Hosting a Secret Santa Gift Exchange with your Bookish Besties!

I’m super excited to be a part of the 12 Days of Christmas Blog Hop hosted by YA Sci-Fi & Fantasy Addicts. Each post has a fun bookish freebie and a chance to win our mega giveaway! So, be sure to scroll down. This post features my tips for hosting a Secret Santa Gift Exchange with your Bookish Besties!.

Day 1 - YA Christmas Reads + Sweets

Day 1 Bonus – Hosting a Secret Santa Gift Exchange with Your Bookish Friends

Day 2 - Gift Ideas for Friends who Read

Day 3 - Found Family Trope Reads

Day 4 - White Stag Review + Decadent Vegan Hot Cocoa Recipe

Day 5 - Book Room Christmas Decor + Favorite Christmas Reads

Day 6 - 12 Favorite Fantasy Books of the Year

Day 7 – A Christmas Playlist to Read To

Day 7 Bonus - Christmas Traditions + Favorite Holiday Reads

Day 8 - Tamales and Books!

Day 9 - Winter Book Review: Wicked Lovely

Day 10 - Derby Pie and Fond Memories

Day 11 - Mistletoe Myths & Stories

Day 12 - A Soul as Cold as Frost Review + Coffee Recipe

Day 12 Bonus - Tea Pairings & Winter-Themed Books

Wrap-Up - All the Stocking Stuffers + Big Giveaway

HOSTING A GIFT EXCHANGE WITH YOUR BOOKISH BESTIES!

I’m SO lucky to have an amazing group of writer/bookish besties! We were brought together by a FB group when we decided to collaborate on Instagram sharing. Some left our group, some joined our group, and over time we had a really tight core of twelve. Then, when the pandemic hit, we took our friendship to the next level and started zooming weekly. We also started a podcast called the Reading Queens! And then, when the holidays rolled around, we decided to start doing a Secret Santa gift exchange!

With our group being all over the world, I didn’t really know how a Secret Santa exchange could work, but one of us had heard of a gift exchange site called Elfster. If you haven’t heard of Elfster, well let me tell you, it’s awesome!! You enter all the names and emails of the people in your Secret Santa group and Elfster does the rest! Each person enters their mailing info, wish lists, and other preferences. Then, Elfster chooses the names and lets everyone know who they got! It’s the coolest ever!!

For our group, we did our gift opening on Zoom and it was so fun to see everyone open their packages! This year we’re dressing up for our exchange and many of us are wearing dresses!! I’m not much of a dressy person, so I’ll be wearing a sparkly top with pajama bottoms. LOL OH, and I’m putting on my Disney tiara!!

Here are some tips for a successful gift exchange! When sending your gift, make sure you let the sender know it’s a gift so they don’t put your name or address on the return label. Also, make sure you address the gift in a special way so the receiver knows it’s for the exchange. That way, they won’t accidentally open it before the exchange. For my group, we put Queen in front of our names. So my gift came addressed to Queen Rose Garcia. HA!! Another tip… with all the craziness going on with mailing stuff, make sure you do your exchange NOW if you haven’t already!! And, of course, have fun!!

AN EXTRA BONUS GOODIE FOR YOU!

As an extra bonus goodie for you, I’m giving away ebooks for this blog hop only! Sign up for my NL and receive a free ebook of Final Life, book one in the Final Life Series!