The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #106916 Message #2248819
Posted By: ClaireBear
30-Jan-08 - 02:19 PM
Thread Name: BS: My pressie's arrived!
Subject: RE: BS: My pressie's arrived!
Good points, Kat and Jeri.
Apeaking for myself, I love the opportunity to make new friends throughout the world and am delighted to continue to play the game. But several things about the process do puzzle me, and I still don't feel as though I know the customs.
So...has anyone ever put together a "Secret Santa Etiquette" thread?
Although I believe I've kept up my end and I've certainly received wonderful pressies from both my Santas (last year, dear Bat Goddess and this year, the illustrious Hilda Fish), I don't really have a handle on what others' expectations are -- or what mine should be.
Examples of things that I would find it helpful to know:
1. Are the games some Santas play (strings of postcards from exotic places [or persons] prior to pressie time, and real or "red herring" identity clues deliberately dropped, for example) the exception, or the expectation?
2. Is Santa expected to maintain her or his anonymity during or post delivery, or is signing the package or accompanying the note/card with a Mudcat handle more the norm? ...Or, on the other hand, is the accompanying note/card something a Santa shouldn't do?
3. For Santees, is an effusive thank-you on the thread sufficient, or should the Santee make it a point to PM the Santa, or in fact mail a thank-you card to the Santa? (I know I'd rather at least receive a PM, but I'm not sure if that is a reasonable expectation or not.)
4. Should the Santee "out" the Santa on the thank-you thread, if the Santa has chosen to remain anonymous?
There are other obvious points to be clarified, but I'll leave it at that for now.
I know that these questions are a bit silly -- obviously I have been mucking along just fine without knowing the answers, but maybe the Secret Santa process would go more smoothly for all of us if we were all playing the same game and knew its "rules"?
Claire