This is a STRANGER THINGS Secret Santa event focusing on The Stranger Things tv series and open to all ships and characters.
Write a fic with at least 1,000 words or complete a piece of fanart to make another fan happy and get something in return.
Sign-up is open until September 30.
Posting period: December 20-24.
This is the Stranger Things Secret Santa gift for @ratinacape from @salamandergoo. 🎁
Title: Of All the Trees Most Lovely
Relationships: Joyce Byers & Jim "Chief" Hopper, Jonathan Byers & Will Byers, Jonathan Byers & Joyce Byers, Jonathan Byers & Jim "Chief" Hopper, Will Byers & Jim "Chief" Hopper, Joyce Byers & Will Byers, Jonathan Byers & Joyce Byers & Will Byers, Eleven | Jane Hopper & Jim "Chief" Hopper
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Word count: 4.5k
Additional Tags: Christmas Tree, Christmas Fluff, Good Sibling Jonathan Byers, Protective Jim "Chief" Hopper, Post-Season/Series 01, Sick Will Byers, Joyce Byers Needs a Hug, Family Fluff, Stranger Things Secret Santa 2025
Summary:
Joyce asks Hopper to take her boys out to get a Christmas tree, and what can he do but comply?
This is the Stranger Things Secret Santa gift for prompt_fills from @do-what-the-knight-tells-you. 🎁
Title: Dawn Breaks (not believing)
Relationships: Robin Buckley & Steve Harrington & Eddie Munson, Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Word count: 14.4k
Additional Tags: this is more pre-steddie than full-on, I meant it to get further, but it was too much a monster to not let it rest here, canon typical violence I think, but it's definitely a little gore and horror for a moment, Hurt/Comfort, Angst, were-demo-creatures, this isn't werewolves but also yes, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Stranger Things Secret Santa 2025, Songfic, not quiet but it'sdamn borderline, warning for description/implication of having to eat monster meat to livfe, mentions of deaths of other characters, mention of overdose death, hunger
Summary:
Eddie works at the mall, that summer.
Eddie, Robin, and Steve pay the price.
(Stuck in the upsidedown AU from Season 3)
Written for @strangerthingsfests Stranger Things Secret Santa! My giftee was @salamandergoo. I hope you like it!
wc: 2.1k | rated: G | cw: weed | tags: POV Argyle, fluff, slight angst, Argyle stays in Hawkins, first kiss | AO3
🍍🍍🍍🍍🍍
A shadow drapes itself over where Argyle is lounging out by Nancy Wheeler’s pool, feet in the water and head in the grass. He strokes one hand through the neatly trimmed greenery. It feels nice. Soft. With the pool lapping at his shins, if he lets himself drift, it kind of feels like back home. Less salty, though, more chlorine. More grass, less grass. He takes another drag and holds it for a bit, letting it trickle out from between his lips like snowmelt.
He should figure out where to get some green around here sometime. Jon probably knows. He should ask him.
The shadow shifts, grabbing the joint out of his hands. “Hey!” Argyle protests. So not a bro move.
Argyle cracks open one eye at the mountain blocking out the sun. It’s Hopper, the guy who was in Russia or something. Or maybe he was in Alaska, that’s where Mrs. Byers went, and she came back with him, so. “You do know I’m a cop, right? Used to be chief of police?” the mountain says dryly.
He squints against the halo of the sun around him. “Hey, yeah, good for you, man. That’s growth right there,” Argyle says easily. “Still, coulda just asked if you wanted a puff, there’s enough to go around.”
Hopper rolls his eyes and crushes what little was left of the roach. “Hey,” Argyle protests, “I was being nice man, no need to rain on my parade. It’s already kinda rained out, y’know?” There’s a pause while Hopper stares down, incredulous, but Argyle knows how to fill a silence. He’s an expert silence-filler.
“I don’t even know why I said that, there’s only like, half an ounce left. Hey,” he squints up a Hopper, “you know where to get more in Hawkins? I heard the, like, main guy was that Eddie dude that died. Bummer all around.”
