OcUK Secret Santa 2020... Yes or No?

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cainer

cainer

cainer

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This thread is mainly aimed at the regulars..

I'm looking for feedback as to whether we should have a Secret Santa this year,
a lot of people have had a financially bad year and there could be a month long lockdown for England being announced on Monday https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-54756950

if it were to go ahead there would have to be a new rule that all gifts must be purchased online and sent direct to your 'victim'
as we wouldn't want to encourage people to go out unnecessarily to buy gifts or use the Post Office,

Personally, i'm 50/50 on it (hence the thread)
but tell me what you think, if enough people want it to go ahead then i'l host it...
 
I'm happy to take part but it could be quite hard to purchase online and send direct as I usually like to grab a few small personal things and wrap them etc.....
 
booyaka said:
I'm happy to take part but it could be quite hard to purchase online and send direct as I usually like to grab a few small personal things and wrap them etc.....
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yeah most of us like to do that, but for anyone living in England you may not get the choice anyway if they go ahead with a month long full lockdown,
i'm currently in Wales and we're in full lockdown, all non essential shops have been closed and we're not allowed to go out of the house without a good reason (buy food, medication, exercise, work if you can't work from home)
 
No one wants COVID for Christmas but really it’s one parcel coming from one person so risks should be nominal.

However, I just tried coming up with a list of anti-COVID requirements and it did immediately make the whole thing feel anxiety ridden and anti-fun.... to the point where I’m not even going to go through my thoughts on it.

Seems the me the options are:

- Run it as normal with no extra rules. Everyone involved accepted the obvious risks that need not be stated. Might have less uptake.

- Run it with ‘direct post’ only. Inevitably less fun with the unwrapping.

If it IS all via ‘direct post’, that should make it a bit less of a hassle/cheaper for most as there has been a sort of cascading upping the ante of presentation, which deffo adds to cost... plus the extra postage is always more than anticipated.

If costs are an issue for some people because of ‘tough times’ this year, than on balance direct post seems the better option.
 
Nitefly said:
No one wants COVID for Christmas but really it’s one parcel coming from one person so risks should be nominal.
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Yeah i don't see much risk for people receiving their gift, it's mainly to do with limiting the sender from going out of their way
 
I'm up for it if it were to go ahead :)

I think run it as normal? If people don't want to take the risk of going out to buy things or shops are closed there are plenty of options for online with gift wrapping.

It'd be nice to have something to look forward to this year.

Even if only two people take part, it's still a bit of positivity for the forum amongst all the arguing and negativity which seems to becoming more and more prevalent :(

N.B. Whoever gets me, the only thing on my list is a 3090. DO NOT DISSAPOINT :p
 
I’m torn. Ideally I’d love it to go ahead, it’s a decent bit of fun.
However, imo, with direct post being somewhat of a necessity if it goes ahead I feel a lot of the fun will be lost - we may as well send each other gift cards!
There’s fun for the sender, again imo, getting all the bits and pieces together before sending. There’s the obvious joy for the recipient receiving a ‘lucky bag’ type box. Direct send ruins this or at least I believe it does.
As such I’d sadly be leaning heavily towards cancelling it this year :(
 
I think run it as normal as possible.....where possible....

Just accept some people may not be able to take part, some may wish not to take part....Tough one.
 
I’m up for it as I think we all going to need a bit of cheering up and smiles this Xmas. I look forward to opening the secret Santa pressie out of all the presents I get each year.

plus if people are sensible I can’t see it been an up issue sending stuff under covid conditions.

I would avoid direct send if possible but if the consensus is direct send is the only way it will go ahead I would rather see it go ahead under direct send than not at all
 
Run as normal. Those that want to post direct can do so, those that want to package themselves can do. The receiver could also select a preference.

If you want help running/organising it then I’m happy to help.
 
Ahleckz said:
Run as normal. Those that want to post direct can do so, those that want to package themselves can do. The receiver could also select a preference.

If you want help running/organising it then I’m happy to help.
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This is probably the best, let the receiver dictate whether they mind a direct send or the usual route.

If someone is vulnerable to covid it's totally understandable that they'd want to minimise any risk, however small it might be :)
 
Ahleckz said:
Run as normal. Those that want to post direct can do so, those that want to package themselves can do. The receiver could also select a preference.
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I agree with this. Although it wouldn't be entirely the receiver's choice as the sender may not be able to get to a Post Office and will have to do an online order. I think the receiver could select if they'd be comfortable to receive a package from the sender personally.
If we all understand that you might not get something with the normal 'personal touch' then nobody will be disappointed and those who feel that it wouldn't be as enjoyable can just skip this year.
 
i think the risk is the same whether it's sent from a company or from your secret santa,
remember that the parcel will be sat around for 3 weeks or more before you open it so i see the risk as non - very low

what concerns me is that England could go into full lockdown over the entire period,
and not wanting to encourage people to go out unnecessarily
 
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cainer said:
i think the risk is the same whether it's sent from a company or from your secret santa,
remember that the parcel will be sat around for 3 weeks or more before you open it so i see the risk as non - very low

what concerns me is that England could go into full lockdown over the entire period,
and not wanting to encourage people to go out unnecessarily
Click to expand...

Maybe specify an even earlier posting date then, to give the slowest post ample time to sit around and kill off the nasties.
 
cainer said:
i think the risk is the same whether it's sent from a company or from your secret santa,
remember that the parcel will be sat around for 3 weeks or more before you open it so i see the risk as non - very low

what concerns me is that England could go into full lockdown over the entire period,
and not wanting to encourage people to go out unnecessarily
Click to expand...
It’s not your responsibility as to what other people do or do not do, in relation to this secret santa. Everyone has ways of mitigating against this.

Sometimes people send direct anyway. If more people are going to send direct because they are concerned re: COVID, no biggy.

If participants find it too stressful to sort in the COVID climate, they shouldn’t participate.

So yeah, go ahead as normal I think.

A far earlier last posting date is definitely a good idea. Maybe as early as 1 Dec tbh.
 
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