Random Chitchat

[Elaine]

I do both as well and have links to both on elfster.

[Daphne]

This is such a fun thing to participate in -- so happy you are arranging it again, Heather. :)

[Daphne]

PS - I'm giving my giftee Bitter Legacy and Bad Judgment if s/h/ze hasn't read them for sure because I am obsessed with both right now! I will be all "TIS THE SEASON, READ THESE BOOKS". Ha!! :)

[Lisazj1]

Hey Daphne!!! :) That can't be me then, because I have those, LOL! I haven't read them yet, but I'll get to them soon.

[Lila]

Daphne wrote: "PS - I'm giving my giftee Bitter Legacy and Bad Judgment if s/h/ze hasn't read them for sure because I am obsessed with both right now! I will be all "TIS THE SEASON, READ THESE BOOKS". Ha!! :)"

I loved Bitter Legacy too. Bad Judgement, I'd need to check. Who's the author?

[Lisazj1]

Lila, Bad Judgment is by Sidney Bell. :)

[Lila]

Lisazj1 wrote: "Lila, Bad Judgment is by Sidney Bell. :)"

Thanks, Lisa! I already had it on my to-read shelf. :-P

[Lisazj1]

Lila wrote: "Lisazj1 wrote: "Lila, Bad Judgment is by Sidney Bell. :)"

Thanks, Lisa! I already had it on my to-read shelf. :-P"

See, you were already ahead of the game! ;)

[Daphne]

They are both so good! Hope you guys love them.

[Thieryn]

All year, every year, this is the secret Santa exchange I am looking forward to the most!

[Heather K (dentist in my spare time)]

:)

[Teàrlach]

I need to set up a wishlist on the elf website thing. I have no idea how, but I'm gonna do it......soon? Maybe.

I'm going to have to see if there's also a place where I can say 'I'll take whatever you can give me in genres X, Y, and Z'. I'd love to get gifted stuff of a wishlist, but I think I'd like it even more if I got gifted books that other people liked too - then we could discuss them? I could make new friends!! Super excited now!!!

[Heather K (dentist in my spare time)]

Teàrlach wrote: "I need to set up a wishlist on the elf website thing. I have no idea how, but I'm gonna do it......soon? Maybe.

I'm going to have to see if there's also a place where I can say 'I'll take whateve..."

I think surprises are the most fun!

[Eepa *mm loving bookworm*]

Teàrlach wrote: "I need to set up a wishlist on the elf website thing. I have no idea how, but I'm gonna do it......soon? Maybe.

I'm going to have to see if there's also a place where I can say 'I'll take whateve..."

You can put it into the wishlist comments in Elfster. There your gifter is sure to see it. You can found instructions for that in the Technical Questions threat.

[Lisazj1]

Teàrlach wrote: "I need to set up a wishlist on the elf website thing. I have no idea how, but I'm gonna do it......soon? Maybe.

I'm going to have to see if there's also a place where I can say 'I'll take whateve..."

You'll definitely make new friends, this is a bunch of super nice people. :)

[Lisa ~ Books Are My Drugs ~]

While I enjoy getting gifts (who doesn't) the best thing for me is seeing how much enjoyment everyone is having from receiving their own. The first year I was having financial difficulties & did this anyway. See how giving so many people are really brightened my holiday season. The next year was better financially so I was able to participate more than the first which made it more fun. Still seeing how very generous other people are made my holidays brighter again. Last year was even better, etc. I'm hoping this year will surpass the others.

[Heather K (dentist in my spare time)]

Lisa ~ Books Are My Drugs ~ wrote: "While I enjoy getting gifts (who doesn't) the best thing for me is seeing how much enjoyment everyone is having from receiving their own. The first year I was having financial difficulties & did th..."

I agree. I LOVE how generous people are with the exchange!

[~ Lei ~ Reading Is An Adventure ~]

Saha wrote: "All year, every year, this is the secret Santa exchange I am looking forward to the most!"

Me 2!

[Shelby]

I really need to settle in and update my wishlist now that I've officially thrown my name back in the hat. I have no idea what's on my list from last year. :-p

[MountainKat]

Shelby wrote: "I really need to settle in and update my wishlist now that I've officially thrown my name back in the hat. I have no idea what's on my list from last year. :-p"

Me too!

