Metafilter Gift Swap Team
posted by RhysPenbras at 6:17 AM on November 2, 2022 [6 favorites]


Just got my assignment, GAME ON! Extra-large thanks to rhyspenbras & okayokayigive for making this excellent thing happen.
posted by miles per flower at 10:33 AM on November 6, 2022 [2 favorites]


With a very small handful of exceptions where we're ironing out some details, everyone should have their assignments. If you don't see yours, please email metafiltergiftswap@gmail.com. Thank you to all who are participating!
posted by okayokayigive at 4:31 PM on November 7, 2022 [3 favorites]


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