Skyeward Secret Santa

We’re back! After last year’s success, we decided to bring back the Skyeward Secret Santa project to spread some love and positivity in the Skyeward fandom since canon is not giving us many reasons to rejoice. Our gift exchange will be a fun way to get to know other people who are just as crazy and probably bitter about Skyeward as you while enjoying with them the days that lead up to Christmas. Are you exited yet?

A little, but how does it work?

If you decide to join, we will send you an ask with the URL of a blog, and you’ll be the Secret Santa of that shipmate. Once you get assigned someone, you will have to send anonymous messages to this person so that you can get to know them better and possibly build a friendship and make them happy showering them with love during December! You’ll reveal yourself and give them your gift on Christmas Eve or on Christmas Day and everyone will be happy, because you’ll also get your own Secret Santa who will do just the same for you.

That sounds nice, but what exact do you mean by gift?

You can make one or more gifts for the person who has been assigned to you, just be sure to have at least one ready by the deadline (Dec. 24th). Your gift can be one of these: fanfiction, fanvideo, fanmix, fanart, graphic edit, gifset, other: poems, songs, etc.

Alright, you’ve convinced me. Can you tell me the exact guidelines?

- reblog this post (so that you can help spread the word) - fil in this form to apply. You have until November 25th to send in your application. - you will be assigned a shipmate on December 1st - make sure your ask box is open and the anonymous option is enabled (we will check) - try to send as many anonymous messages to the person who’s been assigned to you as you can - really, don’t forget the anonymous - overall, be nice to your assigned shipmate and please apply only if you’re sure you’ll be able to make a gift in time for the deadline.

Check this blog for further announcements, the “skyeward secret santa“ tag, and if you have any questions or you need any kind of clarification don’t be afraid to send an ask.

We’re back! After last year’s success, we decided to bring back the Skyeward Secret Santa project to spread some love and positivity in the Skyeward fandom since canon is not giving us many reasons to rejoice. Our gift exchange will be a fun way to get to know other people who are just as crazy and probably bitter about Skyeward as you while enjoying with them the days that lead up to Christmas. Are you exited yet?

A little, but how does it work?

If you decide to join, we will send you an ask with the URL of a blog, and you’ll be the Secret Santa of that shipmate. Once you get assigned someone, you will have to send anonymous messages to this person so that you can get to know them better and possibly build a friendship and make them happy showering them with love during December! You’ll reveal yourself and give them your gift on Christmas Eve or on Christmas Day and everyone will be happy, because you’ll also get your own Secret Santa who will do just the same for you.

That sounds nice, but what exact do you mean by gift?

You can make one or more gifts for the person who has been assigned to you, just be sure to have at least one ready by the deadline (Dec. 24th). Your gift can be one of these: fanfiction, fanvideo, fanmix, fanart, graphic edit, gifset, other: poems, songs, etc.

Alright, you’ve convinced me. Can you tell me the exact guidelines?

- reblog this post (so that you can help spread the word) - fil in this form to apply. You have until November 25th to send in your application. - you will be assigned a shipmate on December 1st - make sure your ask box is open and the anonymous option is enabled (we will check) - try to send as many anonymous messages to the person who’s been assigned to you as you can - really, don’t forget the anonymous - overall, be nice to your assigned shipmate and please apply only if you’re sure you’ll be able to make a gift in time for the deadline.

Check this blog for further announcements, the “skyeward secret santa“ tag, and if you have any questions or you need any kind of clarification don’t be afraid to send an ask.

Hi! You’re welcome, I’m happy so many people decided to apply. 

I will do check ins, but I also need people to come to me in the case their secret santa is not turning up. Last year we had some people telling us they hadn’t heard from their secret santa in a while (or never) and we were able to assign them another secret santa. After that, when it came to the deadline we didn’t hear about anomalies so, it being the first time we organized something like this, we didn’t check in with everyone. 

Now I didn’t write down on the rules in this first application post what it’s gonna happen in detail once I’m sending out the names, because I didn’t want to make the post extra long and it wasn’t necessary, but rest assured there will be more details once I’ll make the guideline post for when the names will be sent out. 

The key here other than me checking in with everyone is that first and foremost who decided to participate comes to me and tells me if something is not going the way it’s supposed to, because that way I can help to solve the problem :) 

The point of our project, and I’m pretty sure a lot of people were satisfied by it last year, was to first and foremost enjoy the days that lead up to Christmas with the person you were assigned to and with your own Secret Santa and consequently to make new friends. That’s why I’m never going to tell people to give their wishlist to their secret santa and then expect them to make a gift they’ll deliver on the 25th without even knowing who is this person who was their santa. That way the matching process would just be useless because I could match people with the first random name I see instead of actively trying to find someone who share some interest with you. 

