Beer Advocate Secret Santa 2011

A. Package Requirements:

• BEER: Minimum 144 oz of beer, no maximum... be as generous as you like. Please do your best to focus on quality over quantity. Do some research to find out as much about what your target likes and also what things are already available to him / her.
• GIFT: A beer related gift, it should be something of reasonable value ($15-$25), not something that is typically given away by breweries as a freebie. T-shirts, glassware, and other schwag from breweries local to you would be most appropriate. Alternatively, if you are crafty, something beer related hand made by you is also appropriate.
• TREATS: Christmas candy or treats, again either purchased or something you make yourself are both appropriate.

B. Participant qualification

An effort is made to make Secret Santa the most inclusive BIF of the year.

• OVERALL: Anyone with an established trading record is welcome. There will be no limit on the number of participants. The only exception may be to limit the number of people allowed from a given geographical region in order to maintain sufficient geographic diversity.
• PROVISIONAL STATUS: Newer traders will be allowed to participate under a provisional status. However, even new traders should have at least a few trades under their belt, I will not allow anyone to be in Secret Santa as their first trade. Provisional status will require you to ship earlier. The person shipping to you may be asked to hold shipment until your shipment to your target is received.
• SPONSORSHIP: If you are a new trader, you may be able to avoid provisional status by providing a more experienced trader as a sponsor. Potential sponsors should understand that they are to take responsibility for providing a backup shipment in the event the provisional participant fails.
• CLASSIFICATION of PROVISIONALS: I will consult several other BIF organizers to decide who should be provisional. If you are designated provisional, please do not be offended, its just a step we take to make this BIF the most inclusive while still keeping a low deadbeat rate. The alternative would be to not allow many of you in at all.

C. Schedule

• SIGNUP: 1 week, from November 9 until Midnight, Wednesday November 16. I may accept a few more experienced traders for a few day beyond that, but anyone new who might potentially be classified "provisional" should sign up by this deadline.
• SHOPPING: I expect to have targets assigned sometime by the weekend after signup ends. The shopping window is from as soon as you get your target (should be no later than Sunday November 20) until Sunday December 4
• PROVISIONAL SHIPPING: Provisional shipping begins Monday November 28 and ends Monday December 12. Last week of shopping and first week of shipping overlaps for provisionals, you are encouraged to ship as early as possible within this timeframe. Once you shipped you should provide me with tracking information such that I can verify that a package of significant weight has been shipped. The sooner you do this, the sooner I will clear your Santa to ship to you.
• REGULAR SHIPPING: The shipping window for all other participants will be Monday December 5 through Monday December 19. If you are shipping across the continent, please do not wait until the 19th.

D. Letters to Santa

We'll do the letters to Santa again this year for those who want to be a little more specific about what they like. Have fun with it, be creative, some of the more interesting letters will be published to BA and possibly FaceBook. The google doc form has a place for your letter to Santa, but if you write much more than a short paragraph, please enter "sent via email" and email it to me. All letters to Santa will be passed along to your Santa.

Ho-Ho-Ho!!!!

The Results

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