Originally Posted By ilvdland This year was my first time, and while I was one with "commitment issues", I now know what it takes and can definetly be a better basher next year. I agree with everyone who said they wished they knew who their pal was before it started - that way if you know them, you can get started right away, and if you don't you have time to find out some scoop. I had a lot of fun this year, and I can't wait until next year!!!
Originally Posted By Ursula If I knew who my bash pal was earlier, I'd just start sending stuff earlier. I'm thinking maybe I have such an unfair advantage as I have a small-ish extended family and no kids and I have time to do stuff. Maybe if there was a "learn your pal date and time" and a "start giving gifts date and time" it might be fun, but yeah, I'd see myself trying to shove stuff in the mail right away regardless. And then I'd be forced to put in little creative notes that would say it's from the "not-yet pal" and please don't say anything on the boards kinda thing.
Originally Posted By smeeeko I know I personally had trouble (again with the internet connection) one way to probably deal with anything like that in the future I am thinking now is to have ecards delivered into the future.. or perhaps come up with a list of fave links to send your bash pal... so if for instance you will be out of town or something you can forward them on to a facilitator (like you might if you had the facilitator forwarding your physical cards or packages). Would this be a viable option M2 or i57? I think if I had done that I wouldn't have had to worry as much about getting things out while in Florida.. this being my first time.. but yeah.. I learned the hard way.. I would have liked to have sent more links and things my pals way.. I really did feel like I was being spoiled by *my* SP and kept thinking my bash pal wasn't getting the best of my abilities this year. Depending on what is going on (radp XI is later this December) I would really like to be able to give it another try.. I think the neat thing is that I'm not a crafty person but I learned a lot about some crafty things because I was trying to find out where I could find neat fabrics and patches (not much luck there) but I saw all kinds of craziness in the scrapbooking areas.. and I can see how one might end up having a scrapbooking obsession (although I still don't know what a scrap swap is or whatever you folks call it). So I learned some stuff from my Pal as well from my SP! =) so yeah I'm babbling again, but I really don't have any complaints and the only thing I can think of is that the poll thingy helped me a lot more than did any of the other stuff.. it was very specific which was cool.
Originally Posted By pennyring >> I think moving the Reveal day up one week will help solve a lot of those issues. However, the Reveal Date, is the Reveal Date, is the Reveal Date, is the Reveal Date! I hate that people are sitting without their gifts 2 and 3 weeks later.<< Yeah, I agree with all of that -- and I was the SP of an international bash pal who just got her present a couple of days ago. The problem as I saw it was that all the "little gifts" reached her easily withinin 4-8 days. The reveal gift took about 3 1/2 WEEKS. There's obviously a big difference there. Additionally, when I tried to send the reveal gift Express Mail (3-5 days guaranteed), I was told by the post office that my pal would be charged customs fees. No way was my pal going to pay for her gift! Plus they wanted me to lie and say it was for a business, which it wasn't. So it ended up going Airmail and being late. I say move up the reveal to avoid the holiday rush, or at least give a disclaimer to bashers that says to mail the reveal gift in November. Seriously. Even if you mail more little presents afterwards -- mail the reveal gift EARLY and just mark it "do not open until reveal day".
Originally Posted By u k fan Perhaps to solve problems everyone who would like to take part in this year's bash should send us international pals a gift now? Then you can sit back and relax knowing that we will be fine! In all honesty, the Xmas post is so bad here, I'm not sure that moving the bash forward a week would make much difference. I'm still awaiting a parcel. It still would have been late either way. Last year my reveal gift came late in January, a week wouldn't have made much difference. I'm happy to receive gifts whenever they come!!!
Originally Posted By trailsend To ilvdland: Missy, you couldn't have been a better Bash Pal!!! You gave me "forever keepsakes"; things I would not have if it weren't for you. You also MOVED during the Bash. You were an incredible Bash Pal. Thank you always, trailsend xxoo
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>Perhaps to solve problems everyone who would like to take part in this year's bash should send us international pals a gift now? Then you can sit back and relax knowing that we will be fine!<< LOL!!!
