/cgl/ - Cosplay & EGL

Hey.
Hey girl.
Want some burando?
It's good burando.

I have learned you cannot participate in one of these expecting something nice in return. Even if you puts lots of money/effort into it, you better be doing it out of love and crafting or a philanthropic spirit because you will always end up with cheap shit in return.

>>7886512
Basically this, I always work hard on getting something I think my partner will enjoy.
Last time I did the lolita tips one I got a box of lipton's tea and this crappy little bag made out of broadcloth.

>>7886499
My comm does a secret santa!
>Last year
Got a petticoat (was a noob layering skirts then)
Gave an OP from a small brand off yjp
>this year
Haven't gotten names yet, but we'll be at a cute tea house and I'm super excited to exchange gifts! We have a price limit of $20-30, which is sorta low for lolita, so I might go over if it's someone I really like.

>>7886520
That's so sad anon!

>>7886522
Oh man, giving a petticoat is a wonderful idea! I mean, I have like 5 but a new one is always nice, yet not something you want to spend money on all the time.

>>7886520
Oh shite. Well, I'm doing the lolita-tips one this year, I hope I have better luck than you. Either way, I like sending and receiving mail.

>>7886499
Didn't voldie start one of those here? I wanted to take part but I lost the thread

I am hosting a small one for my local community, and my biggest fear is someone does not send something, or sends complete crap.

I have already decided if someone flakes out I will send the person who got nothing a gift myself, but how would you handle it if someone got something sub par?
I have set it up so everyone has to post photos of what they are sending, so I should know what is going out, but I am just so very nervous it is going to be a disaster.

>>7886529
It was pretty awesome. I had (and still have) very limited money, and I wanted to buy other pieces before, but the petticoat really helped me make better coords and I only realised how awesome it was when I got it.
>>7886546
In my comm, the people who didn't follow through can attend the tea party, but aren't allowed to do the ss.

>>7886520
I did the lolita tips exchange once and I gave THREE GLBs, Japanese candies, and some handmaid hair accessories. I got a few Japanese erasers and dollar store stickers in return.
Never, never again.

>>7886537
It autosaged before any decisions were made.

>>7886512
I've only participated in art exchanges and one ornament exchange. Never got my ornament when I sent off something I needlefelted and most of the time the art's passable, nothing to really call home about.

I'm doing the one for lolita-tips this year.
I really don't expect much, but I think I may do a Otome no Sewing/GLB/some sort of cute mook and/or possibly something handmade.

I REALLY want a /cgl/ secret santa! Who would be up for it?

i would like to do one for my local comm but worried it will turn out very pathetic. Anyone have advice on what to do/avoid?

>>7887174
I'd be up for it, but who will arrange it?

I had good experiences when I did exchanges in the crafts community, so I thought it would carry over to the lolita community as well. Not. At. All. I'll never participate in another exchange unless I know the person gifting me.

I hate how selfish I sound, but I've put in too much effort and gotten shit in return. I would be fine with something that was poorly made as long as the thought was there. In my experience, it's not.

>>7887189
There's not a whole lot you can do. People will either put a lot of effort into their gifts or not. It all depends on your comm. consider how they dress and I'd you think they'd put effort into gifting nice things or not.

Gawd I had a nightmare experience with a local comm. We had an exchange meet where almost none of the ladies who were exchanging gifts showed up. So I had to facilitate the mailing process. Honestly mistake number 1 was not assigning people in pairs. We each had a diff girl at random to keep it anonymous. Mistake number 2 was that I expected that giving 1 1\2 months for purchase and delivery was enough. And mistake 3 trusting people to be honorable. End result, most people got a gift late. Like after the holidays. Also a few ladies gave old used and barely clean clothes (that did not even fit the recipient). One person never got a gift, I had to get them one as the organizer. Oh and one gift although shipped with proof never arrived but the sender was kind enough to send a replacement gift Keep in mind that it was a local comm. So done with that.

