it's FESTIVUS for the rest of us! - a winter gift exchange

I don't celebrate Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa. So the holidays can be a weird time of year for me. Especially since I work in retail. I see and hear things that make me shake my head and make me sad that that's how people think of this time of year.

But anywho, because I don't celebrate I sometimes feel a little left out on the giving and yes receiving portion of the season (who doesn't like getting fun packages in the mail from friends). So I was playing with the idea of doing a gift exchange or swap or something that wasn't holiday related. Then Allie from A Day in a Joyful Life tweeted that she wanted to do a holiday swap so I told her my idea . We then started conspiring via email and the Winter Gift Exchange was born.

This gift exchange is for everyone regardless of what you celebrate or if you don't celebrate at all. But there's a little twist, we wanted to add a little more focus on the giving side and not just to your partner, but to your community or to those in need. People are still recovering from Sandy and other disasters (huge explosion in Indianapolis).

So not only will you be asked to send something fun to your partner, but we're asking you to do something charitable as well. What you do is up to you, it doesn't have to involve money, time is just a good. You can donate food or clothing to a shelter, donate a toy to a toy drive, shovel your elderly neighbors driveway after a bit snow, volunteer at the ASPCA, give your friend or coworker a break from their children for a day so they can unwind, relax or do their holiday shopping. Just do SOMETHING. There are no restrictions on what you do, we're just asking you to share your experience with use via Twitter, Instagram or your reveal post.

Okay, so let's get to the rest of the details

• Nov.16 to Nov. 23 (Friday) - sign ups
• Nov. 24 to Nov. 30 (Friday) - partners go out (hopefully we get them out before Friday so you have more time to get some shopping/creating time in)
• Dec. 12 (Wednesday) - last day to get your package in the mail
• Dec. 21 (Friday) - reveal and link up post
• gift value should be in the 15 - 20 dollars (this doesn't include the charitable portion)

Use the form below to sign up and share this with your friends. The more the merrier. Also feel free to grab the button below to add to your blog. (I'm pretty proud of that button, yes I'm tooting my horn about designing it.) Any questions can be directed to Allie at adayinajoyfullife{at}gmail{dot}com.

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reading - A Feast of Crows by George R.R. Martin This post brought to you in part by: