Holiday Cheer 2022

The Multi-Fandom Postcard Exchange is pleased to present its annual Holiday Cheer event where everyone who is interested can receive physical holiday cards and/or postcards in their mailbox without having to share their address with everyone.

[fannish-holiday-cheer]

Multi-Fandom Event: Holiday Cheer 2022

The Multi-Fandom Postcard Exchange is pleased to present its annual Holiday Cheer event where everyone 16 and older who is interested can receive physical holiday cards and/or postcards in their mailbox–all without having to share their mailing address with everyone!  And this year, you don’t have to be a member to participate! ❤

The Basics

You do not need to send cards in order to receive them!  We believe everyone deserves to be included, regardless of funds/ability/etc.  

You also do not need to receive cards in order to send them.  

You do not need to be a member of the Multi-Fandom Postcard Exchange.  

Your address is PRIVATE–it is only shared with the MFPE’s two mods (not our volunteers).  

Senders only have to pay the postage to get their package of cards to us; we pay the postage to get everything to the recipients.  

Every effort will be made to have the cards delivered to the recipients before the 4th weekend of December.

The Schedule

Recipient Sign-ups: Oct 2 thru Oct 15 2022

Sender Sign-ups & Submissions: Oct 16 thru Nov 7 2022

Be sure to FOLLOW US for updates!  More info is under the cut.  Have questions?  Send us an ask!

Card Ratings

Everyone who signs up to receive cards will choose an overall content rating threshold for the cards they receive.  The two ratings are these:

I am comfortable receiving family-friendly cards only.  (No cursing, adult themes, etc.)  

I am comfortable with cards featuring cursing, adult themes, adult humor, etc.

Card Categories

Recipients will also mark which categories of cards they are comfortable receiving.  This year, our categories are:

Hanukkah cards.

Both secular and pagan Winter Solstice cards.

Secular holiday cards, excluding "Merry Christmas."  ("Happy holidays," "season's greetings," etc. only.)  

Secular holiday cards, including "Merry Christmas."

Christian Christmas cards. (These may include crosses, Bible verses, nativity scenes, etc.)  

New Year cards.  

Random fandom holiday cards (of any fandom, with the exception of those listed by the recipient).

Card Requirements

After sign-ups have closed, we will announce how many cards of each category have been requested.  Sender sign-ups will then open and the submission period will begin.  Senders are NOT required to create enough cards for everyone–they may create as many or as few as they like.

You can either use commercial cards/postcards or create your own.  

You must write at least one sentence of your own text and sign the card with either your real first name or your fandom name.  

You can include a personalized insert if you’d like.  When sending holiday cards, some people send out family photos/updates/etc.  You can choose to include anything you’re comfortable with.  Photos of pets are always welcome!  

Cards do not all have to be the same.

Sending Cards

After completing the Sender Sign-up form and creating their holiday cards, senders should read through the following:

Before sending your package, you MUST complete the follow-up form to let us know how many cards you are sending, what categories they fall under, and what date they will be mailed.  

All of your holiday cards should be packaged together and sent to the MFPE’s PO Box.  (We love it when you separate the cards by category with rubber bands or other means and then put a post-it note on each stack stating which category they fall under.  We love it, but it’s not necessary!)  

You do not need to include envelopes, but if you have envelopes you’d like to donate to us, we certainly appreciate it!  

You only have to pay the postage to get the package to us; we pay the postage to get everything to the recipients.

[fannish-holiday-cheer]

Hello, I wonder if you know of anything like HolidayCheer running this year? Cards being sent? Requests for holiday snail mail or something similar?

I didn’t get a whole lot of cheer on my birthday and thought I might see if there was a card sending operation running this year I could hop on board with?

thank you 🥰

Hey there, thank you for the question!

I have not heard of anything quite like Holiday Cheer running this year, and unfortunately Rebel and I are unable to run it ourselves.

My suggestion for those hoping for a bit of holiday cheer would be to join the holiday_wishes community on Dreamwidth. When you go to post your wishes, be sure to 1.) follow the community rules, and 2.) specifically request holiday snail mail.

If anyone has any other suggestions, please feel free to share them!

As always, I wish each of you peace and strength. ❤

—Vex

[fannish-holiday-cheer]

Holiday Cheer 2022: Experience Survey

If you participated in Holiday Cheer 2022 as a recipient, please be sure to fill out our experience survey after you’ve received your envelope! This will help us determine whether all packages were received, how long it took packages to arrive, how well we did meeting your preferences, what you think we can do to improve in the future, etc.

We really hope you enjoyed this event, but if you didn’t, we still want to know!