I've participated in two gift exchanges, one lolita and one not. Both experiences were bad, so I would not participate in one again.

The lolita exchange was my first meetup. I was paired with a guy in our comm who was not even into lolita I think. I don't know, he never showed up and was later removed from the comm. I sat there and watched everyone get personalized, thoughtful gifts because all the members had known each other for a while. I was the only newcomer.
I had spent around $20 on my person's gifts. I looked at her coords and bought accessories that would match. The only saving grace was that the coordinator had brought back up gifts, so I ended getting a heavily used pair of brand socks and some kid's hairclips.
It still felt horrible to carefully select gifts and then be an afterthought like that.

The other exchange I was in was with a group of ex-friends I had as a freshman in college. We all made Amazon wishlists and everyone got something they wanted off of them except me. My partner kept making up lame excuses and the host just blew me off when I told her it wasn't right.

>>7887338
Amazon wish lists have been awesome for gift exchanges in the past for me.


About 8 years ago, I participated in a few swaps on GothAuctions and I always got the shit end of the deal. Tried it again 2 years ago with a group from BabyCenter and FINALLY got some decent things in return. I'd bet $1000 it had to do with the quality of people I did it with.
I'd participate in a lolita gift exchange, but I wouldn't expect brand or jsks, definitely small things, and making a wish list of said items would make things less awkward.

>have been doing Secret Santa gifts for the past 5 or 6 years
>always get really excited and go all out for my person
>always spend a little extra and even buy fancy boxes and wrapping paper and stuff for the gifts
>5/6 times I've never gotten anything/person flaked and the only time I actually got something it was a candy bar

I don't know why I keep doing this to myself. I genuinely love Secret Santas but I always end up super sad at the end of them.

>>7887338
>I ended getting a heavily used pair of brand socks and some kid's hairclips.

Wow. The coordinator thought those were appropriate backup gifts? How awful. I'm sorry anon.

On that note, I got acceptable gifts from my local comm at our meet up, but they were small and nothing special, while I tried my hardest to make gifts that matched my recipient's preferences. One girl didn't get anything because the girl she was partnered with didn't make it to the exchange meet. The deserter ended up getting her gifts at a later date but didn't bring something for her recipient. It still makes me sad.

That being said, I'll still participate, but I'm not sure I'll make anything unless I can't afford to do anything else. I'd be less upset purchasing a small brand item that's within budget guidelines because spending the time and effort to make things is more costly to me than buying something, even if material cost is no more than $5 or consists of things I have on hand.

>>7887372
I know how you feel. I think what's more important is to think about how awesome you felt preparing the gifts for your recipient and how they must have felt. It's tough to get over the disappointment of receiving shit, but at least you had a good time prepping your gift. (I need to take this advice too!)

>>7887372
>candy bar
Jesus Christ.

Also, drawnames.com is what I used both years.

>>7887213
idk, if nobody else wants to it could be me

>>7887213
this may be the only occasion i'd prefer the coordinator to be a well-known trip.

>>7887472
I think Voldie tried to organise one? Did anyone ending up sending her their details?

>Hosting one for my comm
>know basically everyone except this one girl, so I check her facebook out of curiosity
>She is literately textbook ita. mini tophats, wrinkled broadcloth milano, no petti, no blouse, no leg wear...
>She sends her form in, it asks what brand you like the most and her answer is "not sure"

I'm conflicted /cgl/ should I take one for the team and make sure she is giving me a gift, or should I just stick with the rng?
I mean, just because she can not dress herself does not mean she is any more inclined to flake or give a bad gift...Right?

>>7887495
At least if she fucks it all up there's be a legitimate reason to hate her

>>7887501
What's the price range? If it's something small just take one for the team, anon. Ita or not she will feel terrible for being left out, and you'll feel like a monster letting someone else take the shit end of the deal anyway.

>>7887213
Voldie already arranged one. I'm sure its not too late to put your name in.