Two fingers come up to pinch at the bridge of Hopper’s nose. “No, I don’t know where to get more marijuana, kid, and I wouldn’t tell you if I did. Just—it’s getting dark. Time to come inside.”
“Oh, yeah, sure, man, can do.” The recliner resists, but Argyle manages to right himself, rolling onto the concrete outlining the covered, in-ground pool. Fancy digs, though Nancy seems kind of stressed. Another reason to find a plug in the area, she looks like she could use a little R&R. Or maybe Argyle and Jon will head back soon and it’ll be a moot point. Hey, maybe Nance could use a little Lenora Springs air?
No. No, that doesn’t feel right.
Though, the way that Jon’s been—and Joyce is super nice, but like—
“D’you think the Byers are ever gonna come back to Lenora Springs?”Argyle doesn’t mean to say it. He hears the words come out of his mouth, so he must have anyway.
Hopper stares down at him warily as Argyle frees himself from the recliner, gets his feet under him and leans back to look up at Hopper. Hopper is so tall, it’s kind of wild.
“Well,” Hopper says slowly, his eyes drifting back to look at Joyce through the kitchen window, “can’t say I know for sure. You’ll have to ask the Byers that.”
And he totally could, Argyle knows that, but it’s like—
The ground stills beneath him as an epiphany smacks Argyle over the head. “Oh man, I’m being so Jon right now.”
“What?”
“It’s like—like—oh, man, spring break did not go as planned but Nancy was ditching him anyway, right? She was even—Emerson. And Jon, he—I’m being Jon. And Jon is being Nancy? But I don’t have an Argyle to tell me I’m being ditched. Damn. I have to be Argyle and Jon now. That’s a lot.”
Hopper blinks. Tries to follow Argyle’s train of thought. Fails. “Kid, what the hell are you talking about?”
“Like, before all this? Jon was like, so sure Nancy was going to come, but she ditched him. It was for a college tour or something, but he ignored it, which, that’s whatever, but then later he showed me he was planning on going to Lenora Community like me. But now, I was so sure Jon was—but he’s kind of ditching me now, even though we’re in the same house. And he’s my only friend ever, dude, he’s my number one, y’know? Kind of trashed my life, coming here, Surfer Boy was mega mad when I called to ask for a transfer, ‘cause of the whole van thing, plus the freezer thing, and like sure it wasn’t for him, it was for that guy that died and I couldn’t even make a headstone for and then ‘cause, I mean, I can’t just leave them there in the middle of the desert with the military after them, like, what, was I gonna say no? To Jon?”
“Uh—”
“But now Nancy’s here, and Jon is here, and we kinda live together but he’s all hung up on Nancy who ditched him and I miss him, man.” Finally, he takes a breath. A cool breath that tastes nothing like sweet smoke or salt or pizza and everything like chlorine.
Hopper stands stiffly, glancing at the door longingly. “…You okay, kid?”
“Yeah, totally.” The space behind Argyle’s eyes starts to ache, and he chokes out, “I just really wish you hadn’t crushed that roach, man.”
“…Sorry?”
He sniffs. “All good, brochacho,” and offers a fist that goes un-bumped. Thumbs up it is.
“Right.” A pause. “Can we get the hell inside now?”
🍍🍍🍍🍍🍍
If he were a more thoughtful person, Argyle would sit on this revelation for a while. Talk to Nancy, talk to Steve, talk to Robin and Supergirl.
That is a big if. Argyle came here to smoke weed and save the world, and now the world is (kinda) saved and he’s almost entirely out of weed and the enormity of it all, plus Jon expressing, like, zero indication of heading home is sort of crushing him.
He could drive home himself. He could drive that Surfer Boy van, drive away from Jon and El and Will and Joyce and zombie-Hop and back towards Lenora Springs Community College, unemployment, and friendlessness. Hey, maybe he could stop by Eden on the way back!
But that sounds kind of shitty, and Argyle can kind of feel a panic attack coming on so he grinds and rolls and lights up with shakey hands on the staircase of the Wheelers’ house and now there’s no weed left, so. Jon might at least know where to get some more, here in Hawkins.
