Hello! Like me, I am sure some of you have suffered from some sticker shock when sending packages recently.
I was thinking to make a swap where the shipping would be known ahead of time. Unfortunately, this would mean the swap would be for the US only (sorry international!). I was thinking of starting sign-ups after Christmas so that we could all use our new crafting goodies. Give it about 6 weeks to create. The dates and length aren’t carved in stone and I am open to suggestions. I was thinking we could do a swap where the participants could choose between a small flat rate box or a medium.
Small Box → 8 11/16" x 5 7/16" x 1 3/4" → cost $7.90 PRICE INCREASE TO $9.45
Medium Boxes → 11 1/4" x 8 3/4" x 6" or 14" x 12" x 3 1/2" → Cost $13.75 PRICE INCREASE TO $16.10
We could either make the swap open to anything that will fit in the boxes, or we could set a theme like they do in the Raffles.
What does everyone think? Would you join this swap? Should it be themed or not? And if so, any ideas on the theme? If we decided to do a theme, I would set up a vote to decide on it.
Let me know!
This is a great idea for swappers who want to plan with a budget. For themes it might be fun to go broad with a questionnaire of “a few of my favorite things. Or do the color themes like “box of sunshine” style.
No, no, no. This isn’t the raffle. I was just using the raffle as an example of how they did themes. This would be a regular swap where you had to fill the box. I was just curious if people wanted to have it be open and put whatever in the box, or fill it according to a theme.
I think maybe you could make it an option on the q- whether they would like the package they receive to be open or to have a theme. Then people can suggest themes that might interest them …maybe? Or maybe that’s just a way to make everything more complicated.
I think individual themes can be difficult sometimes, depending on how people choose them… For example, one of the themes I like is “interesting animal group names” (e.g. “murder of crows”) - this may translate well to an ATC or patch, but if you’re looking at a box full of items it isn’t as appealing, and that theme may not be “fun” for everybody (a few people get really into it, and that’s when it’s the most fun - but in some cases it’s too niche and people may not like or be inspired by it). Similarly when people have a niche TV show or movie that they like, if it’s not something I’m familiar with or a fan of, it’s hard for me to make something meaningful for the other person about it (though I may be able to come up with something, it may not be as perfect if I don’t know the context). So I guess what I’m saying is, for me, I think if we do a theme I would prefer something that would be a generic group theme (box of sunshine, springtime, etc.) because those are broad enough to easily find things that fit, and you can still stalk your partner’s info to try to customize it. Or possibly a theme to the box, plus a list of “kinds of things I like” to give a few leads.
If we had a theme it would be a more generic open theme so that the main “theme” is the box and we wouldn’t exclude people.
I liked the idea of “my favorite things”.
I like this idea a lot, as well as waiting for after the holidays to start. I think the “Some of my favorite things” would be enough of a theme.
People could list both visual/concept themes (like a color, or a favorite movie quote, or characters, etc.) as well as craft themes they would enjoy receiving (like crocheted items, ceramics, hooplas, etc.).
I’ve missed my crafty people, but definitely know I can’t commit to anything until after January starts.
It looks like we will have enough interest to do this. I will try to set it up around the 7th of January if everyone is cool with that. We can give until the 19th to sign up, then six weeks to craft. Sound good? I will be in the final weeks of my work travel so I am trying to schedule it around that.
