September 18, 2004

Curious George: December fun? In light of the doubly successful MoFi CD Swap, I've been thinking about other fun forms of monkey interaction via snail mail. So I'm throwing this out there - would anyone be interested in a secret santa?

The premise would be simple - you give your name/address to the organizer, and you get assigned another unaware monkey's address. The deadline would probably be early December (nobody wants a late Christmukkah present), and I'm guessing we would have a suggested price range of < 10 dollars (I'd probably make something, myself) for a gift you'd send to your person/victim. Hysteria ensues when monkeys try to figure out who sent them a talking banana toilet paper holder, and a fun time is had by all. Unfortunately, I'm completely unable to put the time into organizing this, and Tracicle and Shotsy have already done more than enough for us. Would anyone (besides Monkeybashi and me) be interested in participating? If so, who's going to be SantaBashi?

posted by Mfpb 2 21 20 years ago
  • oooo!!! i love secret santa!!! i'll also volunteer to organize if we get enough monkeys interested... great idea!
  • Sounds like a great idea!
  • Yeah ok, I'll be in :o) I just better post whatever to whoever in wherever now, since I live in the middle of nowhere
  • You used two phrases that make me giddy with joy, and a certain participant. One is "SantaBashi". The other is "Chrismukkah".
  • I'd do it.
  • I'll do it but God help the poor bastard who I get. Muuuhhahahahaaaaa
  • SideDish and/or potential SantaBashi (there it is again!): I'm guessing it wouldn't be as much work as Shotsy had to do for the CDX, but one person would have to have a list of all members and addresses and then match them up. We'd also probably need someone (not necessarily the same person) to set up and moderate forums to prevent bizarre Curious George FPPs diluting the front page and confused gift recipients derailing threads. although that would be kind of cool. unless you're MonkeyBashi, in which case you bananas in a NOT good way. We'd also need to establish some rules and/or maybe some forbidden items (no sex toys allowed? sex toys allowed? ONLY sex toys allowed?) and/or an FAQ.... hmm.
  • Rules?! Where's the fun in that?!
  • Suggested rule #1: absolutely no bodily fluids. But that's only a suggestion.
  • I'd be in... I *love* giving and receiving presents :)
  • This sounds like a very good idea, but hopefully it can all be arranged soon, because some people are very, very bad at mailing things (I need several weeks usually just to find a stamp).
  • Sounds like fun, but there are usually small children around when I open my presents. Dog toys are explainable, sex toys are not.
  • I'm in.
  • Except when the dog toys and sex toys are indistinguishable.
  • Ok, I'll bite.
  • We could just have one thread for monkey hugs and ban requests after that would live on the sidebar for awhile. Maybe when we give our information we could also give information on what would be unacceptable. Less rules the better.
  • I'd be up for it.
  • Hmmm.... Nostrildamus: Salamander Brandy Darshon: Polyurethane Dead Baby Fuyugare: 1001 Eskimo Jokes...
  • I'm totally up for this. And don't worry, monkeys - I already found a home for the stray cat!
  • No cock punch.
  • Didn't someone on here say they could make mead? :)
  • Anyone who has website hosting probably has access to some kind of Forum engine like shotsy has for the CD Swap. Then people could post anything at all and not have it all over MoFi. That said, I'm not against one big thread for all Santabashi-related stuff. Also, I'm in. But you knew that. :)
  • Except when the dog toys and sex toys are indistinguishable. posted by jb at 06:31PM UTC on September 19 Ok, I'll bite. posted by PatB at 06:56PM UTC on September 19 O frabjous.
  • Hmmm.... Nostrildamus: Salamander Brandy Darshon: Polyurethane Dead Baby Fuyugare: 1001 Eskimo Jokes... posted by Nickdanger at 02:15AM UTC on September 20 Nickdanger = Satan's spawn, the Demon-seed, evil-incarnate.......;) I'm in.
  • Steeples fingers. Arches eyebrow. Grins.
  • Me too.
  • This sounds fun. Maybe toilet golf will go on sale before Christmukkah.
  • So do you guys think we should send the gifts anonymously and drag out the hunt for the gift-giver as long as possible, or put your identity somewhere on the package?
  • I vote for anonymous, however, that leaves the door wide open for asshats. It's a risk.
  • Not sure about this, but I think sending packages anonymously within or to the U.S. is frowned upon. We might be able to have Amazon send something without putting a name on it. Or maybe send postcards with clues or poems or love notes to your Monkey and afterwards send the gift. And I'm definitely in.
  • It might be possible to put some coded indication of the gift-er in/on the item, balancing between total anonymity and having some idea who to thank. also, the USPS will accept 'anonymous' mail, in the sense that "ilyadeux" is fairly anonymous, they don't check ID to conform to an address, and the customs slip has a totally illegible signature (which is my actual signature, it's just illegible). No comment intended on national security by the above.
  • i think many of us would still be "anonymous" even if we put our addresses. so the return address would be something like: MoFi Secret Santa 1014 Woodlawn Ave waukegan ill 60085 USA because, how many of us know any other monkey's home addys?
  • BTW, the way i've done secret santas in the past: send a card/postcard/tiny gift each week for, say, 2 or 3 weeks, then give the main gift with the name. so that way you're in suspense for awhile, then know who to thank.
  • (i used to coordinate the secret santa activity at my newspaper years ago. we did it for, oh, five or six years running until it got too complicated. we'd draw names out of a hat, and over the years more people came to hate other people, so we had a lot of, "oh, i drew this guy's name but i can't stand him so let me draw another." sheesh. office politics.)
  • what SideDish said, again... /too tired right now to try and figure out who wants what
  • must...keep...post...on...sidebar! must...find...organizer! email me, i guess. or something.