[☼♎ Carmen the Bootyshaker Temptress ☼♎]

Shelby wrote: "I really need to settle in and update my wishlist now that I've officially thrown my name back in the hat. I have no idea what's on my list from last year. :-p"

Ugh me too. I feel like I don't have enough hours in the day to sit and get anything done. :(

[Dusti]

I am new to this but super excited...I just hope I get my wish list etc set up properly.

[Lisazj1]

Dusti wrote: "I am new to this but super excited...I just hope I get my wish list etc set up properly."

Hey Dusti! I think you'll enjoy it, last year was my first but it's the most fun gift exchange I've ever done. It's filled with the nicest people, and I have never seen such giving. It was a blast!!!

Setting up your wishlist isn't hard and if you have a problem go to the technical thread, there's lots of info there but anybody will be glad to help you. Have fun! :)

[Ami]

Dusti wrote: "I am new to this but super excited...I just hope I get my wish list etc set up properly."

I think you can also just point people to your wishlist shelf on your Goodreads if you want. Although to do that, you have to make sure that your GR profile doesn't set to private :p

[~ Lei ~ Reading Is An Adventure ~]

☼♎ Carmen the Bootyshaker Temptress ☼♎ wrote: "Ugh me too. I feel like I don't have enough hours in the day to sit and get anything done. :( ..."

I only had one book on my wishlist that I hadn't gotten sometime this year so back to the drawing board.

In preparation for this event, for the last month or two, I've been going through my tbr and made an exclusive shelf called elfster wishlist and just reshelving from tbr to wishlist. Now it's a matter of adding to Elfster but I do include the GR wishlist link in my Elfster profile

[Kendra]

~ Lei ~ Reading Is An Adventure ~ wrote: "☼♎ Carmen the Bootyshaker Temptress ☼♎ wrote: "Ugh me too. I feel like I don't have enough hours in the day to sit and get anything done. :( ..."

I only had one book on my wishlist that I hadn't g..."

That's how I did mine last year. I added the link to my GR Bookshelf. I found it much easier.

[Am4u ❀ ~ AprilMarie4u ~ ❀]

Giving is by far the easiest & funniest part! :)
I think I'm done with my wishlist on Elfster. Ten books should be enough options right? :/

[Heather K (dentist in my spare time)]

Am4u ❀ ~ AprilMarie4u ~ ❀ wrote: "Giving is by far the easiest & funniest part! :)
I think I'm done with my wishlist on Elfster. Ten books should be enough options right? :/"

I have at least 30, I think!

[Am4u ❀ ~ AprilMarie4u ~ ❀]

O.O umm okay, I'll add a few more! lol

[Lisa ~ Books Are My Drugs ~]

Heather K (dentist in my spare time) wrote: "Am4u ❀ ~ AprilMarie4u ~ ❀ wrote: "Giving is by far the easiest & funniest part! :)
I think I'm done with my wishlist on Elfster. Ten books should be enough options right? :/"

I have at least 30, I..."

The first year, I added probably hundreds. Then when I went to buy for my person, I found it was very overwhelming for me to try to choose if there were a lot. So now I try to keep mine relatively small. Maybe between 10-20.

[Shari-amor]

I was wondering what a good amount of books were for the wishlist. Lol I see anywhere from 20-30 is good!? I dont think I even have 10. Must get it together

[Lisa ~ Books Are My Drugs ~]

Shari-amor wrote: "I was wondering what a good amount of books were for the wishlist. Lol I see anywhere from 20-30 is good!? I dont think I even have 10. Must get it together"

I think it's a case of YMMV. Maybe it's not as difficult for other people to pick something for someone they know nothing about when there's a ton of choices. Because I really want my giftee to feel like they're getting what they want, it's easier if there's less to choose from.

ETA: I'm also looking at it from my own perspective where the first year I participated, I was still dealing with depression. So seeing how generous people could be helped me immensely. Being a part of this could really make a huge difference to a person. It did for me.

[Am4u ❀ ~ AprilMarie4u ~ ❀]

I'm going with 15 on my wishlist. Even if there is a rebate or publisher's discount (since ARe is forever doing those) there is still at least $15 worth of books. I know I much rather give, but to deny someone the same joy of giving would just be cruel.

