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2019 Secret Santa Exchange Festival of Fossils


caldigger

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  Welcome to this years Secret Santa gift exchange 2019. FESTIVAL OF FOSSILS

The Secret Santa exchange is when you enter your name into a pool and get matched with another player to exchange gifts.

We try to keep gifts to around the maximum $30. range so no one is sending an overly extravagant gift or too menial a gift.  When making your selection on what to send, ask yourself

"would I be happy receiving this?"

 

All are welcome to play so long as you adhere to the rules.

 

This is a Secret Santa exchange. The catch is that your partner will not know who is sending the gift or what it will be until it is received. Your name will in turn be chosen for a different "Santa" to send a gift to you. It is crucial that the identity of who it is coming from to be kept totally unknown, so no hints or contacting who you are sending to!

Sign up for entering this fun event will start today October 13 and will be open until the cut off for entry on Sunday October 27th Midnight Pacific Time.  You will then be matched with your exchange partner and the names and addresses will be sent out by Midnight October 30th.

Please PM me ( caldigger ) with your full name and mailing address.  There are three choices you can make for your exchange partner.  Do you want to send Domestic ( US only ), Overseas/ International

( could be anywhere outside the US ), or the greater European realm ( for those in Europe and close surrounding countries who don't want to ship overseas ). 

Send off deadline for International (overseas ) packages will be on November 12th due to the holiday shipping lag times ( busy postal departments and customs delays ) that occur at this time  of year.

Domestic send off deadline is December 4th.

* It is important to get the gifts sent off by the deadline! Delays can and will happen, so please do yourself and your partner the curtesy and send on or before the deadline!  

It has been requested by many members that since this is a Secret Santa exchange, that everybody either hold off on opening their received packages or at least take pictures of what you received and not post the photos until Christmas December 25th ).

 

*** A few handy tips we have learned from past exchanges that may help the shipping transactions run more smoothly and help avoid unnecessary holdups.

 

*- Make sure your items are cleaned of dirt and dust the best you can. Most customs departments frown upon having foreign dirt coming into the receiving country.

 

*- Check the box on your customs form as "Gift". This portrays a better indication the contents are not being brought in for commercial resale.

 

*- In the past, when writing the description of the contents on the customs form it is found best to write something very simple such as "Geological specimens for educational studies" or "Study grade fossils for educational purposes- No commercial value".   

You don't want your gift to incure taxes because the customs office thinks they are going to be sold.

 

*- For the contents value box on the form make sure you give it a low valuation ( I personally write $10. No matter how much higher the contents value may be ). Many customs departments will charge the receiver an additional charge based on the declared value on the form when entering the country.  It is a gift, we don't want the receiver to have to pay to get it released from customs!

Also do not put "0" value on the form either. That automatically raises a red flag to customs. Nobody is going to spend money shipping a package that is worth nothing!

 

*** Please, please, please package your items very well with lots of packing material.  The parcel may seem well packaged when sitting upright on your table, but they get tossed around, jumbled, have heavier boxes stacked on top, placed upside down, etc, etc.

You almost can never have too much padding, especially when traveling half way across the world.

There is nothing sadder and more frustrating to anxiously await a package to find the sender did not take the time to assure all was properly padded tight.  If you can feel the slightest movement in the box, it will likely break. Pad every item and all spaces around them.

 

OK, it must be said. This exchange is based and built on trust. All participants are putting their items they have either found or purchased on the line in hopes the other player has done the same. I can not control what members do, so please play fair. Do not sent a box of trash rocks. We all want items that we would be glad to have in our collections and your gift should reflect that.

~Remember this exchange is for the December 25th holiday!!!

~ A major part of this exchange is to post pictures in this thread of the goodies that your Santa sent you. Please take pictures and post them for all the other Forum members to see. That's half the fun!!!

~If you don't feel the rules and deadlines are going to work for you, please refrain from signing on to this event. 

~ We have had great fun with these exchanges in the past and hope to keep it that way.

LET THE FOLLIES BEGIN!!!!  

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Now if you please.  Once the cut off happens I start pulling names so I don't want any lag time for that.

