Swap Rules

The Golden Rules* of the Swap:

* You are asked to agree to these rules when you register to participate in the Swap;
by doing so, you acknowledge that failure to comply may cause you to be
excluded from participating again in the future.

1) Upon registering, please put us in your email contacts.

This is a big one! Please put our correct email address in your email contacts: rememberingswaps@gmail.com. By putting our email address in your contacts, you will ensure that you receive all of our emails during Swap season (& that they do not end up lost in your spam folder), many of which contain important and time-sensitive information about your Swap assignment.

Remember Together promises to never share your email address with vendors/third parties other than the person involved directly in your ornament exchange for this Swap. If at any time you want to opt out, all you have to do is let us know! 

2.) Respond to our confirmation email.

When we receive your registration, we send out a confirmation email to you: that email requires a response from you in order to complete the registration process. The email we send will ask you to add your name to the subject line of the email and send it to us. This response tells us you are "all in" & that your email address is functioning properly & receiving mail. 

Once you have done this, you will receive a thank you email so you know we got your confirmation. Then you just need to sit tight & wait for your Swap assignment to arrive, usually within about 4 days of the close of registration.

Don't know how to change the subject line in an email? No problem!

• Click here if you have Gmail 
• Click here if you have Outlook 
• Click here if you have Yahoo

3.) Please ship your ornament on or before the shipping deadline. 

Please pack & protect your ornament for shipping; mark package "fragile".

The shipping deadline this year (2023) will be Sunday, December 3rd. 

Though it may seem "early", we choose this date because we want everyone to have plenty of time to make and package their ornament for shipping, without feeling stressed or pressed; we also want everyone to receive their ornament in plenty of time to enjoy it prior to & during the holidays! From the time you receive your swap assignment, you have approximately two and a half weeks to do this. This date is also chosen to be well before the December holidays are in full swing, so it should not interfere with your other holiday "tasks". 

Be sure to get tracking information when available & take a picture of your shipping receipt, so if something goes wrong you have a record, which can be very helpful!

In past swaps, the people who wait & put off shipping until the last minute are always the ones whose ornaments do not arrive on time, or sometimes get lost and don't arrive at all.

This causes distress on the part of your recipient at an already emotional time of year.

Make & ship your ornament promptly, this way if there is a problem, the situation can be remedied before the holiday has come and gone. In light of the distress and extra work that can result from late shipping, please note that you can lose participation privileges in the future when you fail to ship on time.

4.) Please MAKE your ornament by hand, with love. Do not buy or order (by mail or online) your ornament.

Your ornament is supposed to be something that is created by you, with love, for someone else; that is what makes it special and heart-felt. Making these ornaments is intended to be a meaningful activity that brings comfort and provides a framework for processing difficult feelings. Take the same care & effort that you would like someone to put into making an ornament for your own baby. If you are not "crafty", don't fret; there are many ideas and suggestions for you... 

Store-bought ornaments, even when "personalized", always seem impersonal. We have heard this from disappointed recipients who put a lot into making ornaments for others, only to receive something they felt was not really crafted specially in the same way. These store-bought creations often arrive late, no matter how early you might have ordered them, and in past years spelling errors have even been made with baby's names. Remember that it is a very busy time of year for the companies who manufacture these ornaments, and they do not always come through despite what they may promise.

5.) Please communicate

Hey, we get it -- life happens. If you find yourself in a situation that will prevent you from making or shipping your ornament, we can try to help! Let your recipient know as soon as possible before the holiday. Please DO NOT wait until a week before Christmas, when you have begun receiving panicky emails from your recipient or from the swap team. By then it is usually too late for a solution that will get an ornament to your recipient before the holiday. Let us know EARLY. We won't judge! It may be possible to re-direct the ornament assignment so that no one ends up disappointed.

Communication is also a nice thing in general; reach out to your recipient. Say hello! Many friendships have begun through this Swap. Also, email your recipient when you have shipped their ornament; this way they will have an idea of when they can expect it. And, ask for a receipt when you ship your package (& take a photo of it); having a record if it is necessary to track the package is super helpful! It is these little gestures and actions that make all the difference during what can be a very trying time of year for many of us.

After the shipping date, Remembering Together will send each recipient the name & email address of the person who has been assigned to make them their ornament. We will be doing this because, despite our best efforts in past years, ornaments have gone missing. We are volunteer-run organization without a lot of resources; it can be inefficient for us to act as the "middleman" in sorting out missing ornaments and/or remedying each situation by the time the holidays actually roll around. By shifting the accountability to the actual maker of the ornament, we hope to open the lines of communication & shorten response time by having folks work it out between themselves. Of course we are also always here to help! We do not want anyone to feel disappointed, especially at such a tough time of year. We realize it seems like we are really harping on this, but we feel strongly that even one disappointment is too many!

If you have questions or need more info, please also review the Swap's Frequently Asked Questions. We want everyone who participates to fully understand what is expected so that everyone can enjoy this year's Ornament Swap.

* You are asked to agree to these rules when you register to participate in the Swap; by doing so, you acknowledge that failure to comply with one or more of these rules may cause you to be excluded from participating again in the future.