Is this better or worse? It depends on what you’re looking after. If your only desire is to get a present on Christmas, then probably this project is not what you need. I (and others with me) like the idea of waking up with a new nice message every day / other day, and that was what made the 80% of the experience good. A lot of people built lasting friendships after last year (I personally did, and by looking at the tags on the other post many others did as well), and again I don’t want to take the messages exchange part away.  I’ve participated to other gift exchanges in the previous years, and all of them included the daily messages exchange, so maybe it’s because of this that I can’t even imagine being completely focused on making a gift instead of caring about the person you’ve been assigned to and doing your best to try to make their December even slightly better. 

In the application we ask what people are able to make and what they’d like to receive, so when we match people up we also take into account what kind of gifts they’ll eventually want. Then everyone knows that one of the first things the participants have to do is to tell their secret santa what kind of gifts they’d like to receive. Again, this is how we organize it. I don’t want people to only focus on their gifts, especially because personally I’d feel like I’m “using” this person only to fulfill a wish I have. But this is my personal opinion and you can easily toss it in the trash. 

Again, last year we had people coming to us and telling us that their secret santa were nowhere to be seen and we replaced them. Being the first time we organized something like this we didn’t think about checking in with everyone (especially because we weren’t exactly ten people in total), but I will do that this time around in order to assure everyone someone to talk to for the whole month and a gift at the end. I’m genuinely sorry that some people like you were left without a gift last year, but please understand that it was the first time we organized this; again now knowing what didn’t work last year I will do my best to fix those problems in order for everyone to have the best experience possible.

yes, i did want a gift last year. and should i participate this year i would like to receive one (does that make me a bad person?) is that not a part of why everyone enters these exchanges? so that at the end you’d find a nice surprise waiting for you under fannish christmas tree? as for the nice anon messages every morning, i received about three. so i didn’t have much to look forward to during that wait until christmas, i hoped i would at least get a fic. you can’t make people write to their santa every day especially if they’re busy. some of my followers had entire chats with their santas. I could only watch and wonder where did my santa go and why they don’t message me.  i busted my ass off while working on the gift for my own recipient too. i hoped i’d get something. it turned out i got nothing (and after that happened few friends created few gifts to make me feel better), and frankly when i think about that it still makes me feel down. 

Most of us are adults, and everyone before applying should really realize if they’re going to be able to commit to a project like this, in which you get something but also give in return. Yes, I will check in with people in December to avoid having someone left without a gift, but I’m not going to be a nanny breathing down people’s neck and making them feel anxious about something that’s supposed to be fun and pleasant. Personally, last year I made two gifts for the person I was assigned to because I wanted to make her happy and I felt like only one gift wasn’t enough, I surely didn’t make two because she asked for more. 

Hi! You’re welcome, I’m happy so many people decided to apply. 

I will do check ins, but I also need people to come to me in the case their secret santa is not turning up. Last year we had some people telling us they hadn’t heard from their secret santa in a while (or never) and we were able to assign them another secret santa. After that, when it came to the deadline we didn’t hear about anomalies so, it being the first time we organized something like this, we didn’t check in with everyone. 

Now I didn’t write down on the rules in this first application post what it’s gonna happen in detail once I’m sending out the names, because I didn’t want to make the post extra long and it wasn’t necessary, but rest assured there will be more details once I’ll make the guideline post for when the names will be sent out. 

The key here other than me checking in with everyone is that first and foremost who decided to participate comes to me and tells me if something is not going the way it’s supposed to, because that way I can help to solve the problem :) 

The point of our project, and I’m pretty sure a lot of people were satisfied by it last year, was to first and foremost enjoy the days that lead up to Christmas with the person you were assigned to and with your own Secret Santa and consequently to make new friends. That’s why I’m never going to tell people to give their wishlist to their secret santa and then expect them to make a gift they’ll deliver on the 25th without even knowing who is this person who was their santa. That way the matching process would just be useless because I could match people with the first random name I see instead of actively trying to find someone who share some interest with you. 

Is this better or worse? It depends on what you’re looking after. If your only desire is to get a present on Christmas, then probably this project is not what you need. I (and others with me) like the idea of waking up with a new nice message every day / other day, and that was what made the 80% of the experience good. A lot of people built lasting friendships after last year (I personally did, and by looking at the tags on the other post many others did as well), and again I don’t want to take the messages exchange part away.  I’ve participated to other gift exchanges in the previous years, and all of them included the daily messages exchange, so maybe it’s because of this that I can’t even imagine being completely focused on making a gift instead of caring about the person you’ve been assigned to and doing your best to try to make their December even slightly better. 