Thanks. @connorp

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This has indeed been great in the last two years that I have played.

Good luck with it, Doren :d_good_luck:.

 

 

Life's Good!

Tortoise Friend.

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Santa's been very good to me these past few years, and I'm glad to jump into the pool again. This year, though, I'd rather keep my reindeer and sleigh here in the U.S. Simpler is better for me these days.

Start the day with a smile and get it over with.

 

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11 minutes ago, Nimravis said:

Doren go ahead and put me in for US or International.

OK Ralph, I got you down on the list.

Thanks for playing.

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I would like to participate. My Santa, last year, gifted me with a fascinating array of wonderful fossils. It was truly a bounty and far exceeded any "good behavior points" snolly may have accumulated. However, even with the joy created by that exciting gift; disappointment ensued. The gift I sent was never acknowledged on the Forum. This leaves one wondering; was it deemed unworthy? I urge participants to post the gifts received - to share the fun with the whole group and to give some indication that the effort was appreciated.

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Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, also are remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so. - Douglas Adams, Last Chance to See

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Well put John.  Half the fun is seeing what others have been gifted. So please take pics when you get them and post for the holiday.

Its just out of common politeness that the gift should at least be acknowledged as recieved.

I have sent several packages out to new members lately and I think only one ever even let me know they got it.

It seems courtesy is a dying trait these days.

I grew up in a world where people say please and thank you. :unsure:

 

P.S. I seriously doubt any package you sent out John could possibly be deemed "unworthy".  :shakehead:

 

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20 minutes ago, caldigger said:

Well put John.

Thanks, and I forgot to add I would like to ship within the US. 

Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, also are remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so. - Douglas Adams, Last Chance to See

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4 minutes ago, snolly50 said:

Thanks, and I forgot to add I would like to ship within the US. 

:dinothumb: got It!  Thank you.

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Really excited to participate again! :D

Max Derème

 

"I feel an echo of the lightning each time I find a fossil. [...] That is why I am a hunter: to feel that bolt of lightning every day."

   - Mary Anning >< Remarkable Creatures, Tracy Chevalier

 

Instagram: @world_of_fossils

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Please count me in!!!

 

And can Viola play along again this year?

(As in past years, I'll ensure that the box Viola sends out is equivalent to the box that I send out.)

 

We're both in for international.

Can't wait!!! :popcorn::yay-smiley-1:

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OK for me too, and you have my adress. I would like to send my parcel in Europe.

 

Coco

----------------------
OUTIL POUR MESURER VOS FOSSILES : ici

Ma bibliothèque PDF 1 (Poissons et sélaciens récents & fossiles) : ici
Ma bibliothèque PDF 2 (Animaux vivants - sans poissons ni sélaciens) : ici
Mâchoires sélaciennes récentes : ici
Hétérodontiques et sélaciens : ici
Oeufs sélaciens récents : ici
Otolithes de poissons récents ! ici

Un Greg...

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3 hours ago, Coco said:

OK for me too, and you have my adress. I would like to send my parcel in Europe.

 

Coco

Got it!

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Count me in again Doren. Within the U.S.. Do you still have my address. 

Bulldozers and dirt Bulldozers and dirt
behind the trailer, my desert
Them red clay piles are heaven on earth
I get my rocks off, bulldozers and dirt

Patterson Hood; Drive-By Truckers

 

image.png.0c956e87cee523facebb6947cb34e842.png May 2016  MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png.a47e14d65deb3f8b242019b3a81d8160.png.b42a25e3438348310ba19ce6852f50c1.png May 2012 IPFOTM5.png.fb4f2a268e315c58c5980ed865b39e1f.png.1721b8912c45105152ac70b0ae8303c3.png.2b6263683ee32421d97e7fa481bd418a.pngAug 2013, May 2016, Apr 2020 VFOTM.png.f1b09c78bf88298b009b0da14ef44cf0.png.af5065d0585e85f4accd8b291bf0cc2e.png.72a83362710033c9bdc8510be7454b66.png.9171036128e7f95de57b6a0f03c491da.png Oct 2022

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