Definitely no other reason to want to go talk to Jon. Nope. Yep. He’s caught in his orbit, he’s, like, everything Argyle has left, man. Even if he doesn’t always laugh when Argyle’s trying to cheer him up, and refuses to admit when his girl isn’t anymore, but maybe—maybe she is, now that they’ve saved the world together again. Maybe Argyle really should—
Stop spinning in circles on the stair landing like a pizza crust. He sits and spirals, like sauce, spreading out thinner and thinner with nowhere to go but in the oven.
Argyle takes another hit and pinches the tip carefully, tucking the last of it away for a weed emergency. That’s where Jon finds him less than a minute later.
“Jon!” Argyle beams up at them. “How’s it going, brochacho?”
Jon stares down at him a bit vacantly, swaying back and forth. “M’good.”
“Good, good. Swell.” A pause. The ceiling is so high, here. “I think I need to go home.”
Jon’s brow furrows like he’s concentrating, “Home got sucked up into the rift, dude.”
“Not like… I mean Lenora Springs. I mean—I’m being too Jon, friendo, and not enough Argyle. I love you, but this place isn’t me. You’re me. Or… I’m you. I’m pining,” he grins, pointing at the light wood of the baseboard behind him. “And look, I know sometimes… Pizza.”
“Pizza,” Jon agrees amiably. “There’s a really good place like ten minutes from here if you want. It’s no Surfer Boy, but…”
“No, I mean… You and Nancy are pizza. Or maybe not, she did totally ditch you,” Argyle nods sagely. “I think we’re pizza, but I think you think you two are pizza. Separate fine but not a whole meal, but put together and into the oven, and bam! Delicious combo, never to be parted, even if you didn’t even try Emerson and we both got into Lenora Springs Community College, and I totally thought we were pizza, man, but it turns out I’m…” Argyle sniffs, “I’m just canned pineapple.”
Suddenly, there Jon is beside him on the landing, arm around Argyle’s shoulders. “Hey, no, man, you’re not canned pineapple—”
“You’re the only one who orders it, man, even when I tell people it’s worth trying—”
“Hey, they just—they just don’t know what tangy, sweet deliciousness they’re missing, dude. Pineapple is—isn’t for everyone, is all.”
They sit there on the stairwell landing, Jon’s arm around Argyle, Argyle leaning into the embrace. “You like pineapple on pizza, though, right?”
Silence.
Argyle turns to Jon, aghast. “Wait—”
“It’s fine!” Jon answers after way too long. “It’s just—I’m usually more of a pepperoni guy.”
“But you always—”
“Yeah, ‘cause you get so happy when someone orders it, man. Like, it’s not bad, it’s kinda nice, definitely nothing you can get around here, but—”
“I thought you liked the pineapple,” Argyle whines, turning to face Jon more directly and squishing his face between his palms. “Did you fake liking the pineapple this whole time? Why?” Argyle leans in, narrowing his eyes, looking deep into Jon’s pupils. The eyes are the windows to the soul, but even as they get bigger, it is pitch black in there. “You’re the only person who’s ever ordered pineapple, Jon. The pineapple needs you. I need you.”
“No, I just—Why’s it gotta be pepperoni or pineapple, man?” Jon asks a bit desperately from where Argyle is holding him, still slightly squished. “Why can’t I like both?”
“‘Cause pepperoni is moving to Boston.” Jon squints a bit, trying to understand as Argyle continues. “Even after our big cross-country road trip to save the world, which, other than all the death and destruction was kind of fun, big romantic gesture on our part, she is ditching you.”
That seems to ring a bell. “…Wait, is pepperoni—”
“I’m right here, man. I’m not Jon or Nancy, I’m Argyle, and you’re Jon. Are you gonna ditch me?”
At that, Jon pulls Argyle even closer, full on hugging him, tucking his face into Argyle’s neck, mumbling, “…No. You gonna ditch me?”
Argyle shakes his head and melts like mozzarella. “Not if you’re not ditching me,” he assures.
