Secret Santa 2011-Ho Ho Ho let the fun begin!

anniehoo

Now that all of the formalities are done 'n dusted and this years participants have received their Secret Santa Pets name....we can have the craic in here!

Thanks AJ for all your hard work, i know you were inundated with PMs.

So, December 22nd is OPENING DAY....and i promise i wont cheat this time(i opened mine at midnight last year).:D:D

Happy Shopping/Creating everyone! I must get the thinking cap on for my SS ..havent a clue what to get :P;)

Shazanne

Yippee! I got my Secret Santa pets today and can't wait to go shopping for them!!
This was one of the best parts of Christmas last year - it was such fun!!
I'd swear my two dogs know its coming up again - they've stopped barking at the postman!!!!
Thanks AJ for all the hard work again this year:)

mymo

Woohoo, got my details, looking forward to spending my weekend noseying about the web looking for goodies!

Cherry Blossom

Apologies for my lack of pleasantries in the PM's, it just made it quicker and easier to get them all out that way

We have 20 participants - 28 pressies this year.

In alphabetical order:

adrenalinjunkie
Allguaurin
andreac
anniehoo
antomagoo
Belongtojazz
Blogger50
Kali_Kalika
kildareash
minxie
Mymo
Sambuka41
scudzilla
Shazanne
Tazwaz
TillyGirl
Tommy21
TooManyDogs
Whispered
Zapperzy

We have loads and loads of terriers, Restricted breeds and Collie/Collie crosses and all sorts of other dogs and a few kitties

Zapperzy

Got mine and can't wait to go looking for things! So excited!

Kali_Kalika

I got my secret santa! And its .... oh ..... wait .... SECRET santa .... I get it now! :D:D

I joke I joke! Well, I did get my secret santa - I'm just not saying who it is!

Thanks to AJ for all the hard work on this! The ball is officially rolling now! Think I'll be donning a festive mood and getting shopping this afternoon!

I'm not sure who's more excited about the secret santa - me or Kali! Nah - who am I kidding! It's me! But I'm sure when she's handed her secret package she'll happily rip into it! So then she'll probably be more excited. But either way - I know we're not the only ones - so AJ hope you know how many excited pup and people combos you've created! :D

tazwaz

thanks aj, i can go shopping now
i'm soo excited again this year

kildareash

Tried to pick up a few bits for my SS last night, such a bad selection of stuff in my local Petmania. I was really disappointed by it.
Gonna try another few independent pet shops tomorrow. Hopefully they'll have more of a selection.

I'm so excited!

Fair play to AJ again for organising it all.

andreac

Do we have a budget on this?? I cant remember if we do.

toadfly

andreac wrote: »

Do we have a budget on this?? I cant remember if we do.

€10

andreac

Thanks Tilly, i thought it was that but then i thought i was imagining it, lol.

Cherry Blossom

After much deliberation in the pet shop yesterday I picked out my pressie. I went a little over the €10. I need a nice card now to finish it off

Whispered

Oh no - I've had loads going on lately and haven't gotten to go shopping yet. But I will! I promise. I have an idea of what I would like to get, it's just a matter of finding it!

Zapperzy

Iv gotten my pressie too, have to find a suitable card and wrapping paper now. Hope they like it!

Kali_Kalika

:D Shopping and wrapping are finished already here! :D

Just need a box for it all to fit in (average shoe box size will do) - does anyone know where you can buy boxes to post things in? Checked the post office on Saturday but they don't sell boxes anymore so I'm a bit lost!

mymo

Kali, you could try asking in a shoe shop for a spare box, lots of people don't take the boxes now, so they often have them.

Zapperzy

Kali_Kalika wrote: »

:D Shopping and wrapping are finished already here! :D

Just need a box for it all to fit in (average shoe box size will do) - does anyone know where you can buy boxes to post things in? Checked the post office on Saturday but they don't sell boxes anymore so I'm a bit lost!

Iv seen some bigger post offices still selling them.

anniehoo

adrenalinjunkie wrote: »

After much deliberation in the pet shop yesterday I picked out my pressie. I went a little over the €10. I need a nice card now to finish it off

Got mine today The tenner limit really makes you have to think doesnt it!

kildareash wrote: »

Tried to pick up a few bits for my SS last night, such a bad selection of stuff in my local Petmania..

Maxi Zoo has some very cute stuff and fairly reasonable!