>>7887501
Tell her that if she doesn't understand the object of giving an appropriate gift, due to her lack of knowledge about the fashion, she can't participate. Tell her to apply the next year after she has more experience, and that it's for established community members due to the possibility of people getting scammed. Man the fuck up.

>>7887495
I thought about making a facebook group for it
>>7887497
I wasnt aware of that, was that last year?

>>7887511
What was the info we needed to send in though?

>>7887511
When I went back to the thread to see if it was still open, the thread was down. If it comes up again I'll check it out.

Found the archive for all of us interested on Voldie's Secret Santa >>/cgl/thread/7871534

>>7887514
I wish I had the balls to do this, but I don't.
>>7887510
It is $60, but yeah this basically sums up my feelings.

I am going to at least pm her tonight saying she needs to fill out the form completely and maybe direct her to hellolace to decide what she likes the look of.

>>7887542
How do we enter it? Maybe I'm just overtired idk

>>7887552
Go to sleep and try again in the morning, anon. Don't be that one nerd who relies on others to figure things out for them, or whoever you get paired up with a secret santa will probably be disappointed because if you can't figure out how to find information in a thread you probably won't be able to manage selecting, wrapping, or god forbid mailing gifts out to someone.

>tfw projecting onto you
>tfw already picturing the bitterness growing in the heart of my giftee

>>7887548
Her reply
>Okay. I honestly didn't know any brands lol will look tomorrow during break. Its rest time now. Thank you!

send me strength.

>>7887564
Sorry anon, I'm also too tired to cgl. Didn't realize how dumb I sounded until I posted it. I'm sure your giftee will love it!

>>7887501
Either take one for the team or tell her she needs more experience before participating. It's not to be mean but it's a fashion based community event. If you're not experienced in the fashion, you shouldn't participate to avoid someone getting an ita gift.

Sorry guys, I've been a little swamped and didn't make a new thread, so I'll just tack this onto this one:

The deadline is November 10th. Simply fill out the below form with your info and send it to voldieclaus@hotmail.com. The more specific you are, the better. I believe we agreed upon "as close to $30 as possible"

Price Range:
Name:
Country:
Address:
Size (if you are asking for clothing/shoes/contacts/etc):
Can you ship internationally?
Are you able/wish to send out X-mas cards (Specify amount)?
Wishlist (Imgur albums with specific links would be best. Please don't just put "Surprise me.")/styles/interests:
Are you willing to send extra gifts to anons who get grinched (do not receive a gift), Y/N?
Feedback (heavily preferred, I will message you to make sure it's legit):

>>7887847
Now is it just lolita items?

>>7887865
Nope, cosplay, general cute shit, anything really. Just please don't go all /a/ and request bloody panties

>>7887871
>"bloody panties"
>crosses off of list
Damn. There goes my Xmas.

Bump.
I want some dirty panties under my tree.
(Jk; don't hurt me)

>>7887891
lol

>>7888453
anon i will send mine fer youu

Bump, only 4 people have emailed so far! Remember please to email your real name for shipping purposes, and that the price range thing has been changed

>>7887847
What do you want me to say in the "feedback" part? I'm going to join because I've had a lot of fun with reddit exchanges in the past but I don't know what to put for that section. Or is that post-exchange stuff?

>>7889470
fuck literally as I hit reply I realized this means egl feedback

>>7887213
Someone posted in /a/'s Secret Santa thread and said they'd be using their /ss/ rules as a guideline to make one for /cgl/.

>>7889603
yup

>>7889603
...and this is what happens when I don't bother reading the whole thread, whoops.

>>7889475
I put my eBay feedback, as that's really the only shit I've got.

My community usually just stacks a pile and we take turns picking from that pile, or if the organizer has time, do it by lotto. The community is big and even having multiple meets to cut down attendees at single parties can get cluttered, so we learned eventually that white elephant exchanges tend to drag out with people switching items.

