Blind Surprise Swap (June)

Tea CAN be sent here to Australia. As long as no loose nuts/seeds/plant material. Commercially wrapped or sealed is fine. Ive had many a tea swap and the rules are up on the Australian Customs website

I'm just using info from previous swappers on May's blind Surprise Swap. Info here for anyone interested: http://australia.gov.au/topics/tourism-and-travel/customs-and-quarantine

This says type 1... Is that a mistake? Thanks :)

Yes it is. Thanks for letting me know :)

you make such a cool swaps @snailmailer1 Thank you!

Awww thank-you @aurycka That's kind of you to say :)

Make sure if you are sending food...that its not expired... :P This happened to me last time!

Hi just wanted to check since its my first swap, the send by date is not the reach by date right? I sent to Canada once by surface mail (economy) and it took almost 3 mths to reach....

HI @kintri the send by date of 30th June is the date you must have posted your swap by. May I suggest if you're sending by surface mail, you send it as soon as possible after partners have been assigned on 24th June. I sometimes use surface mail. It's a lot cheaper when posting to USA.

Can we do a theme? For instance I'm going somewhere (local) that's pretty cool and has a variety of cool things that fit the suggestions listed, and I think there would be plenty there that I would personally want to receive. Or is a theme a bad idea?

@Melumebelle - whatever you choose, whether it's a theme or not, is entirely up to you. As long as you wrap the gifts before your partner is assigned :)

what is surface mail? and a theme is awesome idea...I think I might do that as well

Surface mail is mail sent by land and sea, as opposed to by air. Inevitably, this takes much longer. For me to send by surface mail within Europe would take 14 days approx, but to Australia and some parts of Asia, it could be 56 days. I'd use it for less urgent mail :)

Maybe a different swap could be set up where it states that a theme must be used!!!

Hi do you definitely mean the maximum spend is £5 or minimum?

I so want to do this!! It will be my first time XD I hope this will be fun O///w///O

Hi! And may I use box instead of envelope? Sending in envelope such items through my post means let swap partner get broken items :(

would love to do a USA one too maybe someone could host it

@Ikran3 I suppose it's more of a guideline :)

@ChocoXKiwi - I hope you enjoy doing this swap as much I do :)

@mcovey - I've been asked in previous swaps re: a USA only version of this swap. Since it's been so popular so far, and I'm proud of it, I'd like to keep it international. IMO there are already far too many USA only swaps out there, which exclude the rest of the world. US postage is VERY cheap by the way.

So you wrap each one of the items, so that it's like receiving 5 small gifts, right?

Yes, each item must be wrapped up individually. There can be more than 5 if desired. :)

i love this swap. so happy to do it again :)

Chocolate will melt before it gets out of the local PO here, let alone while it sits in the vehicle. Please send me no chocolate. I would hate to see the mess of the package if it gets sent.

Can I start wrapping the items now? Or does it have to be profile guided?

BLIND: I can not help myself! I saw the word "bind" and I chuckled! Because to me 'blind' means that one can not see anything, not anything at all. So I am sensing that my swap may not find it's way to someone. :-) And, yes, me: I am visually impaired. I can read and write in braille. And professionally I was a special education teacher and taught the blind, and deaf blind students in a workshop setting. Thus I also know ASL. I also like to make greeting cards of which I write the braille text on each card that does have text on it. I am legally blind with less than 20/200 vision. (95% loss) But, do not worry: I can knit, crochet, sew, and I am in a sewing community, and posted the site URL where I have an interview. I am sewing on the sewing machine and, yes, my nost is next to the needle. I am talking and sewing. If you want to see the URL, type Diana Kleyensteuber, and click on the picture to hear me talk and sew. This recording was done in 2010, and my hair was short, and now my hair is long. Enjoy! Diana MiniQuilt

Please no food items for me. :) It's desert summer now and it might spoil all food items. Thanks!

@Fawnscraft - yeah sure. Wrap them any time PRIOR to your partner being assigned.

@MiniQuilt - I called this swap BLIND Surprise Swap for two reasons:

1. People can't 'see' the person's profile they're swapping with when they wrap their gifts up

2. I am blind too. I was using my visual impairment as a positive. Nice to meet another visually impaired person here :)

What an excellent swap please keep them up i think ill save them for when i'm having a bad day :)

Good idea @natasa20 Maybe you'll never get to open them though ;)

I would LOVE to have an international partner. :D

I just found this place yesterday, what a neat idea! May I join also?