Didnt write a xmas card last year (forgot ) so will make sure i do one for this years SS!Now for the wrapping

Shazanne

Yippee - all wrapped and ready to go!!!! Now I have to wait until Thursday to post them (it is the 1st we send them isn't it?? :rolleyes:)
May have gone a little over the €10 as well (;);)!!) but it is Secret Santa - and it is for pets:cool::cool:
Had to put my two scoundrels outside while I was wrapping or it could have turned into Christmas Day here very early:eek::p

By the way - Easons do boxes in a variety of sizes.

toadfly

Oh god ye are all putting me to shame I havent even thought about this yet. We only have PetWorld & PetMania in Galway and they dont have the best choice.

Have I left it too late to order online?

Zapperzy

TillyGirl wrote: »

Oh god ye are all putting me to shame I havent even thought about this yet. We only have PetWorld & PetMania in Galway and they dont have the best choice.

Have I left it too late to order online?

With zooplus it takes a week to get to me, so if I ordered now I would have it on the 5th or 6th, deadline for posting is the 7th so it's leaving it a bit tight but do-able provided there are no delays.

I'v gotten the bulk of my pressie but just looking for something small to top it all off! It was so hard to settle on something, I wanted to buy it all! And then to find some nice wrapping paper and a card.

Think I'v worked out who I have, dying to know who has me! Such a long wait until the 22nd, thats 3 and a half weeks away.

mymo

Tillygirl, I don't think its too late to order online, even if it takes a week (arriving next monday) you should just scrape by for the deadline.

*at least thats what I hope, I only ordered some stuff yesterday, not very organized either, sorting stuff and packing to move here.

toadfly

Zapperzy wrote: »

Think I'v worked out who I have, dying to know who has me! Such a long wait until the 22nd, thats 3 and a half weeks away.

Me too, knew straight away. I knew one of the two I had last year as well. Makes it a little easier to pick just have to trawl through the posts!

anniehoo

I actually dont know who i have...even after searching posts.Very strange as i thought id be able to guess as soon as i seen pets name..but nope!!!

Zapperzy

anniehoo wrote: »

I actually dont know who i have...even after searching posts.Very strange as i thought id be able to guess as soon as i seen pets name..but nope!!!

Thats what I thought too but I had to do a bit of searching to find out mine as well. So apologies if it looks like I was stalking on people's profiles!

mymo

I know one of mine, but not the other. The name doesn't even ring a bell (pets name).

It very funny here, I'm having a good sort out and dogs keep nicking stuff from the junk pile, oddest things, and I find them in their bed.
So far amongst other things, I have found some odd socks, a bra, a rubber duck and a pink recorder in their bed.

Cherry Blossom

When I first started letting my dog (as a pup) out in the garden I left the back door open in case she wanted to come in. I ended up with all sorts in the dog crate - sticks, stones, gardening gloves, the heads of all my dads daffodils :eek:

Don't you just wonder what goes on in their little heads sometimes?

mymo

Aj, bringing stuff in isn't my problem, mine take stuff out...I have to check their mouths before I open the front door.
Thieving little sods won't stay away from the dirty washing basket.

Kali_Kalika

Thanks for all the box suggestions Was having a wander through Easons today and found some there

I hadn't even thought of a card - haha - just assumed it was the animals SS and I guess I assumed most of them wouldn't be avid readers! But think before the posting date I'll get one!

Oh - and just to add an extra side note/hijack - about dogs taking things out of the house and having to check them before they leave - my dog who passed away (RIP Marley) was a divil for it! We were staying with a friend in the country who also had a dog and they'd been out for a romp and we're a bit (completely) mud covered and wanted to be let in - a bath was needed before that happened and we were cooking at the time so we opened the back door so they could be in and sheltered - the back door led into a small hallway with the laundry room and a small toilet before another door leading into the kitchen and the rest of the house - so they'd be in, sheltered and toasty for a short bit until we could deal with the muddy paws - My guy Marley decided he wasn't having that compromise so he raided her laundry basket and the next thing we looked out and all across the 2 acres they lived on all you could spot was coloured knickers scattered in the grass as far as the eye could see - and in the middle of it all - running in giddy circles with a bra waving like a flag in his mouth was the guilty party - no doubt who had done it! :P Needless to say it took us longer to retrieve all the knickers than it had him to scatter them around!

:P:D Dogs - can't live with 'em - can't live without 'em!! :P

scudzilla

Goin over to Wales on Wednesday so will get ours from there, great big pet shop and nearly half the price from here, so will get a lot more for my 10Euro

Blogger50

Got my details and will have pressie(s)??? in the post on Friday!