@Lisa, it really can! I was astounded by the generosity of my Secret Santa, she has such a kind & giving heart it made me literally cry, but it was tears of joy :)

[☼♎ Carmen the Bootyshaker Temptress ☼♎]

~ Lei ~ Reading Is An Adventure ~ wrote: "☼♎ Carmen the Bootyshaker Temptress ☼♎ wrote: "Ugh me too. I feel like I don't have enough hours in the day to sit and get anything done. :( ..."

I only had one book on my wishlist that I hadn't g..."

That's a great idea. I added a few to the wish list but I'm going to look through my tbr, the poor thing is crying how full it is, LOL and a shelf and add to it :)

[☼♎ Carmen the Bootyshaker Temptress ☼♎]

I've added a few to my wish list about 5 or a alittle more but I like the idea of adding a link which would make it easier but I'll see what I come up with.

[Shari-amor]

*Hugs Lisa and AprilMarie* Yall got me looking so forward to this exchange.

[Am4u ❀ ~ AprilMarie4u ~ ❀]

Shari-amor wrote: "*Hugs Lisa and AprilMarie* Yall got me looking so forward to this exchange."

hehe it's going to kill your tbr once you start seeing all the awesome books being gifted :)

[~ Lei ~ Reading Is An Adventure ~]

Am4u ❀ ~ AprilMarie4u ~ ❀ wrote: "hehe it's going to kill your tbr once you start seeing all the awesome books being gifted :) "

that's for sure! It's like, how have I never heard of this book?!

[Shari-amor]

Lol

[Lisazj1]

Heh, I've got more than 30 on my list. :) I'll tell you though, last year there was a LOT of gifting done by peeps that weren't the Secret Santas, I mean we were throwing books left and right and it was insane and awesome. So 10 might get done a whole lot quicker than you think. ;)

There's a lot of awfully generous people in this group, that's one of the things that makes it such fun.

[Sarah (is clearing her shelves)]

Lisazj1 wrote: "Heh, I've got more than 30 on my list. :) I'll tell you though, last year there was a LOT of gifting done by peeps that weren't the Secret Santas, I mean we were throwing books left and right and i..."

Yeah, I would recommend adding as many as you have time to add onto your list. You wouldn't want a gifter, who isn't your Secret Santa, to go to your profile only to find all your books have already been gifted.

ETA: Punctuation

[Shannon]

I just did a little Halloween gift exchange in one of my groups and found out that you can't gift Amazon books that aren't released yet. What? That was so weird to me so I think I'll link to aRe this year...if I can figure that out. :)

[Nadine Bookaholic]

I have a long list of items, it's gives the sender more to choose from.
I also have 3 different lists, one that links to my Goodreads wish list, one that has all the ebooks (and other misc. items) I'm wishing for, and another for paperbacks.

[Lisa ~ Books Are My Drugs ~]

Shannon wrote: "I just did a little Halloween gift exchange in one of my groups and found out that you can't gift Amazon books that aren't released yet. What? That was so weird to me so I think I'll link to aRe th..."

My links are Amazon, but I have a note at the top of my list that mine can come from any vendor as long as they can be read on a Kindle.

[Josy]

My links are all ARe since I can't gift or receive gifts through Amazon :/

[Am4u ❀ ~ AprilMarie4u ~ ❀]

Josy wrote: "My links are all ARe since I can't gift or receive gifts through Amazon :/"

I have heard of that happening, even with giftcards. Amazon.com doesn't always transfer gifts to other Amazon's, like Amazon.ca

I love how ARe is international friendly.

[Josy]

Am4u ❀ ~ AprilMarie4u ~ ❀ wrote: "Josy wrote: "My links are all ARe since I can't gift or receive gifts through Amazon :/"

I have heard of that happening, even with giftcards. Amazon.com doesn't always transfer gifts to other Amaz..."

Yeah... It's stupid. I don't even have the option to gift books through amazon.de and I am not allowed to buy ebooks through amazon.com. It's maddening.

[Ami]

I only have few titles. But I do add "giftcards" as option haha

[Sofia]

Hello!!! So... gift cards are allowed ?

[Josy]

Sofia wrote: "Hello!!! So... gift cards are allowed ?"

I think so? I have one from ARe on my wish list as well :)