VGCollect 2025 Secret Santa!

[dhaabi]

It's that time of the year with holiday spirit soon to be in the air! Presenting a tradition many here have come to love, I introduce VGCollect's 2025 Secret Santa gift-exchange, now thirteen years in the running! I'd like for the event to go as planned without any issues or hurdles, so I politely ask that this introduction post be read in full. Additionally, we as a community have established that all who are interested to have been members of the forum community for at least three months prior to this announcement topic alongside some sort of site activity. Generally, all are welcome, and we hope that longtime participants return and new ones take part.

Like with previous years' events, I've decided to streamline steps so that most everything I need as the organizer is supplied all at once. With that said, I've created a Google Form for those interested in participating to fill out. For those concerned, the form does not collect e-mail addresses, and completing the form does not require a Google account. Be aware that to formally join the event, the attached form below is needing to be completed. With that said, for the sake of the establishing further interest and community discussion, please be sure to also post in the forum topic if you're planning to take part.

VGCollect 2025 Secret Santa Sign-up
https://forms.gle/r3EAG9xjpvFv4kEQA

Feel free to publicly discuss what you think should be the expected budget, any updates you'd like to share with everyone participating, or anything else related to Secret Santa. As is typical, I think everyone would appreciate any and all discussion to help raise excitement and to maintain engagement. Toward the end of the sign-up period, I will publicly post what the agreed upon budget that has been selected by most participants is. If the budget becomes more than you originally were planning to spend, or if there is any reason you need to withdraw from the event whatsoever, please let me know via PM so that you are formally withdrawn. At the latest, please let me know by the end of Sunday, October 5, as wish list information will be sent to each Santa the following day.

I would like for there to be enough time for anyone interested to see this topic, so the sign-up period will run for approximately three weeks until the morning of Monday, October 6. Following the sign-up period, I will assign each participating Santa their giftee by forwarding wish lists and mailing addresses, and the actual fun will begin!

Something I will mention is the agreed upon budget. As one should assume, this budget tends to be more of a guideline. Evident from the past, many participants personally decide to exceed the budget, although no one should feel as if they themselves or their Santa are required. This hasn't been any major issue in the past, but it's worth addressing, nonetheless. On that note, many participants in the past have gone above and beyond in curating their gifts and mailing them with care, so continuing with that attitude would be fantastic to see.

In regards to how participants will be paired, the state of world trade (specifically relating to the United States) has impacted this event. As a result, participants living in the United States will only be paired with other US citizens. Here is a previous post where I've discussed the matter at some length.

2025 Santas
1. dhaabi
2. NickAwesome
3. kashell
4. Cartagia
5. telly

As it's needed, I will publish follow-up posts while also updating this initial topic post below:

As stated above, this is now the thirteenth year the VGCollect community has celebrated this Secret Santa event! Below are past topic discussions for each previous year:
Secret Santa 2013
Secret Santa 2014
Secret Santa 2015
Secret Santa 2016
Secret Santa 2017
Secret Santa 2018
Secret Santa 2019
Secret Santa 2020
Secret Santa 2021
Secret Santa 2022
Secret Santa 2023
Secret Santa 2024

[Cartagia]

I'm in.  I don't see much of a reason to upset the apple cart in terms of general guidelines, but probably be fine with any changes we need to make.

[telly]

Chalk me up for my 11th year!

We should probably unpin last year's thread too 

[NickAwesome]

I'm excited for another year!

[dhaabi]

Glad to see everyone's interest so far! As a reminder, all those wanting to participate will need to formally sign up to the event using the attached link in the topic post. Filling out this form gives me all the information I'm needing at once instead of it being relayed here or having to deal with PMs.

[kashell]

I signed up. I've dubbed this year as a "self-inflicted, chaotic kick in the d***" so some much needed joy with Secret Santa will help end the year on a good note.

[dhaabi]

I'd appreciate if the shipping date would be December 5th for Domestic U.S. people.  Black Friday is when all my local game stores have sales and often solid inventory for the holidays so it's the best chance to find something locally or take advantage of great sales online.  December 5th gives enough time so that if I do order something that requires shipping- it will likely arrive by then if ordered the week before.  Hopefully the 5th would not interfere with persons trying to do a group opening event later in the month.

Since the matter of a specific date when parcels should be shipped seems rather dependent on each calendar year, I'm directing conversation to this year's topic.

For context, Black Friday for 2025 is on November 28. Personally, I think it may make more sense to have a specific date when items should arrive (or be projected to arrive, as mailing systems aren't fully reliable) instead of when they should be sent.