Originally Posted By m2 Smeeko, sending links to us in advance to be posted on certain dates is not a problem at all, in fact we did this for a few people this year. Also it is possible with most ecard sites to set dates you would like your card sent. This has also worked in years past. I also have gotten boxes in the mail that have many smaller packages to mail thourghout the bash time. This works really well too. I think the only answer with the packages getting to the overseas participant on time is mailing them at least two weeks before reveal. I think maybe the idea of you getting your Bash Pal's name a week or two before the actual Bash starts may help with this too.
Originally Posted By Lisann22 Yes, when I knew I was going to DL and didn't want JustDuckee to figure it out, I sent a bunch of ecards and marked all the days for a couple each day I was gone.
Originally Posted By sarahwithbaloo Part of the problem we had is that we had the equvalent of double international postage (or I'm guessing that because of the time) we sent things to GoodGirl and then they seemed to take longer getting to Tiggerpohh after that than it did to the US I guess as a first time basher I just need to learn from this and hope to get it right next year (sorry to Tiggerpooh this year)
Originally Posted By alexbook I lurked through the bash this year. It seemed like a lot of fun and a lot of work, and I'm sort of sorry I didn't participate, except... I'd be curious if people could post an estimate of how much *total* they spent on the bash. With shipping and the big gifts and the little gifts, it sounds like most of you spent *way* more than I'd really be able to afford.
Originally Posted By Ursula ^ Yikes, don't worry about what others spend!!!!!!!! The limit is $15 for the reveal gift, so that is what you are expected to fork out. Nothing more. It's free to send ecards. It's free to send out silly posts under your assumed name. It's also very inexpensive to find a post card and send that "in person" to your pal. You can get creative and be free!!!! Heck, I have been known to pull out a cool coffee mug (unused) from my own cupboard and send that on!
Originally Posted By m2 Plus anything homemade is always nice too. This year a few of us received some rum balls that I'm still feeling a little tipsy from. The note warned me to keep them away from any open flames. I laughed when I read that but then I realized it was quite possible they would ignite! LOL! Loved those little rum balls. You can make copies of CD's, paint something, decorate something. I know someone who got a money jar decorated with pictures they had taken. It was so cool! The pictures were copied off the persons photo page and decoupaged onto the jar. Such a cool gift and I know how much this Pal still loves that jar. It's his Disneyland jar, he puts spare change in it and uses the money when he goes to DL.
Originally Posted By goodgirl By the way, I feel really ripped off with the USPS so called "Priority Mail" this past holiday season. Some days I put Priority Mail boxes in the mail on Monday and they arrived at their destination on Wedensday. Other days I put Priority Mail boxes in the mail on Monday and they didn't get there until a week later.
Originally Posted By Inspector 57 Absolutely. I had one Priority Mail package take two-and-a-half weeks. Before the big holiday rush.
Originally Posted By ilvdland Remember that I-57??? I was soooo freakin' out over that mouse pad.....glad you liked it trailsend, and I'm sorry that took so long to get to you!!!!
Originally Posted By trailsend Woohoo ~ don't fret now. I have a Disneyland mouse pad ~ a Real Mouse pad!! I know, though, it's very aggravating for your parcels not to arrive to their destination in the time frame you pay for. For me personally, every time I mail a package now, (I'm mailing to 2 kids a lot) I always get the "delivery confirmation" receipt where I can track the package. I'm thinking that would be too much for the Facilitators to do. Also, this may go over like a lead balloon. What if, when you sign up to participate, there is a small fee??? I mean, I wouldn't mind. Would $5 deter sign up participation? Then each participant had the designated person to send the $5 to; like I would have sent mine to goodgirl. But keeping in mind, you still have to send $$Postal Money$$ to send packages. This won't make packages arrive quicker or on time, but it would help with expenses for the Facilitators. Just a thought.
Originally Posted By sarahwithbaloo I forgot to say that I really enjoyed the bash and I think the length was OK if you are going to move reveal day ealier I think starting earlier too would be good.
Originally Posted By u k fan I think it would be fun to try to include Hallowe'en. Also earlier dates would help with posting, particularly from international destinations as we would have less reason to worry about last posting dates. I also think that knowing who my pal is a couple of weeks before the bash starts proper would give me time to get a card or small gift to a facilitator in time for the bash to start!!!