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Reminder: if you participated in Holiday Cheer 2022, please be sure to fill out our experience survey!  Thank you so much!  ❤

[fannish-holiday-cheer]

Holiday Cheer 2022: Experience Survey

If you participated in Holiday Cheer 2022 as a recipient, please be sure to fill out our experience survey after you’ve received your envelope! This will help us determine whether all packages were received, how long it took packages to arrive, how well we did meeting your preferences, what you think we can do to improve in the future, etc.

We really hope you enjoyed this event, but if you didn’t, we still want to know!

[fannish-holiday-cheer]

Holiday Cheer 2022 Update

A total of 171 cards have been sent to 27 recipients.

All international packages (excluding Canada) were sent out on 11/30/22.

All Canadian packages as well as all domestic packages to recipients who were also senders were sent out on 12/13/22.

All remaining domestic packages were sent out today, 12/14/22.

Please be sure to fill out our experience survey if you participated in Holiday Cheer 2022!  (You’ll want to wait until after you have received your package.)

A huge thank you to everyone who has made our Holiday Cheer event possible for 2022!

[fannish-holiday-cheer]

Holiday Cheer 2022 Update

We originally reported 26 recipient sign-ups for Holiday Cheer this year, but that number increased to 27.

We had a total of 11 senders sign up for Holiday Cheer. There are still two sender packages en route to us that we have not received.

The goal is for each recipient to receive at least 6 cards (and for each recipient who was also a sender to receive at least 7 cards).

Packages en route to countries other than the United States and Canada were sent out today (November 30, 2022).  They were meant to be sent out a week earlier, but we were unfortunately unable to get that done.  We hope they will arrive at their destinations in a timely manner.

Packages to the United States and Canada will be sent out within the next seven days.

Thank you to everyone who has made our Holiday Cheer event possible for 2022!

[fannish-holiday-cheer]

Sender sign-ups have closed!

Updates to follow.

[fannish-holiday-cheer]

So looking at the sign up form, I came away with the impression that we weren't supposed to "sign up" so much as fill out the form when we were actively ready to send things? Is there another way you would like like interest in sending information? Cuz I totally intend to send, but was not going to sit down and collate the things I was sending yet until after Halloween, so had gotten the impression I just wasn't supposed to sign up until then...

Hey there!  Thank you so much for asking for clarification—you’re right, it’s best to wait until you’re ready to go through and figure out what you are sending out.

The sign-up form asks for how many of each type of card you are sending, so it’s best to wait until you have time to collate.

The sign-up form also asks for the date you intend to send your package.  We have a small PO box, and although we love the United States Postal Service, sometimes they forget to slip us a “too big for this box” card so that we know there’s something to pick up.  We’d hate to miss your cards!

So, yes, please do wait!  We posted our plea for more senders simply because we are just a bit worried—we’ve only had four sign up so far, which is far fewer than this time last year.

Thank you so much for planning on being a sender! ❤

[fannish-holiday-cheer]

We need more senders before November 7th!

We need your help!  Are you looking for a way to spread holiday cheer to your fellow fans this December?  Because we have 26 people who would love to receive cards from you!

Note: there is no card minimum.  You can send as many or as few cards as you like.

If you’re interested in being a sender this year, take a look at the recipient request spreadsheet, get your cards ready (because we’ll ask you how many of each type you’re sending), and then sign up here! Sender sign-ups are open now through November 7th!

For a breakdown of what each recipient would like to receive, please see this spreadsheet.

If you have any questions, our ask box is open! ❤

[fannish-holiday-cheer]

Sender Sign-ups are OPEN!

Looking for a way to spread holiday cheer to your fellow fans this December?  We have 26 people who would love to receive cards from you!

If you’re interested in being a sender this year, take a look at the recipient requests below the cut, get all of your cards ready (because we’ll ask you how many of each type you’re sending), and then sign up here! Sender sign-ups are open now through November 7th!

(Why do we need you to send out your cards to us by November 7th?  So that the cards have time to reach us and then reach the recipients!)

This year we have 26 recipients in 8 countries including Australia, Belgium, Canada, Norway, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States.  Half of our recipients are scattered between 11 different states within the United States.

Please note that recipient sign-ups are closed.  For more information on Holiday Cheer 2022, see our pinned post.

Information regarding recipient wishes can be found under the cut.

Recipient Requests

5 participants desire family-friendly cards only, meaning no cursing, adult themes, etc.

6 participants are interested in receiving secular holiday cards that exclude the phrase “Merry Christmas,” and the remaining 20 are happy to receive secular holiday cards including the phrase “Merry Christmas.”

14 participants are interested in receiving Hanukkah cards.

8 participants are interested in receiving religious Christmas cards.

21 participants are interested in receiving both secular and pagan Winter Solstice cards.

25 participants are interested in receiving New Year cards.

23 participants are interested in receiving random fandom holiday cards.

For a breakdown of what each recipient would like to receive, please see this spreadsheet.

