Emergency X-mas?

by Cheryl · December 3, 2007 at 1:49 pm · Emergency, Event, misc

charlie

Hey everybody! I wanted to suggest an Emergency Studio holiday gift exchange. I want to get each and every one of you a gift that you would love and cherish for the rest of your lives….but alas, funding is not available for such an venture. So a gift exchange will hopefully allow me to get one of you a gift you’ll love and cherish.

There are two options for this gift exchange: grab bag or secret Santa. Grab bag would mean somewhat more generic gifts…which I’m not totally opposed to…but I think buying a gift specifically for one person would be better. Secret Santa also poses problems with the picking of who buys for whom. Either we all get together and draw names, which is going to hard to schedule with our hectic holiday schedules, or one person draws names for everyone and emails everyone individually who they are supposed to buy for. Or its not a secret at all, and everyone knows who’s buying for whom.

Anyway…let me know if you are interested and which method of gift-giving you prefer!

Paul said,

December 3, 2007 @ 5:12 pm

I’m interested! and I prefer the drawing of names method. As to whether it’s secret or not… I’m fine either way, but think secret-style adds a little more to the fun of the anticipation.

Maybe we should have a budget for the gifts too? I’ll feel bad if i give someone a CD and then get a diamond and gold watch in return.

Jeff said,

December 3, 2007 @ 8:14 pm

yea, either is cool. what about the boston? how that gonna work? are we gonna have a party at some point. i dunno! Maybe we all get/make 9 presents that everyone gets. . .

Cheryl said,

December 4, 2007 @ 10:14 am

Jeff also suggested that we have collab gifts with teams that produce 9 presents each. But then its uneven and that would be better if we had more time. Also, as far as a budget, I’m going to suggest “priceless”.

Missy said,

December 4, 2007 @ 2:47 pm

Well, as far as a party, Matt and I would really like to host some sort of gathering this holiday season, be it gift exchange or new year’s or whatever. We just put our tree up, and it is fabulous in all of its 4′8″ tall glory.

Also, as it is the season of sharing, I think it would be great to include some ES significant others in this…that means Ashley, Amy, and Jon (John?)…which would make the couples effort a little more feasible…although I guess that means 12 gifts…hmmm…that might be too many. Thoughts?

Mike said,

December 4, 2007 @ 3:10 pm

I don’t know what everyone’s plans are for xmas (e.g. going home, staying put, extravagant vacation to the French Riviera) but I would wager most are going home. If that’s the case, for the benefit of us Boston folks this gift swap could be postponed till after the 25th. Ashley and I are coming down for New Years and that might be a good time to exchange. It’s just a thought…

As far as gift giving strategy we have this weird thing in New England called a yankee swap (a.k.a. white elephant), it’s like a secret santa/clepto mashup.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yankee_swap/

Missy said,

December 4, 2007 @ 3:22 pm

I heart Yankee Swap

Jeff said,

December 4, 2007 @ 3:25 pm

wtf is the yankee swap.? also, my team idea was terrible, I am sorry that was shared. My REAL idea was that everybody has to make 9 (12) priceless gifts. so we all get everything. IE - I would make a custom 3″ button for everyone. yea?

Paul said,

December 4, 2007 @ 3:48 pm

Yankee Swap is (basically) where you have a bunch of gifts, and the person who goes first picks a present and unwraps it. The next person that goes can either steal #1’s present or choose one to open from the pile. And so on until the end. Right?

If so… I vote no. My anxiety can’t handle it.

I’d be down for making 9-12 priceless items for you all or choosing names.

I will be in NY until Dec 22nd and won’t be returning until the night of Jan. 2nd.

Cheryl said,

December 4, 2007 @ 5:39 pm

Geez Paul! that’s quite the vacation you’re taking! I’m also in agreement with Paul about the Yankee Swap. I’m all for the 9-12 gifts or choosing names for a singular gift. 9-12 would be fun….but not quite as “special”…..

Missy said,

December 4, 2007 @ 5:50 pm

Actually, I vote no too…I would really like to make something for everyone.

Missy said,

December 4, 2007 @ 5:50 pm

Also, Matt and I are gone from the 20th to the 30th.

Mike said,

December 4, 2007 @ 6:36 pm

9(12) gifts almost predicates a series of some sort, don’t you think?

Cheryl said,

December 4, 2007 @ 7:23 pm

Well………making that many things, puts a lot of stress on let’s say someone like Patrick’s John. Making 12 things for people you don’t really know? That’s stressful. Jeff made the point to me that perhaps a “yankee swap” or what-have-you would be a lot more flexible. There’s a party and if you bring a gift, you participate in the gift exchange. and if not, then no gifts for you! That would also enable us to open up this here party to other friends. Or not. But I guess that’s another way to look at it.

