Hello fellow Bricksetters!
It is that time of year again, and it is my great pleasure to announce the 9th annual Big Brickset Secret Santa!

Santa and company have been relaxing by the pool this summer, but are now ready to start preparing for the upcoming holiday season. He will be getting help from myself and two excellent elves, @stlux and @kiki180703 .
The rules of the Brickset Secret Santa are as follows:
- The guide price for the cost of a gift is £15, €20 or $20 (USD, CAD, AUD, NZD) - postage excluded.
- Wish lists are welcome, so please send that with your initial message if you would like to include one, or add a link to your Brickset 'wanted list' and make sure it is set to public. If you are happy with whatever please add a line to that effect, just so we know you didn't forget to add any info.
- MOCs are also welcome as long as the total part value roughly corresponds to the guide prices given above.
- Please either wrap the gift before packaging it or indicate on the box that the contents are not wrapped.
- Please ensure that your gift is sent in time for Christmas (final posting dates for each country are available online). However, please don't leave it until the last minute as shipping delays are likely to be an issue.
- When you open the gift on Christmas day, post a picture or a description when you get the time (I know holidays are frantic).
What exactly do you have to do to take part?
- Sign up to be included by sending a PM with your username, email adress, mailing address and wanted list to the relevant organiser (see below).
- Your Brickset ID will then be entered into a draw (the deadline for this is the 1st of November).
- Names will be drawn during the first week of November.
- Within a few of days of the draw, everyone who entered will be PMed with the name and address of the person they have been assigned to buy a gift for.
- Purchase a gift, adhering to the cost guidelines.
- Send the gift, keeping in mind that it should arrive in time for Christmas. Please send your gift with plenty of extra time to account for shipping delays. If all goes according to plan, everybody will receive their gift before Christmas!
- Post a picture or a message after you’ve opened the gift.
The closing date for signing up to the 2021 Brickset Secret Santa is midnight (GMT+1) on the 1st of November.
The exchange is divided between the United Kingdom, Continental Europe and North America/Canada in the hope of keeping postage costs to a minimum. Do let us know if you would like to join in but are elsewhere in the world as we will try and accommodate everyone if possible.
Here's the list of the relevant organisers:
- United Kingdom @kiki180703
- North America @stlux
- Continental Europe and Republic of Ireland @KungFuKenny
- Rest of the world @stlux (if there is any interest, we'll see what we can do)
If you are new to forums and you are not sure if this is for you, check out last year’s thread to get some inspiration. If you are not new, you might want to as well, just to get in 'the mood'.
If there are any questions, post them here or send the organiser of your area a PM.
A couple of FAQ from previous years to start...
- How to share a wishlist: When you share your wishlist, don't just copy and paste the weblink when you are looking at it, because that will show 'my collection', e.g. https://brickset.com/sets/mycollection-wanted The way to go about it is you go to 'my sets', then to 'sets wanted' and then click 'share', this will give you a link to send to the organiser, e.g.
- How to make sure your wishlist is public: You go to https://brickset.com/profile/edit and you make sure to tick this box at the bottom: Yes, allow Brickset users to view my collection.
- Do I need a wishlist? A wanted list is not necessary, it's more to give people ideas than an actual 'wishlist' per se. You could say you are after bricks more than actual sets and maybe add a colour scheme or tell what you are building. You can add a Bricklink parts list as a guide line (maybe this person has lots of something you want and they don't) but part of the fun is to be surprised a bit too ;)
- Is it really Secret? Most people do keep their identity a total secret, every year there is a lot of misdirection on the thread (people posting that they've send the gift etc. You are off course allowed to give the game away afterwards, but it seems like most people enjoy the total mystery/trying to guess who it was from. If you want to try and hide your identity even more but you want to put in a return address when you send your parcel off (better safe than sorry), you can always use a friend/work/family's details as a return address.
- What if I'm traveling to relatives at Xmas time? Please let us know either the address where you will be spending Christmas (if they will keep your parcel safe off course) or let us know when you will be leaving so your Santa can try and make sure the parcel gets to your home early.
Whew, that was a lot of information, but it should cover everything…
I can now declare the Brickset Secret Santa officially open for business!!!
Comments
Thanks for your sterling service, @snowhitie - hope you're feeling better soon.
And thanks to @kiki180703 for taking on the UK duties - PM incoming!
PM Sent to @stlux
No need to worry in case you haven't received a confirmation from me yet; I will send those by the end of this week.
Just signed up for the site even though been visiting on and off for years. Secret Santa sounded like fun from last year’s thread so I thought I’d join in this year.
Lois
Yeah, I know that's supposed to be a snow-kitty.
But all I'm seeing is "demon."
Still a bit more than 1 week to join this year's Secret Santa! Participants from all over the world welcome - send a PM to
Anyone sitting on the fence, defo take a look at the old threads to get a taste.
It's been a bit hectic around here :) Everybody in the UK should now have received a confirmation message! Shoot me a message I haven't gotten to you.
For anyone seeing this message and that was still interested in signing up, it's not too late! I'll be doing the draw during the week so send me a message and I'll see what I can do.
Merry early Christmas!
Already looking forward to 2022 when I get back into the swing of things!
Send me a message if I have somehow missed you :)
Merry (early) Christmas!