swap party, anyone?

In about five weeks, I will hit my 500th post. I was trying to think of something to do for you all  to commemorate the milestone. My first thought was to hold one of those Pay It Forward contests that everyone seems to be having. You know, the one where you give something away to one reader, who then has a contest and gives something to another reader. 

And then I thought that it would be way more fun if we could all get a present. 

Then I thought about how much cool stuff i have sitting around here that doesn't have a home, that I will never use, that I have grown out of but still love, that my husband forgot is here so I could easily give it away.

Then I thought about how you all might have some cool stuff sitting around too. 

Stuff that you are done with, but don't want to throw away. 

Stuff that you might put in a yard sale someday, but you think its worth more than the dollar you might get for it.

Stuff that you loved, that you want someone else to love. 

And I thought, why not? 

Why not have a huge internet swap party? 

Less stuff in the landfill, more stuff passed on to someone who might love it. A complete win-win situation for all of us! 

So here are the rules as I have thought them out thus far: 

~First, I really need you guys to spread the word. I don't have a ton of really regular readers, so it is up to you all to help me really get the word out. The more people we have to participate the more fun this will be!

If it goes well we can do it every year, maybe even twice a year! Presents constantly in rotation would be awesome, don't you think?

~Second, I am tentatively setting the deadline for particpants to register with me for Monday, June first.  If we find we need more time to get the word out the date might change, but in order to keep up with my 500th post, I'd let to get moving on this! 

To register, I need you to email me (tjbsandy at yahoo dot com, put "swap" in the subject line, please!) with your name, your blog (name and url, please!), and your address. And your willingness to mail something out for the swap. 

~Third, I will not divulge your information to anyone, under any circumstances. You will have to trust me on this, but know that I am a taurus who guards her own privacy like a a mama hawk. Your info is safe with me. 

I think the way that I will work out the swap is the sender will not know anything but the name and address of the sendee. I will not divulge the blog, just the address and name. That way if you get someone you already know it's cool, but if you don't, you can't rightly stalk them because you have no idea who you are stalking. I also would be willing to use fake names at your request, but I still need your mailing address. Maybe even one name for everyone... we will figure that out. 

Then I will likely leave it up to the sender whether or not they want to tell the recipient who they are. I will have the master list, so I will know who didn't send a gift if we have slackers. (And I will call you out. Don't think for a second that I won't.)  

~Fourth, we need to think of a shiping cap, so that we all stay even in the give and take department. What do you think is reasonable? $10? $15? 

What do you think? Suggestions? Anything I am blatantly forgetting in my excitement over all the potential presents? Do you think we can really get a bunch of people to participate? I think this is a great idea and I really hope we can make it work! Pass the word on, and tell me what you think.