Last year's wasn't bad. I usually pitch in some kind of jewelry, either vintage or crafted with materials from a Japanese bead shop near my job. I put in a vintage chess piece brooch and in return got a box of bon bon clips. I don't normally wear sweet anymore, but the one sweet dress I still love would pair well, so win in the end.

>>7886499
Here's a horror story, OP.
>gift exchange in our comm
>big comm with a lot of itas, so kind of a gamble to do it
>eh, whatever. Spirit of giving and all that
>check out this girl's blog and see that she loves classic+homemade stuff and enjoys making her own dresses
>her dresses look fucking terrible, but she's probably still learning
>get her an otome no sewing book+ some pretty tights from local shops+a flower brooch
>got an obviously used bodyline bow with the lace coming off and an el-cheapo hot pink flower crown
>great, never doing this again
Also apparently the girl I bought for bitched that I was "insinuating that she didn't know how to sew" because of the pattern book.

>>7886507
Das sum dank tea.

What are some good things to make or buy? Price limit is low, under $25

>>7891103
>scarf
>mook
>glb
>tights
>cute keychain

But really? You can't think of anything?

>>7891103
Go to aliexpress.
Have fun.

>>7891079
If she got offended she obviously doesn't. Anyone who's serious about sewing would love that gift.

I'd love to join, but shipping from anywhere takes ages to get to my country, and I honestly don't think I coud get anything local that's /cgl/-related enough to give. Ah, well.

>>7887501
Not this anon...But say there were 2 itas, would it be rude to partner them with each other?

>>7891049
Like a yankee swap anon? Or is it not called that everywhere?

>>7892626
Not at all. Itas have no taste, so if they give shit gifts, neither will be able to tell. It's unfair to the girls who actually put effort in if they aren't paired.

>>7887847

I'd really like to do this just to send out cute hand made christmas cards and little trinkets.

>mfw I don't even want anything

>>7894677
You know what? I'm more down for this than an actual exchange. We each send out a card and a small item based on the person's likes/interests. Nothing huge, nothing extravagant.

>>7894677
>>7894738
You can do that, if you email me I can give you the list of everyone and you can send them all little cards and what not. I'd rather not throw the whole exchange down the trash though, as the 4 people who have emailed me are likely still interested.

>>7894745
I am one of the 4 people who emailed you, and I'm kinda interested in this idea. I'd be happy to switch to christmas card mode.

>>7894745
Sorry I haven't emailed you yet I'm excited to shop for someone else but I have no idea what I want and have been trying to find things for my imgur album

Mfw comm had white elephant a couple years ago.

It was a mixed bag of shit and mediocre. Someone put in the Grinch DVD... $5 from Walmart.

>>7887501
take one for the team! honestly if she is wearing cheap milanoo crap she is easy to buy for because she doesn't spend much on herself anyway.

You could buy her a cheap petticoat or nice stockings from bodyline or something. Because then she wont look 'as ita' so the community wins, she develops her style a bit so she wins, and its a philanthropic gesture so you win.

I swear buying for an ita is so much easier than buying for a brandwhore on a $30 budget. count your blessings!!

>>7896459
Same here. I think we'd also get a fuck ton more peeps in too.

>>7894745
I'd definitely be down for making something small to send out, at least I have the materials ready to go for something like that.

>>7892626
Not going to lie, the last gift exchange I did I had separate randomization groups for people who I was confident they could dress themselves and people who could not.

Everyone was happier over all.

>>7887548
Then you have no business being in charge of anything. Take one for the team and don't allow your shitty management skills to upset someone else.

Can someone point me to the /a/ secret santa thread? I have a bunch of figmas I want to unload and figure someone from there would really appreciate it.


Also totally plan on hand crafting a gift for someone in this little lolita gift exchange

The two times my comm has done secret santa I got something really nice from my friends. I try really hard to get someone something thoughtful and sweet. I hope that they have liked their presents :( Last year's Christmas meetup/secret santa was lots of fun.
I love my comm.