Secret Santa 2011-Ho Ho Ho let the fun begin!

anniehoo

Now that all of the formalities are done 'n dusted and this years participants have received their Secret Santa Pets name....we can have the craic in here!

Thanks AJ for all your hard work, i know you were inundated with PMs.

So, December 22nd is OPENING DAY....and i promise i wont cheat this time(i opened mine at midnight last year).:D:D

Happy Shopping/Creating everyone! I must get the thinking cap on for my SS ..havent a clue what to get :P;)

Shazanne

Yippee! I got my Secret Santa pets today and can't wait to go shopping for them!!
This was one of the best parts of Christmas last year - it was such fun!!
I'd swear my two dogs know its coming up again - they've stopped barking at the postman!!!!
Thanks AJ for all the hard work again this year:)

mymo

Woohoo, got my details, looking forward to spending my weekend noseying about the web looking for goodies!

Cherry Blossom

Apologies for my lack of pleasantries in the PM's, it just made it quicker and easier to get them all out that way

We have 20 participants - 28 pressies this year.

In alphabetical order:

adrenalinjunkie
Allguaurin
andreac
anniehoo
antomagoo
Belongtojazz
Blogger50
Kali_Kalika
kildareash
minxie
Mymo
Sambuka41
scudzilla
Shazanne
Tazwaz
TillyGirl
Tommy21
TooManyDogs
Whispered
Zapperzy

We have loads and loads of terriers, Restricted breeds and Collie/Collie crosses and all sorts of other dogs and a few kitties

Zapperzy

Got mine and can't wait to go looking for things! So excited!

Kali_Kalika

I got my secret santa! And its .... oh ..... wait .... SECRET santa .... I get it now! :D:D

I joke I joke! Well, I did get my secret santa - I'm just not saying who it is!

Thanks to AJ for all the hard work on this! The ball is officially rolling now! Think I'll be donning a festive mood and getting shopping this afternoon!

I'm not sure who's more excited about the secret santa - me or Kali! Nah - who am I kidding! It's me! But I'm sure when she's handed her secret package she'll happily rip into it! So then she'll probably be more excited. But either way - I know we're not the only ones - so AJ hope you know how many excited pup and people combos you've created! :D

tazwaz

thanks aj, i can go shopping now
i'm soo excited again this year

kildareash

Tried to pick up a few bits for my SS last night, such a bad selection of stuff in my local Petmania. I was really disappointed by it.
Gonna try another few independent pet shops tomorrow. Hopefully they'll have more of a selection.

I'm so excited!

Fair play to AJ again for organising it all.

andreac

Do we have a budget on this?? I cant remember if we do.

toadfly

andreac wrote: »

Do we have a budget on this?? I cant remember if we do.

€10

andreac

Thanks Tilly, i thought it was that but then i thought i was imagining it, lol.

Cherry Blossom

After much deliberation in the pet shop yesterday I picked out my pressie. I went a little over the €10. I need a nice card now to finish it off

Whispered

Oh no - I've had loads going on lately and haven't gotten to go shopping yet. But I will! I promise. I have an idea of what I would like to get, it's just a matter of finding it!

Zapperzy

Iv gotten my pressie too, have to find a suitable card and wrapping paper now. Hope they like it!

Kali_Kalika

:D Shopping and wrapping are finished already here! :D

Just need a box for it all to fit in (average shoe box size will do) - does anyone know where you can buy boxes to post things in? Checked the post office on Saturday but they don't sell boxes anymore so I'm a bit lost!

mymo

Kali, you could try asking in a shoe shop for a spare box, lots of people don't take the boxes now, so they often have them.

Zapperzy

Kali_Kalika wrote: »

:D Shopping and wrapping are finished already here! :D

Just need a box for it all to fit in (average shoe box size will do) - does anyone know where you can buy boxes to post things in? Checked the post office on Saturday but they don't sell boxes anymore so I'm a bit lost!

Iv seen some bigger post offices still selling them.

anniehoo

adrenalinjunkie wrote: »

After much deliberation in the pet shop yesterday I picked out my pressie. I went a little over the €10. I need a nice card now to finish it off

Got mine today The tenner limit really makes you have to think doesnt it!

kildareash wrote: »

Tried to pick up a few bits for my SS last night, such a bad selection of stuff in my local Petmania..

Maxi Zoo has some very cute stuff and fairly reasonable!