“Hey,” Jon says, pulling back to look Argyle in the eyes again. “You’re my person, dude. I’m not gonna—”
“Y’can. If you want. Not a lot of people like pineapple, but that doesn’t mean you should eat it if you don’t even like it.”
“I—I’m so… what?” Jon mutters. “Pineapple’s fine, but you’re great. I like you.”
“…You do?”
“Yeah, man. Yeah, I like you, and I want you here.”
Argyle could stare into Jon’s eyes forever, but Jon looks up at the ceiling again, so he does too. “…You want me here?”
“Yeah, dude, obviously,” Jon huffs. “Jesus, Argyle. Yeah I want you around.”
Argyle’s relief floods through him, and he leans over, pressing his lips against Jon’s with fervor and a wet smack. “Okay.”
Jon blinks up at him, confused but not confused. “Okay?”
“Yeah. Okay. I’ll stay, then.”
A blink. “…That’s… it?”
Argyle takes a deep breath, tilting his head to look at Jon again. “Yeah, man. You want me here, I’m here.”
“…Huh,” Jon replies, mystified, and leans up to kiss his friend again, answering a question he’d never thought to ask before.
“Oh hey, wait, there is one thing,” Argyle says, sitting up abruptly before they make contact, and Jon mirrors him with sudden urgency. This is so, so important, maybe the most important thing he needs to know, if he’s going to uproot his life for real–for real.
“Yeah, what’s up? Whatever you need.”
Argyle pulls out his last half-smoked joint. “Y’know where I can score some more? This is all I got left.”
Jon snorts. “Well, it’s no Purple Palm Tree Delight, but…” The ceiling is still too high, but he pulls Argyle against him again, a stable warmth around his shoulders, and presses a warm kiss against his hair.
Stranger Things Secret Santa 2025 - Of Soulmates and Coffees - For Dan - 20.12.2025
It was a pleasure to work on this gift for @yesdangerpls for the @strangerthingsfests's Secret Santa !
I hope I did alright with combining things to make it a cute Coffee Shop with Soulmates AU doubling as a meet-cute 😊💕
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays !
Done using ink pens, colored pencils, alcohol markers, graphite pencils, gel pens, acrylic paint pens and Photoshop for the light and shadows effects, the background and foreground elements, the pattern on Steve's polo shirt, the patches and pins, the jewelry, Steve's glasses, the drink in Eddie's and Steve's hands, and the glow on the red string of fate
AO3 post / Bluesky post / DeviantArt post / Instagram post / Pillowfort post / Twitter post
Hi mods !
I might be a big dumdumb, but I wanted to check because I couldn't find the info anywhere, if there was any about it : Do we have an AO3 collection we need to post to ?
Have a nice day !
Hi!
There's no AO3 collection for this event, so everyone can post their finished gifts on their preferred platforms following the instructions below.
How to post your finished gift:
- Posting period: from December 20th to December 24th
- You have to post the 100% completed gift during the posting period.
- The gift must be posted in its entirety during the posting period. Serial posting (posting in chapters across several days) is not allowed.
- The anonymity lasts only until posting, so you can post your fic and art under your own name, and as an Artist you may use your watermark on the art piece.
- The finished gift can be posted on any of your chosen platforms, such as Tumblr, AO3, Dreamwidth, Bluesky, etc.
- There will be a post about every gift on the STSS blog, so if you have Tumblr, please make a gift post that can be reblogged easily. If you don't have Tumblr, please send the posting info to [email protected] and the post will be made for you on the blog.
- Please tag your Tumblr post with “strangerthingssecretsanta2025”, @strangerthingsfests, and @ your giftee if they have a Tumblr.
- Tag your AO3 post with “Stranger Things Secret Santa 2025” and gift them to your giftee if they have an AO3 account.
- Please tag your gift and use warnings accordingly!
The Stranger Things Secret Santa event is here! ❄️⛄️🎄🚲🌟❄️
If you would like to take part in a low pressure winter holiday season gift exchange, and turn someone’s world on its better side with a fanfic or fanart that was created based on their own prompt(s), you’re at the right place.
