Harry Potter Holiday Card Exchange 2007

Kinda Disappointed in Participation Levels

2008-01-03T07:00:35Z

Guys, we have ~~fourteen~~ ~~thirteen~~ sixteen people who got gypped, including myself. That is quite frankly pathetic, and means we have about a 20% failure rate as it stands.

Some of these are probably delays in international mail, and a few of them might be lost, but some of them appear to just be snubs and people are not responding to my messages about whether or not their assignments have been sent. It's still really sad that over a dozen people worked hard to create holiday gifts for others and got jack shit in return.

If you are seeing this message, and did not send your card, and do not WANT to send your card, PLEASE comment so I can chalk yours up to a loss and try to get someone else to take your assignment. Comments are screened.

Missing Cards Post

2007-12-28T23:04:37Z

Okay, folks.

Didn't get your card? Comment here, and if I have heard from your person about extenuating circumstances, I will let you know. If I haven't, I'll try to get in touch with them.

I'll start - I didn't get my card, nor a heads-up from the person who was assigned to me, which really makes me heartsore as organizing this kind of exchange is difficult and time-consuming. Hopefully there won't be too many more people who are still hanging.

If you've got your card, this is the post for you. :)

LAST MINUTE PRODDING

2007-12-22T20:12:21Z

I have NOT gotten my card yet! And I can only imagine there are lots and lots of people in the same predicament, as there's only eight measly comments on the received post over here, out of eighty-some participants. So remember:

1. MAIL YOUR CARDS. DO IT. If you are unable to do it, or are planning to do it but haven't gotten around to it, LET ME KNOW so that I can find a pinch-hitter OR let your recipient know that there will be a delay. Don't leave your person hanging.

2. COMMENT on the RECEIVED POST to show off what you got. :)

Weekly Reminder!

2007-12-19T17:30:10Z

Hey folks! Time is running out to get those cards in the mail. If you haven't done yours, either DO IT or let me know so I can ask for a very last-minute pinch hitter.

Remember, if you HAVE received your card, WE WANT TO HEAR ABOUT IT! You can do that in this post, right over here.

Official "Received!" Post

2007-12-13T17:26:27Z

If you've got your card, you can post here to let your sender know, as well as to tell all of us what you got. Anonymous posting is enabled in case your sender wants to give you a nod without revealing him or herself. :)

So tell us: what'd you get? And for those of you who haven't send their cards, get on it, folks!

NEED A PINCH HITTER!

2007-12-07T20:07:49Z

We've had a person unable to complete their assignment, so would any one of my North American pinch hitters be interested in doing a card from one of the Marauders, so someone doesn't get left out in the cold?

Comments are screened, so you can let me know here if you'd like the job!

Position filled!

Weekly Reminder Post

2007-12-07T18:51:00Z

It's December 7th! Those of you with overseas recipients ought to be dropping your cards in the mail very shortly to ensure their timely arrival.

If you will not be able to complete your assignment, PLEASE let me know so I can look for a pinch hitter in time to do it instead! Comments are screened.

TOMORROW IS THE FIRST DAY OF DECEMBER.

2007-11-30T19:55:11Z

Is everyone hard at work on their missives? Anyone need to drop out? Any problems at all?

Reminder Post

2007-11-18T17:15:11Z

Hey folks! All assignments have been totally sorted by this point, so everyone should be hard at work on their secret missives.

If you need to drop out, haven't gotten your assignment, or have a problem, please let me know ASAP so your recipient isn't left hanging.

ASSIGNMENT NOTIFICATIONS GOING OUT TODAY!

2007-11-07T15:41:23Z

The assignment notification emails are starting to go out now. There will be another post when all assignments have been distributed, and at that point you lovely people can let me know if something has gone awry. <3

Official signup date passed!

2007-10-25T18:00:38Z

This is a friendly notice that official signups are now closed. However, I will keep accepting submissions until 11:59 PM EST, October 31st, although you may not get matched up with exactly what you request if you leave it that late. :)

Notifications and assignments will be sent out in the first few days of November.

Pimping

2007-09-16T02:59:03Z

If you would like to advertise for hp_mailbox, (which I highly endorse and encourage!) you can use the following graphic:

Da Rules

2007-09-15T01:05:52Z

Hello everyone! If you're looking at this, I suppose it means you're interested in participating in the little card exchange I have going here. :D

Here's how it works. Modeled on the cross-fandom card exchange moderated by boniblithe in 2005, the general idea is for Harry Potter fandomers to anonymously send one another holiday cards from their favourite characters, so you might get Christmas wishes from Remus Lupin or a nice little Hanukkah hello from Neville Longbottom. Everybody gets to be creative and everybody gets some additional holiday awesome in their mailbox. If you're interested, read on!

STEP ONE: You join this community and send an email to hp.holiday [at] gmail.com giving me your address, whatever miscellaneous winter holiday you celebrate, the list of characters you are willing to send a card FROM, and the list of characters you would like to RECEIVE a card from (it's okay to say "Any!") It will help us all be more flexible if you list a couple of characters instead of just one, so your recipient will be able to choose. Don't worry, nobody will ever see your address except for me and the one person who is assigned to you. You do this by October 21, 2007, at which point signups will be over - although I do reserve the right to close signups a little early if things are getting out of hand, organizationally-speaking. You can copy and paste the following into an email and fill it out.

Your name and mailing address:
Your LJ, GJ or IJ username (please specify):
Winter holiday of choice:
HP characters I feel comfortable sending a card or letter from:
HP characters I would like to receive a card from:
Are you slash-friendly?:
Would you be okay with an international recipient?:
Are you willing to pinch-hit and do a second card in case of dropouts?:

STEP TWO: ~~I feed all the information into my giant thinking machine supercomputer~~ I labor over an Excel spreadsheet to assign everyone a character and a recipient, and notify you of your assignment by November 1, 2007. You do not reveal yourself to your recipient. It's a Secret Santa sort of affair.

STEP THREE: You be awesome and use all of your creative fandom mojo to whip up a fun little mailbox surprise for your recipient, from one of their characters of choice. You pop it in the mail to arrive in time for whatever holiday they celebrate. Periodic updates will appear on the community reminding you of how much time is left. The winter holidays this year:

First Day of Hanukkah: December 4
Winter Solstice: December 22
Christmas: December 25
First Day of Kwanzaa: December 26

You will have at least a month to prepare your card in the case of Hanukkah recipients, and closer to two months for all of the other holidays. This should be ample time to be AWESOME. You might, for example, soak computer paper in tea to make parchment. Use ribbons, stickers, anything wizardly or neat that you might have laying around that will spiff up your masterpiece. Remember, write your holiday missive as if it was coming from your recipient's character of choice.

STEP FOUR: After popping your recipient's card in the mail, you wait to receive YOUR card!

STEP FIVE: There will be a post up where you can (anonymously or not) thank your sender via comments and give them a heads-up that your card arrived safe and sound.

STEP SIX: Everyone has a happy holiday. ^_^