Didnt write a xmas card last year (forgot ) so will make sure i do one for this years SS!Now for the wrapping

Shazanne

Yippee - all wrapped and ready to go!!!! Now I have to wait until Thursday to post them (it is the 1st we send them isn't it?? :rolleyes:)
May have gone a little over the €10 as well (;);)!!) but it is Secret Santa - and it is for pets:cool::cool:
Had to put my two scoundrels outside while I was wrapping or it could have turned into Christmas Day here very early:eek::p

By the way - Easons do boxes in a variety of sizes.

toadfly

Oh god ye are all putting me to shame I havent even thought about this yet. We only have PetWorld & PetMania in Galway and they dont have the best choice.

Have I left it too late to order online?

Zapperzy

TillyGirl wrote: »

Oh god ye are all putting me to shame I havent even thought about this yet. We only have PetWorld & PetMania in Galway and they dont have the best choice.

Have I left it too late to order online?

With zooplus it takes a week to get to me, so if I ordered now I would have it on the 5th or 6th, deadline for posting is the 7th so it's leaving it a bit tight but do-able provided there are no delays.

I'v gotten the bulk of my pressie but just looking for something small to top it all off! It was so hard to settle on something, I wanted to buy it all! And then to find some nice wrapping paper and a card.

Think I'v worked out who I have, dying to know who has me! Such a long wait until the 22nd, thats 3 and a half weeks away.

mymo

Tillygirl, I don't think its too late to order online, even if it takes a week (arriving next monday) you should just scrape by for the deadline.

*at least thats what I hope, I only ordered some stuff yesterday, not very organized either, sorting stuff and packing to move here.

toadfly

Zapperzy wrote: »

Think I'v worked out who I have, dying to know who has me! Such a long wait until the 22nd, thats 3 and a half weeks away.

Me too, knew straight away. I knew one of the two I had last year as well. Makes it a little easier to pick just have to trawl through the posts!

anniehoo

I actually dont know who i have...even after searching posts.Very strange as i thought id be able to guess as soon as i seen pets name..but nope!!!

Zapperzy

anniehoo wrote: »

I actually dont know who i have...even after searching posts.Very strange as i thought id be able to guess as soon as i seen pets name..but nope!!!

Thats what I thought too but I had to do a bit of searching to find out mine as well. So apologies if it looks like I was stalking on people's profiles!

mymo

I know one of mine, but not the other. The name doesn't even ring a bell (pets name).

It very funny here, I'm having a good sort out and dogs keep nicking stuff from the junk pile, oddest things, and I find them in their bed.
So far amongst other things, I have found some odd socks, a bra, a rubber duck and a pink recorder in their bed.

Cherry Blossom

When I first started letting my dog (as a pup) out in the garden I left the back door open in case she wanted to come in. I ended up with all sorts in the dog crate - sticks, stones, gardening gloves, the heads of all my dads daffodils :eek:

Don't you just wonder what goes on in their little heads sometimes?

mymo

Aj, bringing stuff in isn't my problem, mine take stuff out...I have to check their mouths before I open the front door.
Thieving little sods won't stay away from the dirty washing basket.

Kali_Kalika

Thanks for all the box suggestions Was having a wander through Easons today and found some there

I hadn't even thought of a card - haha - just assumed it was the animals SS and I guess I assumed most of them wouldn't be avid readers! But think before the posting date I'll get one!

Oh - and just to add an extra side note/hijack - about dogs taking things out of the house and having to check them before they leave - my dog who passed away (RIP Marley) was a divil for it! We were staying with a friend in the country who also had a dog and they'd been out for a romp and we're a bit (completely) mud covered and wanted to be let in - a bath was needed before that happened and we were cooking at the time so we opened the back door so they could be in and sheltered - the back door led into a small hallway with the laundry room and a small toilet before another door leading into the kitchen and the rest of the house - so they'd be in, sheltered and toasty for a short bit until we could deal with the muddy paws - My guy Marley decided he wasn't having that compromise so he raided her laundry basket and the next thing we looked out and all across the 2 acres they lived on all you could spot was coloured knickers scattered in the grass as far as the eye could see - and in the middle of it all - running in giddy circles with a bra waving like a flag in his mouth was the guilty party - no doubt who had done it! :P Needless to say it took us longer to retrieve all the knickers than it had him to scatter them around!

:P:D Dogs - can't live with 'em - can't live without 'em!! :P

scudzilla

Goin over to Wales on Wednesday so will get ours from there, great big pet shop and nearly half the price from here, so will get a lot more for my 10Euro

Blogger50

Got my details and will have pressie(s)??? in the post on Friday!

Now if only I had time I could do a bit of detective work