Everyone is welcome to join the fun if they love the Stranger Things universe and the characters within. This event is open to all ships and characters.
Since the creating time period will overlap with the release of the first four episodes of the 5th season – and there’re more than one spoilery trailers out there –, it will be mandatory for every participant to answer the question on the sign-up form if they’d be okay with spoilers (from the trailers and/or released episodes) when it comes to their requests and offers. Spoilers are taken very seriously.
❄️You can SIGN-UP HERE!❄️
⛄️SCHEDULE⛄️
September 16-30 – Sign-up period
October 2 – Assignments sent out
October 5 – 1st Check-in
November 20 – 2nd Check-in
December 5 – Last day to ask for an extension
December 10 – Assignments due
December 20-24 – Posting period
⛄️RULES and GUIDELINES⛄️
🌟General🌟
The STRANGER THINGS Secret Santa is a gift exchange kind of event focusing on The Stranger Things tv series.
All participants must register via the sign-up form providing their preferred contact information, age, acknowledgement of reading and understanding the rules, gift requests and offers.
Participants must be at least 16 years old to sign up, and only those 18 years old or older may request and submit Mature- or Explicit-rated artwork or writing. If a participant is found not to be honest about their age, they will be disqualified and banned from possible future events.
Participants may register as both a Creator (Author and/or Artist) and Pinch hitter.
Signing up as a Pinch hitter is not a commitment, it just indicates your willingness to take on a gift in case of a drop-out. If a pinch-hit opportunity comes up, the Mod will reach out to all participants who have signed up as a Pinch hitter.
Participants are expected to read and adhere to the rules of the event. If you need clarification about any of them, it is your responsibility to ask the Mod for clarification.
All writing and art for this event must be your own, previously unpublished, and inspired by your given assignment.
This event is being promoted/hosted on Tumblr; however, it is not mandatory for participants to have a Tumblr account. Works can be posted on Tumblr, AO3, Dreamwidth, etc.
To ensure the anonymity of the gifts, participants are prohibited from sharing any details of what they’re working on prior the posting and revealing period.
🌟Ships/Characters🌟
This is an open-to-all-ships-and-characters event with only one rule: works are expected to center around one or more characters from the Stranger Things universe.
Works do not have to be strictly canon in nature, but should still have some element related to canon universe, characters.
Creating in an Alternate Universe is allowed if it is mentioned by the giftee in their request.
If you don't feel like working with any kind of character or ship (be it romantic/platonic relationship or friendship), you have to mention it on your sign-up form.
Bashing or shaming any actors, characters, ships, kinks, tropes or stylistic preferences will not be tolerated and will result in a ban from the event.
🌟Communication🌟
Check-ins are mandatory, and will be conducted via a form which will be emailed to participants in the week preceding the due date.
If a participant misses a check-in, the Mod will make one attempt to reach out. If no response is forthcoming in the next 48 hours, the participant will be dropped from the event and a pinch-hitter found if necessary.
If a participant needs to drop out or they are having trouble working on their assignment, they have to contact the Mod as soon as possible.
Limited extensions may be possible. If a participant is in need of an extension, they must contact the Mod until December 5th.
If a participant does not submit their gift by the deadline (December 10) and fail to contact the Mod, they will not be eligible to participate in possible future events.
🌟Author Requirements🌟
Authors will create one complete story inspired by one of their giftee’s requests.
The story must be at least 1,000 words in length. There is no maximum length.
The story must have all the appropriate warnings and ratings.
The story must be at least minimally beta-read for spelling and grammar before posting.
Any character depicted in a mature or explicit sexual situation should be 18 years or older. Pedophilia and zoophilia as a theme, or rape that is glorified is not allowed.
🌟Artist Requirements🌟
Artist will create an artwork inspired by one of their giftee’s requests.
Artists are required to complete one (1) piece of artwork.
Accepted art forms:
Digital art/drawing/painting
Traditional media artwork such as pencil, charcoal, acrylic, watercolor, etc. Both 2D and 3D works are acceptable as long as they are clearly photographable or scanned to minimum image requirements.