[fannish-holiday-cheer]

Oct 09 2022 Update

So far, we have had 19 recipients sign up!  And all 12 individuals I emailed for clarification have responded.

If you can, please signal boost this event by reblogging our pinned post or our recipient sign-up post!  Thank you!

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Recipient Sign-ups are OPEN!

Looking forward to receiving holiday cards from fellow fans in December?  Recipient sign-ups are open now through October 15th!

For more information on Holiday Cheer 2022, see our pinned post.

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Solstice Holiday Cards

As this event is open to participants worldwide, it is our intention to add an option for Summer Solstice holiday cards for those in the southern hemisphere next year.

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Oct 07 2022 Update

Yesterday it was brought to our attention that we did not have Hanukkah on our list of holiday card types.  For more information on this oversight, please see our previous post.

As of this morning, we have sent emails to the 12 individuals who signed up to be Holiday Cheer 2022 recipients prior to Hanukkah being added to the form.  If you are one of these 12 individuals, please be sure to respond to our email--and if you can't find the email, please check your spam folder!

A copy of the email we sent is below.

From: fanpost.admin[at]pm.me

Subject: Holiday Cheer 2022 - Question

Hey there!  Thank you so much for signing up to be a recipient in our Holiday Cheer 2022 event!

It came to our attention that we did not have Hanukkah cards on the list of types of cards that can be received.  (If you would like the full explanation for this oversight, please see this post.)

Since you submitted your preferences before the Hanukkah card option was added, please respond to this email and let us know your preference:

- I would like to receive Hanukkah cards. - I would NOT like to receive Hanukkah cards.

Thank you so much, and we hope you enjoy the event this year!

With gratitude,

Vex Verlain The Multi-Fandom Postcard Exchange // admin MDZS Fans Against Hate Auction & Donation Drive Tumblr // AO3 // Steam // Subeta // Dreamwidth 

[fannish-holiday-cheer]

Hi! I've looked over the info post a few times and the total exclusion of Judaism from the categories seems very conspicuous. It's true that Hanukkah is not one of the most significant Jewish holidays religiously speaking, but it's quite well known culturally and there are certainly cards for it. Can you explain? Thanks very much.

Anon, thank you so much for bringing this to our attention. Not including Hanukkah for 2022 was a huge oversight on our part.

Our first Holiday Cheer event (in 2020) allowed only family-friendly, non-religious cards. Only secular messages such as "happy holidays" or "season's greetings" were permitted. We understood this was limiting, but due to time and energy constraints, it was the best we could do.

During our second event, we wanted participants to be able to be able to customize their experience. It was our intention to include Hanukkah, as it is obviously one of the most well-known holidays during this time of year.

However, last year, Hanukkah began on November 28th and ended on December 6th. This put it weeks before the other holidays represented: the winter solstice (for the northern hemisphere), Christmas (which can be either religious or secular, especially in the United States), and the New Year (for the Gregorian calendar).

Because our event is worldwide and requires enough time for cards to both arrive at our address and then arrive at the recipient's address, we try to send out all international mail four weeks before the first holiday begins.

Including Hanukkah last year would have required that we start our schedule much earlier, and we simply were not prepared for that. It was our intention at the time to include Hanukkah in the future.

Unfortunately, continuing the tradition of Holiday Cheer the year was a last-minute idea, which involved me basically copying the same forms and posts from last year without giving it much thought. So I am really glad that you pointed out my error. Thank you!

I have updated the recipient sign-up form to include Hanukkah, and the sender sign-up form has also been updated (though it does not open until October 16th). I will also email all of the individuals who have signed up so far to determine whether or not they wish to receive Hanukkah cards.

EDIT: I have also updated the pinned post to include Hanukkah. (I will be sure to look over everything when I get home, but if you notice I’ve missed something else, please tell me!)

EDIT 2: I am home and finally able to look at everything, and something went wrong with this post--things were duplicated and in weird spots.  I’ve fixed that and will take a close look at everything else.

[fannish-holiday-cheer]

I may be jumping the gun, you might be doing this later today, but postcard exchange website says sign ups are open for this? But I don't see where to click through here on the Tumblr to sign up. Thanks!

Hey there, anon! You can follow this link to get to the recipient sign-up form.

If you're on mobile, you won't be able to see the navigation, but on the desktop version, the link is over on the left side. :)

[fannish-holiday-cheer]

Holiday Cheer 2021: Satisfaction Survey

If you participated in Holiday Cheer 2021 as a recipient, please be sure to fill out our satisfaction survey!  This will help us determine whether all packages were received, how long it took packages to arrive, how well we did meeting your preferences, what you think we can do to improve in the future, etc.

We really hope you enjoyed this event, but if you didn’t, we still want to know!