The Over $100 Dollar Swap - Or Why I Almost Vomited on a Postal Worker

The Advent Calendar Swap - aka bane of my existence!

I just sent out - which I was already freaking out about - 13 days late people! And my partner lives in the UK! Will she get her swap before Dec 1st? Who knows? The rules of the swap were to send out 24 small gifts for each day of advent, a bigger one for Christmas, and I included an extra for the 26th because I'm sending so late. And the spending requirement was $60.

I really like to spoil my swap partners and this partner was so hard! She loves scrapbooking and Disney. Hey Disney is alright with me, but I don't need physical Disney objects in my house - and scrapbooking - do you know how expensive all that stuff is? Ahhhhhhh. I've figured out that if I sign up for a craft swap - or a music swap based on a theme, chances are it will be easy to create something for my partner, because we already have the same tastes. But gift swaps can be completely dependent on the person's profile. And this (I'm sure very nice) woman seems to be nothing like me!

Complaining aside I got a package together, that I was happy with, and this is what I sent:

1. Hello Kitty Christmas Cards
2. 1" Button
3. Maple Syrup
4. Pancake Mix
5. Chai Mix with Recipe
6. Mushroom Ornament
7. Hello Kitty Beads
8. Peppermints
9. Scarf
10. Disney Scrapbooking Papers 3.50
11. Brag book photo album
12. Gel Pen
13. Pink Hat
14. Bing Crosby CD
15. Disney Princess Bottle Caps
16. Scrapbooking Word Stickers
17. Bitty Brooch
18. Hello Kitty Scrapbooking Papers
19. Bonnie Band
20. Blank Notecard
21. Tinkerbell Scrapbooking Decoration
22. Shortbread Recipe
23. Lip gloss
24. Shower Gel
25. Corn Cozy
26. Hershey's Kisses

So I pack it all up and go to look up her address on Swap-bot. Swap-bot does not load. After twenty minutes of cursing I started praying to St. Anthony (the Catholic patron saint of lost things - one of my religious heroes) to "find the internet connection." I was having heart palpitations with thoughts of trying to mail this massive box on Black Friday, standing in a line that went across the street! St. A pulled through immediately though and I addressed the box.

I lugged this thing to the post office where it weighed in at 13.5 lbs and the nice woman politely asked me for $45.75 to mail it to the UK.

That's where I almost vomited.



I picked up my swap box, which was about a 1/4 the size of the one that I sent (not that that matters)! Promptly took it home and opened a present. Yes, I'm cheating. And I'm considering opening every one as soon as I'm done this post. Maybe it'll be like a crafty valium...