Now if only I had time I could do a bit of detective work

Zapperzy

Thought I'd bump this up as it's gone a bit dead.

Will have mine posted on Monday.

toadfly

Got my presents today, not fully happy but they are still good

Shazanne

Its hard to be fully happy with what you get. But I don't think thats the purpose of it anyway. It's the sheer fun of getting the presents, wrapping them and sending them and then waiting for the post to come to you:D I just love it!!! Don't care what I (I mean the dogs:eek:) get - its the fun of it I love!!;)

toadfly

Shazanne wrote: »

Its hard to be fully happy with what you get. But I don't think thats the purpose of it anyway. It's the sheer fun of getting the presents, wrapping them and sending them and then waiting for the post to come to you:D I just love it!!! Don't care what I (I mean the dogs:eek:) get - its the fun of it I love!!;)

Oh ya I know but it's still nice to find exactly what you want to buy! Mine will b out in Mondays post.

Cherry Blossom

Hmm, I'm still no further forward. I still need to find a nice card, that's a job for today then!

Shazanne

TillyGirl wrote: »

Oh ya I know but it's still nice to find exactly what you want to buy! Mine will b out in Mondays post.

I know!! And I should really practice what I preach cause I'm just as bad!!!

tommy21

Gah! Forgot the feckin cat lol.

tommy21

Its going to be Wednesday before I get mine out, simply can't any sooner with work etc.

anniehoo

Wrapped and ready to go! In a flash of mentalness today had the "bright" idea of embellishing one of the presents ....errr...glad my SS wont be able to read :D

Whispered

Got mine today. I left it too late to order anything online, so I don't think I got very good value for money, I'd forgotten how expensive pet shops can be!! But I like what I got and I hope my SS's do too!

Will wrap and post tomorrow.

tazwaz

i'm nearly sorted, must get a card and then i can post it.. it's soo exciting now

Zapperzy

Mines wrapped and ready to go. I apologize if my SS gets an odour de cat off mine, a certain four legged furry decided to help me wrap it! :rolleyes:

anniehoo

Ok, mine went out in the post this morning. Roll on the 22nd

If anyone thinks they wont be able to send theirs this week,for whatever reason (things happen) can you PM Adrenalinjunkie to let her know. We all should have our pressies by Dec 15th the latest.Theres no crazy snow like last year so fingers crossed theres no delays.

If you havent received yours by the 15th (ish) let us know and the relevant SS can be contacted...dont want a sad doggy/kitty on the 22nd

Zapperzy

anniehoo wrote: »

Theres no crazy snow like last year so fingers crossed theres no delays.

Yet... There was snow up here (letterkenny) this morning and the gap was meant to be very bad.

Kali_Kalika

Mine is all wrapped and in the box (still need to 1) Remove the cat 2) seal it up and address it!) And pre-appologies to our SS about the whiff of cat from the box - despite having tunnels (a cat one from the pet shop and a kids one from Argos) and 2 cat tents - boxes are his fetish! :rolleyes: He just can't resist, everytime I pass it I pull him out of it and close it up - seconds later he's back in :rolleyes: I'll try and get him out for good before posting it off to the SS! But no guarantee on that! :rolleyes::D

Unfortunately I wont be able to get it to the post office today due to Kali being at the vet for an injured dew claw (the "thumb" for dogs) which now has to be removed so between it all I dont see me getting it all packaged up and to the post office today - but it WILL be sent out tomorrow for sure!!

Shazanne

I wouldn't mind getting a parcel with a cat inside!! The cat might not be too keen tho - and either would my two resident canines!

Anyway - I cheated today and sent a girl from the office to the Post Office to send my parcels off. But she returned, cold and not pleased at being sent to begin with, with the parcels still in her hands:eek: Apparently I have to put them in padded envelopes or they will fall apart in transit:rolleyes:
So will have to try again tomorrow! And wont have anyone to send as they tell me its Childrens Allowance Day in the Post Office so noone will join the queue!!!

mymo

Thank doG, last bits arrived in the post today, wrapping later and will have to post on Wednesday morning as working until 7pm with no chance of getting to post office tomorrow.
But having fun here choosing wrapping paper and cards.
I may even start on my people cards list now:o bit slow this year!

belongtojazz

One of my (sorry the dogs) parcels arrived today...all the way from Canada!!

How exciting is that

toadfly

Gonna post mine tomorow or Wednesday at the very latest

Allgäuerin

ALL parcels wrapped (took ages as Molly & Alfie don't like to share ). Will be in the post tomorrow. Ho Ho Ho let the fun begin