Secret Santa • Blogger Edition

On twitter, I had heard a lot about Blogger Secret Santa and as I've never done one before, I thought it would be fun to give it a go. There were a few different bloggers organising them, but I decided to join Vicki's from A Life Of Geekery (find here). I was allocated a blogger, who I had to pick out gifts for (with a budget of £15) and send it off in time for Christmas and in return a blogger picked at random will have to go and choose a gift for you - just as any other secret santa!

Obviously, doing Secret Santa with people you haven't met is a risk. The post can be unpredictable, things can go missing, get broken or some bloggers may claim to have not received their gift - just the same as a blogger could say they have sent off a gift having not brought one - so it is something to bare in mind if you want to do it. However Vicki made sure everyone had sent her proof of postage by a certain date so she could make sure there were no bloggers trying to pull a scam, so I was pretty certain everything would turn out okay.

It was such a struggle to find a present for my chosen blogger, because her blog wasn't about her and she didn't really talk about her interests or what she liked, or her age range - so after scouring every post written for a good few hours, I was really stuck on what to get. I ended up spending over the budget as I got quite a few different bits in hopes she liked at least 1, as she never mentioned her taste on her blog. I also included a little note, letting her know I had kept all the tags/prices on and saying where everything was from, so if she wanted to exchange anything she could - which I would recommend doing if you are in the same predicament because it's never nice to receive something your never going to use. I sent off all my package of gifts along with a card revealing who her secret santa was with my email in if there was anything she wanted to know. I never heard back from said blogger, so I have no idea if she liked anything, or decided to change anything... or even received the package.

After seeing pictures on twitter of bloggers receiving their secret santa gifts, I wasn't sure if I was going to receive mine - which of course was disappointing as I was looking forward to it, but that wasn't the reason I decided to do it in the first place. A few days later, I got an email from Vicki letting me know my secret santa had sent off my package and I was SO excited. A few days later, lo and behold my gift was popped through the letter box. I was desperate to open it, but managed to wait until Christmas. As you can imagine, on the day I was like a 5 year old and ripped (the beautifully packaged, may I add) to pieces - only to find a little note from my Secret Santa and saw she had done a pass the parcel for me which was the BEST idea - why hadn't I thought of that? Everything was packaged so cute, the wooden star, the ribbon, the stickers, the little notes - it was the cutest thing ever. I ripped each bit of paper to reveal minion stickers (how adorable?), a malteaser reindeer, a pencil and a dress and shoe rubber which I am gonna use for my blogging book. I got to the very last parcel and was clueless as to what it could be. As I tore it open a little piece of card fell out with "Ta Da! Merry Christmas" written on it and inside the wrapping paper revealed a MAC lipstick in the shade Rebel.

As soppy as this sounds I was so touched. I know to some it may be a lipstick, but it meant a lot to me that my Secret Santa has read through my blog and seen that I had mentioned I had my eye on it. The pass the parcel idea, the notes and time and effort that she must have spent wrapping it all beautifully, everything was just so lovely and I really really appreciate all the little details, it was so thoughtful. My Secret Santa was Rachael who blogs at thefashionfruitcake (find her here) - thanks so much Rachael - you made my day week.

Do excuse the crappy pictures, I kind of wish I'd got my camera out as these photos really don't do my little gift justice - but I was to busy ripping it open to stand taking photos of it.

Also I wanted to say thanks to Vicki for organising it all, pairing everyone up and making sure we all received our gifts. It must have taken such a long time and I really appreciate you setting it all up.
You can find Vicki's blog here and (my secret santa Rachaels) blog here.

I am hoping to do it next Christmas and am already looking forward to it! If you are thinking about it, I 100% recommend it!

xx