Let's Go Shopping!

As a shopping addict myself, I get so excited before going shopping. Doing the shopping list, visiting my favorite shops, and finding new ones as well. And I’m guessing if you’re here on Swap-bot, you also enjoy shopping for your partners and buying craft items and paper goodies. I know I’m not all alone here!

So if you’re a shopaholic too, I’d love to go shopping with you!

This is a simple swap, just choose a fun shopping day and send your partner the following:

• A letter sharing about your shopping day. You can write about the places you went to, the things you needed/wanted to buy (maybe some items for a few upcoming swaps? or some Christmas shopping?), the things you got, etc…Remember your partner might not be familiar with your country’ stores or local stores so it would be nice to tell them about what kind of stores you visited. If you have a favorite place to make a stop before keep on shopping, you can feel free to share that too.

• Your shopping list (try to use a cute notepad/paper, or decorate one with washi tape, stickers, whatever you want)

• Some store brochures/business cards. Some of the stores we visit might have business cards or brochures, take some and share them with your partner. If you can’t find any, then try to add a few pictures or printouts from the stores you visited. This is optional, but would be nice if you could add something from some of the stores you visited. Some ephemera (bus/subway tickets, vouchers, etc) also works.

• A flat surprise for your partner. Something you bought for them on that same shopping day, some ideas: a postcard, a sheet of stickers, a tea bag, ephemera, etc. This is sender’s choice but try to check your partner’s profile for any strong dislikes or allergies.

Decorate your envelope and make it look pretty, if possible, choose a shopping theme.

This is a fairly simple swap, but I’m giving you 3 weeks to send it, so you can take the time to have a proper shopping day and have fun while shopping and getting your swap ready.

Swap requirements: Only people with a 4.95 rating. You must have at least 20 rated type 2 and 3 swaps (in total). No recent and unsolved 1's and 3's in the last year. I will be looking all profiles and reserve the right to ban anyone who seems flaky or problematic.

Before joining, please check your if you meet the requirements. If you don’t, please DO NOT join this swap. As a host, I take my time checking all participants and making sure they don’t have late swaps on their dashboard, logged in during the past few days and have the amount of rated swaps I ask for. It takes you less than 2 minutes to check your own ratings and situation, but it takes me a long time to go over all swappers that don’t meet requirements and still joined my swap (and which I’ll have to ban anyway). So I’d really appreciate if you could keep that in mind.

Note to newbies: When I say I need for you to have 20 rated type 2 and 3 swaps (in total), it means that in your profile you must have at least 20 ratings for any type of swap (except for electronic swaps). It does not mean you must have sent 20 swaps, you must have been rated for all of them. I always run into participants who do not meet the requirements and still join my swaps and then complain when I ban them, please do not join if you do not meet the requirements. I am hosting the happy mail rounds on a monthly basis, so when you actually meet the requirements, you can feel free to join.

Note to participants: Please rate your partner promptly. If your swap is taking too long, get in touch with your partner to see if she forgot to rate / she’d like to wait a bit longer / she thinks it’s time to do a resend, and keep me posted, I'd really appreciate that.

I will angel this swap in case someone flakes, but I'm trying to be as cautious as I can and really hope we can all have fun with this swap.

If you have any questions, suggestions or doubts, please don't hesitate to contact me or add a comment in this swap.

Happy swapping everyone!