For those of you that have followed this ol’ blog for a while, you may remember that I used to do blog swaps. I even ran a second blog called Chaotic Goddess Swaps with my long time friend and fellow blogger Beth. We did roughly 12 swaps a year over at that other blog, and it had a loyal group of swappers that joined nearly each and every swap. We eventually had to let the blog go, but we’d always said that maybe one day we’d get back to hosting swaps on each of our individual blogs again.
A Return to Blogging of Old
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how blogging has changed over the years. This line of thinking led me to think about the things I used to do in the blogging community that I miss. It seems like it’s become a lot more about making the money than building the community-and I get it, I really do-blogging isn’t necessarily a cheap hobby. I pay for hosting, domains, various social media tools (Buffer, Tailwind, etc.), advertising, courses, etc. It’s pricey. But I really miss that old sense of community that I used to be able to dive into with the blogging world.
I Miss Blogger Swaps
One of the the things I miss most is the blogger swaps. I recently joined a sticker swap group after subscribing to Pipsticks (aff link) and becoming re-obsessed with stickers. Swapping stickers has been so fun, and it reminds me that I really miss blogger swaps, and all of the blogging buddies I made when I was swapping. Though I still keep in touch with so many of them, it hasn’t been the same since we stopped doing all of the old swaps and linky parties we used to do.
The 12 Days of Christmas Swap
One of our favorite swaps, the 12 Days of Christmas Swap, was one that always took a little extra work but also had us looking forward to it each and every year. The idea behind the 12 Days of Christmas Swap is that you send the blogger you’re paired up with 12 gifts to open on the 12 days leading up to Christmas day. In return, they do the same for you.
See an example of the 2014 12 Days of Christmas Swap I participated in HERE.
Who Can Sign Up
- Bloggers, creators, and social media influencers with public-facing blogs or social media accounts
- People located within the USA (sorry international friends, unfortunately I didn’t get this out there early enough for international shipping. Next time I’ll be more prepared!)
How the Swap Works
If you’ve never participated in a blogger swap before, here’s how it goes:
- You fill out your information the handy sign-up form
- I use the information you provided to match you up with another blogger who has also signed up
- You get to know your blogger pal (stalk their blog/social media, email them questions, etc.)
- You each pick out 12 fun gifts (within the allowed price range) that you think each other will like
- You each wrap the gifts (whether or not you number them is up to you)
- You mail each other the gifts all at once
- You each open one gift every day in the 12 days leading up to Christmas
- You post about your gifts/experience/new friend on your blog or social media
Important Dates to Remember
- Sign-Ups: November 14th – November 21st
- Partners Matched by: November 23rd
- Packages Mailed by: December 5th (They must receive their packages BEFORE December 12th)
- Start Opening Gifts: December 12th
- Post About Experience: December 26th – January 9th
12 Days of Christmas Swap Rules
Here are the rules you need to abide by when swapping:
Follow through.
If you sign up, you need to follow through and send off the gifts. It isn’t fair for your partner to put in the effort of sending to you, and then receive nothing in return. Please please please follow through.
Your Package
You must send 12 wrapped gifts to your partner.
How you wrap them is entirely up to you, you can go all out or just wrap them up in newspaper. No judgement here. They just need to all be a surprise so that they can be opened on 12 different days without spoiling it.
Your package should not exceed $50 cost before shipping.
The reason for the cost limit is so that we don’t have one partner who goes all out, and another who might not be able to afford to, and then a disparity in gift quality that leaves one or both feeling badly. Try to keep your gifts inexpensive. You can cut your cost by:
- Shopping sales.
- Handmaking some of the gifts.
- Regifting (gifts need to be new or like-new, nothing old and gross)
Shipping Rules
Your package must be shipped out by December 5th.
They need to have the package in hand before December 12th so they can start opening gifts on time. You should ship earlier if you think it’ll take longer with regular shipping, or use a faster method of shipping. I HIGHLY recommend that you just put it all into one of those flat rate boxes that ship 2-day mail, it’s usually easiest and cheapest with this many things.
You MUST provide a tracking number.
I cannot stress this enough. As soon as you ship out your package, you need to send the tracking number to both your partner and to myself so we know that it’ll be arriving and can watch for it. This also helps us make sure that there is follow through so someone isn’t left without. Again, those amazing flat-rate boxes include this in the cost so I recommend them.
Post About Your Swap
You need to post about your swap somewhere publicly.
We used to require a blog post recapping the swaps and talking about partners, but I’m not going to do that this time. It just needs to be posted somewhere publicly. You can blog about it, or you can post to your Twitter/Facebook/Instagram, etc. This is just a nice way to show your gratitude and show off what your partner got you. It also allows you to give your followers a little introduction to your partner and you both get more exposure in the blogging/influencer world.
Sign-Up Here
Ready to sign up? Fill out this form!
Link-Up With Us
After you’ve signed up, I’ll send you an acceptance email if you’re good to go for the swap. Once you’ve received that acceptance email, come back here and link up your blog or main social media account so people can find you.
Yay! Are you participating?
If yes, leave a comment below introducing yourself!
If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to comment here with them or reach out to me by email. You can also send me a tweet or DM on Instagram and I’ll try to respond as quickly as possible.