Paul said,

December 4, 2007 @ 7:37 pm

When you put it that way, I think I would be ok with the Yankee Swap.

Or, to make it even easier, we could just call it a Birthday Party and everyone can give gifts to me!

Jeff said,

December 4, 2007 @ 9:01 pm

it doesn’t have to be yankee swap. it could just be pile of gifts. or whatever. either way, if it’s the 9 gifts thing, it should be 9 gifts, no others included, mainly because of the weirdness. Also, there is basically no time to have this party. Everyone is out of town all over the place (cheryl and I are out the weekend of the 15th, then 21st-26th) This weekend is too soon! OMG!

Missy said,

December 4, 2007 @ 9:48 pm

So does that mean John, Amy and Ashley are invited to the party but don’t participate in the gift exchange? I think that is even weirder than participating even if you don’t know everyone that well…and it would be a good chance to get to know Amy and John better, imo. If we have a yankee swap-ish thing (ie if you bring a gift you participate, and if you don’t you don’t) it will take the pressure off of 1. making too many gifts in a short time, 2. the weirdness factor of excluding people, and 3. the weirdness factor of including newer people. Its the holidays! Lets try and include everyone who wants to participate!

Patrick said,

December 5, 2007 @ 12:28 pm

Ok. So, with the holiday season and all, Jeff makes a good point about how we are going to have a tough time getting together before everyone disperses. I was thinking that it would be fun to have a secret-style type thing for the 9 of us and we just mail the gift to wherever the recipient is for the holiday. that way, it makes it really exciting when you get a package in the mail and you don\’t know who it\’s from…I think that it will make this much more fun!

Oh, and on a side note, I would vote against the yankee-swap style. I would rather get someone something special instead of a generic-type gift.

Cheryl said,

December 5, 2007 @ 1:34 pm

I am down with Patrick’s suggestion. I’ll even volunteer to pick names and be the one left out of the secret. Or maybe I’ll just tell you all that you are all my secret santas! bwahahaha! 8 gifts for me! No, really, I’ll be completely fair about it. Should we mail gifts to the place we’re spending the holidays? If so, then I’ll need to get all of those addresses to give to your secret santas.

Paul said,

December 5, 2007 @ 1:50 pm

holy holiday hullabaloo!

Could we meet the 18th or 19th and have a gift exchange and some kind of friendly gathering? We should decide what we want to do really soon.

Audrey said,

December 6, 2007 @ 11:42 am

whoa guys! i cannot even focus on all of this. so with out thoroughly reading everything ( i apologize) i will state that i love holiday parties and gift exchanges. I would love to make 1 special thing for anyone ( weather i know who or not, but not 9 things at all) .

hope you are all having a good week! ill be back late monday.
its 80 and beautiful in miami.

xo

Cheryl said,

December 6, 2007 @ 12:27 pm

ok…..this has gotten a lot more complicated that I had hoped….All I wanted was a gift exchange!

Anyway…I think that someone just needs to make a decision. Its not going to be perfect, but I don’t think we’re going to have the opportunity to have the perfect holiday party. My proposal is to have our Secret Santa gift exchange on the 18th at Matt and Missy’s (can I invite us over? I’d have it at our house, but without a tree it just won’t feel….right. right?). I can pick names this afternoon so we can all get to work on our gifts. As for our Boston office, I think it would be fun for Mike to mail his present here, Mikes’ present to be mailed there and then perhaps we could conference him in for the big moment. How does this sound? Anyone object? Let me know…….

Patrick said,

December 6, 2007 @ 12:50 pm

sounds great, cheryl!

Paul said,

December 6, 2007 @ 2:42 pm

sounds good to me!

Missy said,

December 6, 2007 @ 3:45 pm

That sounds fabulous! Matt and I are very excited to have you’all over. Lets say 7:30/8:00, we’ll provide the refreshments.

Patrick said,

December 6, 2007 @ 3:49 pm

eggnog!

Missy said,

December 6, 2007 @ 7:26 pm

Of course! Any other requests, just let us know!

Mike said,

December 6, 2007 @ 10:03 pm

Sounds awesome, but I’m not conferencing in. It’s too staff-meeting’esque, in a bad way. I’ll prerecord my reaction and send it over via the interweb. Rock!

John said,

December 8, 2007 @ 12:38 am

wassail watkins

RSS feed for comments on this post · TrackBack URI

Leave a Comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.