In the application we ask what people are able to make and what they’d like to receive, so when we match people up we also take into account what kind of gifts they’ll eventually want. Then everyone knows that one of the first things the participants have to do is to tell their secret santa what kind of gifts they’d like to receive. Again, this is how we organize it. I don’t want people to only focus on their gifts, especially because personally I’d feel like I’m “using” this person only to fulfill a wish I have. But this is my personal opinion and you can easily toss it in the trash. 

Again, last year we had people coming to us and telling us that their secret santa were nowhere to be seen and we replaced them. Being the first time we organized something like this we didn’t think about checking in with everyone (especially because we weren’t exactly ten people in total), but I will do that this time around in order to assure everyone someone to talk to for the whole month and a gift at the end. I’m genuinely sorry that some people like you were left without a gift last year, but please understand that it was the first time we organized this; again now knowing what didn’t work last year I will do my best to fix those problems in order for everyone to have the best experience possible.

yes, i did want a gift last year. and should i participate this year i would like to receive one (does that make me a bad person?) is that not a part of why everyone enters these exchanges? so that at the end you’d find a nice surprise waiting for you under fannish christmas tree? as for the nice anon messages every morning, i received about three. so i didn’t have much to look forward to during that wait until christmas, i hoped i would at least get a fic. you can’t make people write to their santa every day especially if they’re busy. some of my followers had entire chats with their santas. I could only watch and wonder where did my santa go and why they don’t message me.  i busted my ass off while working on the gift for my own recipient too. i hoped i’d get something. it turned out i got nothing (and after that happened few friends created few gifts to make me feel better), and frankly when i think about that it still makes me feel down. 

Most of us are adults, and everyone before applying should really realize if they’re going to be able to commit to a project like this, in which you get something but also give in return. Yes, I will check in with people in December to avoid having someone left without a gift, but I’m not going to be a nanny breathing down people’s neck and making them feel anxious about something that’s supposed to be fun and pleasant. Personally, last year I made two gifts for the person I was assigned to because I wanted to make her happy and I felt like only one gift wasn’t enough, I surely didn’t make two because she asked for more. 

Hi! You’re welcome, I’m happy so many people decided to apply. 

I will do check ins, but I also need people to come to me in the case their secret santa is not turning up. Last year we had some people telling us they hadn’t heard from their secret santa in a while (or never) and we were able to assign them another secret santa. After that, when it came to the deadline we didn’t hear about anomalies so, it being the first time we organized something like this, we didn’t check in with everyone. 

Now I didn’t write down on the rules in this first application post what it’s gonna happen in detail once I’m sending out the names, because I didn’t want to make the post extra long and it wasn’t necessary, but rest assured there will be more details once I’ll make the guideline post for when the names will be sent out. 

The key here other than me checking in with everyone is that first and foremost who decided to participate comes to me and tells me if something is not going the way it’s supposed to, because that way I can help to solve the problem :) 

The point of our project, and I’m pretty sure a lot of people were satisfied by it last year, was to first and foremost enjoy the days that lead up to Christmas with the person you were assigned to and with your own Secret Santa and consequently to make new friends. That’s why I’m never going to tell people to give their wishlist to their secret santa and then expect them to make a gift they’ll deliver on the 25th without even knowing who is this person who was their santa. That way the matching process would just be useless because I could match people with the first random name I see instead of actively trying to find someone who share some interest with you. 

Is this better or worse? It depends on what you’re looking after. If your only desire is to get a present on Christmas, then probably this project is not what you need. I (and others with me) like the idea of waking up with a new nice message every day / other day, and that was what made the 80% of the experience good. A lot of people built lasting friendships after last year (I personally did, and by looking at the tags on the other post many others did as well), and again I don’t want to take the messages exchange part away.  I’ve participated to other gift exchanges in the previous years, and all of them included the daily messages exchange, so maybe it’s because of this that I can’t even imagine being completely focused on making a gift instead of caring about the person you’ve been assigned to and doing your best to try to make their December even slightly better. 

In the application we ask what people are able to make and what they’d like to receive, so when we match people up we also take into account what kind of gifts they’ll eventually want. Then everyone knows that one of the first things the participants have to do is to tell their secret santa what kind of gifts they’d like to receive. Again, this is how we organize it. I don’t want people to only focus on their gifts, especially because personally I’d feel like I’m “using” this person only to fulfill a wish I have. But this is my personal opinion and you can easily toss it in the trash. 

Again, last year we had people coming to us and telling us that their secret santa were nowhere to be seen and we replaced them. Being the first time we organized something like this we didn’t think about checking in with everyone (especially because we weren’t exactly ten people in total), but I will do that this time around in order to assure everyone someone to talk to for the whole month and a gift at the end. I’m genuinely sorry that some people like you were left without a gift last year, but please understand that it was the first time we organized this; again now knowing what didn’t work last year I will do my best to fix those problems in order for everyone to have the best experience possible.