I cannot find a5 envelopes.

Please let me know which one of these are the closest or the same.

http://www.mmprint.com/envelope_chart.cfm

I found the measurements.

An A5 envelope measures 148x210mm.

Now I will get that in inches.

210 mm = 8.2 inches 148mm = 5.8 inches

So can I ask, will a 4 x 9 inch envelope be close enough?

haha well i hope i don't but if i do then ill have something to make me smile at least :) @snailmailer1

is it too late to join? and i'm new to this so how does it go? do you forward us the person to whom we are to mail our goodies to?

Yes @fawnscraft

@hknguyen469 No, you're not too late to join. Please fill out your profile first. You'll find it hard to join swaps without doing so. The day after the deadline, I check through everyone's details and click to assign partners. You'll then return here and in the top right hand corner of this page, it says "See partner to send to" (or something similar)

@snailmailer1 Ohhh, this will be fun! Thank you so much for this idea . . . Can any of the items be handmade if they are nicely handmade, ie greeting cards, etc., not junk.

@andreatally Sure you can. Make sure the items are of the quality you'd like to receive :)

@snailmailer1 (http://www.swap-bot.com/user:snailmailer1) I would really love to join this swap but I was flaked on for the last one by bree081 and when she signed up for this swap her last 2 ratings were "1's" she did not receive her only recent "5" until after the partners were assigned.

As much as I love food, no food to me ... it will melt and spoil in our near desert conditions here!

@deskitty - she won't be allowed in future swaps that I host. I will angel this swap for you :)

@snailmailer1 Thank you so much! I really appreciate it.

I want to join so badly, I have to leave town today, Monday and am going to be gone probably through Saturday. I feel I cannot do this swap with the intention it has behind it. I would end up slopping through it and not being a good sender.

It has been number one for at least a week if I remember correctly, so I won't be missed. LOL. You all have fun.

walks away, with head down, wondering why silly self is so silly

Are unrated swapper allowed?

Providing they have well filled out profiles and haven't flaked already :)

I wondered, there are 2 persons with several 1's.. Are that ok?

I really enjoyed this swap!!! Hope there's more like it. Thank you for hosting it!

There are a few people I will be banning before assigning partners. Enjoy the swap.

@myunquietmynd I'm hosting this swap every month, so I do hope you'll continue to join in :)

****TO THOSE WHO I'VE CONTACTED RE: FILLING YOUR PROFILES, THE DEADLINE IS 8AM GMT (UK) TIME TO DO SO. UNFORTUNATELY I'LL BE REMOVING ANYONE WITH AN EMPTY OR SHORT PROFILE. WE'VE HAD FLAKERS IN THE LAST TWO SWAPS. I'D LIKE TO MINIMISE THIS AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE.*****

When will we find out our partners?

JUst checking through profiles now, so very soon :)

12 questionable swappers have been removed. Here's to a flake-free zone. Happy swapping y'all :)

Thank you!!

Rhis was so much fun to put together! Tomorrow I will send my package out :) Great swap idea @snailmailer1 !

sent it out today^^ was to big voor a craft so it turned into a package :D Cant wait to recieve another beautifull package!

Glad you both enjoyed it @Lucide and @Bernadette90 Here's hoping you receive lovely packages in return :) I'm posing mine tomorrow. I'm waiting to be taken to the supermarket to buy some kraft paper!!

So fun :) Hope you host another one! Sent mine out today yay!

sent today as the 30th was sunday and yesterday was a busy day for me.

Mine went out today as well!

Sorry my swap is running late. I'm new here so I'm not sure how to find out who I'm sending stuff too. Help? X

In the upper right is a yellow place were is: see the partners you send to. Click it and you will see the adress and the profile:)

I'm a bit sad right now... My partner who is supposed to send me this swap, still has her swap on the "not sent" status...

I see three people - all newbies and at least one with a very minimal profile - have flaked on this swap.

I'm still waiting for mine to arrive... Will give it another week before I contact my partner.

These are wonderful swaps and boo! hiss! to those who sign up, knowing darn fine that they have no intention of sending.