FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

It is August, so you know what that means. That's right, it is time to talk about winter holidays!

We have two winter events coming up that you won't want to miss out on. The first is our Secret Santa gift exchange. In this event you will send a gift of around $20 to a person assigned to you and you will receive a gift from someone else. The full details will be available when we start but you can look at the links below to see our past gift exchanges.

The second event is our Holiday Extravaganza photo contest. What makes this special is that in addition to the prize from our sponsor, The Flytrap Store , we also ask forum members to donate a prize and shipping. The more contributors, the more prizes. Also, the last prize is rewarded on a random basis so everyone has a chance to win. Check out the links to our previous contests below.

That's it. Get into the holiday spirit and think about if you would like to participate in one or both of our events. If you have any questions, feel free to post them here or send me a PM.

Secret Santa 2023
Secret Santa 2022
Secret Santa 2021
Secret Santa 2020

Holiday Extravaganza 2023
Holiday Extravaganza 2022
Holiday Extravaganza 2021
Holiday Extravaganza 2020

I saw some of the other posts, and it seems like it would be a lot of fun! Would be maybe 2nd or 3rd Secret Santa I ever got to play in.

But what if we have nothing that’s on the person’s wishlist? Like I could try and find something on eBay or something to send, but I don’t know if that’s gonna work? It seems like that might be a deterrent to newer folks.

Also since it’s gonna (probably, but not at all guaranteed anymore) furrreeezing, I don’t have a problem trying to get a couple of those heat packs somewhere, but is that encouraged or does everyone just know to check the weather and do it if necessary?

(And just for the record it was the 2nd link for Secret Santa I think (2022), or the other 2022 link just took me to a page that said I can’t edit in that forum. Anyhoo, at least if I can’t give anything interesting to the individual, I could certainly figure out how to ship something for the photo contest hopefully. These sound really fun! Thanks for arranging it all.

Thank you I overthink everything lol. I guess it’s better than assuming it’s ok to do stuff. Or that’s what I’ll tell myself.

And I really really love surprising people and don’t get to do it nearly often enough so I’m excited. Ooh if you ever wanna do it twice a year there’s that Christmas in July thing. Just saying haha

Jade wrote:But what if we have nothing that’s on the person’s wishlist?

The Santa assignments aren't completely random. Everyone is required to provide their grow list and wish list. I do my best to align the gifter and giftee. Buying something to send is an option, but that's not really the idea behind it. Regardless, when the time comes, I help to guide the process.

Panman wrote: ↑Mon Aug 05, 2024 1:51 pm

Jade wrote:But what if we have nothing that’s on the person’s wishlist?

The Santa assignments aren't completely random. Everyone is required to provide their grow list and wish list. I do my best to align the gifter and giftee. Buying something to send is an option, but that's not really the idea behind it. Regardless, when the time comes, I help to guide the process.

Oh that makes me feel even better. Thanks so much! I’m just waiting to make sure I’ll be able to get transportation to the post office in that time frame. I don’t drive, and I don’t want to assume and then mess up your Secret Santa while I’m waiting on a ride.

As soon as I get a hopeful green light, I’ll be in with Silver Bells on!

Jade wrote:I’m just waiting to make sure I’ll be able to get transportation to the post office in that time frame.

If you ship it via Priority Mail, you can actually schedule the post office to do a pick up.

Panman wrote: ↑Mon Aug 05, 2024 7:15 pm

Jade wrote:I’m just waiting to make sure I’ll be able to get transportation to the post office in that time frame.

If you ship it via Priority Mail, you can actually schedule the post office to do a pick up.

Really? I’m actually just gonna go ahead and admit (which is crazy at my age) that I’ve never shipped anything. I’ll try to ask like family and google before asking about shipping here haha. At least I have gotten a few different kinds of plants that I know how to pack those ones now.

I recommend using pirateship.com for shipping. You can print your own labels and it is much cheaper than going to the post office or a UPS store. You can print the label on plain paper and tape it to the package.

I didn’t even know you could do your own labels other than for shipping stuff back and I didn’t have a printer in the other house or typically empty boxes, so I usually just chucked whatever at my sister or something to send back. I will definitely look into that. I may have more experience by then I hope.

I believe there’s a fall NASC auction on fb which is the only reason to use the app, but I was really hoping I would find something cool to put in the spring one that someone would want, and I couldn’t find anything. Now I feel like I might have a couple things for that.

Oh if approximately $20 is the amount people would supposed to be using for the gift, it’s okay to go over that right? Always of course understanding that your Santa won’t likely be spending that on you? I can’t imagine trying to just send one thing lol