Not wanting to dwell on the holidays but thought CC might have some suggestions here.
Our family is not likely to be together for Christmas - a usual blend of a few different households including a few different states for a total of 15ish people.
For years we have done a Secret Santa gift exchange. On Thanksgiving people get a randomly generated name, gift is purchased and wrapped in an agreed upon national newspaper to not be identifying and then we gather and open one at a time and try to guess who bought us our gift. It’s more comical than that, but that’s the jist of it.
I’m trying to figure out how we could still do this virtually. Names can still be assigned using the online website we used last year. We could have the gifts send to our picked person ahead of time (might be a little difficult to not see who bought an item?). We could pick a date/time to do virtual opening and guessing as usual.
I know lots of other families do something similar. Have you figured out logistics to continue this tradition virtually? Any tips, well thought out steps appreciated!
I figured I’d think it out ahead of time and then present it to our group. People may just prefer to punt the idea for a year. That’s ok too.
Here’s what I found through google…bit convoluted but sounds like it would work.
First, you should buy an amazon gift card of the amount of the gift you are going to buy. For instance, if you’re gonna buy a “Come back with a warrant” Mat, buy a card for 16.99$.
For the gift card recipient, select your own email address!
You’ll receive an email in the following minutes with your gift code / voucher that you’ll be able to use when sending the gift
Go to the product page of the product you want to buy, and select “Add to Basket”
If the option is available, check the “this is a gift” box (If not, don’t worry, it just means the item won’t be wrapped in gift wrapping paper)
Proceed to checkout, and add a new delivery adress (the adress of the gift recipient, like your mother-in-law)
Follow all the normal order steps until the payment page. On the “Choose Gift Options” page, check the box “Gift Receipt” to hide the price on your present.
Now you can add you gift card that won’t show up on the gift and let you be completely anonymous:
Pay with your card, and wait for the recipient to receive his gift!
Well, I wouldn’t guarantee it. But I did find that some people just talked to customer service at Amazon for directions. Sounds like a lot of people do this for same reasons as you.