Comic strip
Moodboards with min. 6 images
Gifsets with min. 6 images (made and edited by the artist)
Playlists with at least 10 songs.
Video submissions minimum 30 seconds in length (Must include a disclaimer for any and all clips and music used.)
Other artwork guidelines/restrictions:
Images should be of a minimum 500px width, with no maximum size limit.
Any character depicted in a mature or explicit sexual situation should be 18 years or older. Pedophilia and zoophilia as a theme, or rape that is glorified is not allowed.
NO AI-generated artwork will be allowed.
The artwork must have all the appropriate warnings and ratings.
Credit to any source material must be given.
🌟How it works🌟
You can sign up for the Stranger Things Secret Santa by filling out the sign-up form.
The information you give in your sign-up form will be the deciding factor in the gift you’re going to create and the gift you’re going to receive.
You have to request 3 different prompts. You can specify your favorite characters or ships and any characters or ships that you don’t want to be featured in your gift, or that you don’t want to include in the gift you make. You can also add the content you are comfortable creating (SFW and NSWF likes, favorite tropes, Do Not Wants). You can also give additional tags that could help with the matching process.
If any of the requests contains spoilers for the 5th season, the request have to start with “SPOILER ALERT”.
During sign-up everyone have to answer the question if they're okay or not with any spoiler from season 5.
After the sign-up closes, every participant will be matched with an other participant based on both what they are able to create, and what they are willing to create.
After all the participants have been matched, you will receive your assignment until October 2nd.
🌟Posting🌟
Participants will have to submit their finished (or at least 90% completed) gifts until December 10th. This will give us a 10-day window to work around any last-minute dropouts. Hopefully, there will be none, but life happens, as we all know, so it never hurts to be prepared.
How to submit the finished gifts: Participants can submit their gifts via a Google Form by uploading the files or providing access to them via a share link until December 10 th. (This is needed just to make sure that the gifts are completed and everything will go smoothly when the time comes for posting.)
The gift posting will start on December 20th and ends on December 24th. This means that every participant will have to post the 100% completed gift during this time period. The anonymity lasts only until posting, so everyone can post their fic and art under their own name, and Artists may use their watermark on the art piece.
The finished gift can be posted on Tumblr, AO3, Dreamwidth, Bluesky, etc.
The gift must be posted in its entirety during the posting period. Serial posting (posting in chapters across several days) is not allowed.
The participants will get more helpful details about posting in December.
In case you have any more questions, feel free to send in an ask or PM!
Also, if you can, please share/reblog this post to spread the word. ✨
If you don’t want to miss anything, you can follow this blog or you can also track the #strangerthingssecretsanta and #strangersanta tags.
The Stranger Things Secret Santa event is here! ❄️⛄️🎄🚲🌟❄️
If you would like to take part in a low pressure winter holiday season gift exchange, and turn someone’s world on its better side with a fanfic or fanart that was created based on their own prompt(s), you’re at the right place.
Everyone is welcome to join the fun if they love the Stranger Things universe and the characters within. This event is open to all ships and characters.
Since the creating time period will overlap with the release of the first four episodes of the 5th season – and there’re more than one spoilery trailers out there –, it will be mandatory for every participant to answer the question on the sign-up form if they’d be okay with spoilers (from the trailers and/or released episodes) when it comes to their requests and offers. Spoilers are taken very seriously.
❄️You can SIGN-UP HERE!❄️
⛄️SCHEDULE⛄️
September 16-30 – Sign-up period
October 2 – Assignments sent out
October 5 – 1st Check-in
November 20 – 2nd Check-in
December 5 – Last day to ask for an extension
December 10 – Assignments due
December 20-24 – Posting period
⛄️RULES and GUIDELINES⛄️
🌟General🌟
The STRANGER THINGS Secret Santa is a gift exchange kind of event focusing on The Stranger Things tv series.
All participants must register via the sign-up form providing their preferred contact information, age, acknowledgement of reading and understanding the rules, gift requests and offers.
Participants must be at least 16 years old to sign up, and only those 18 years old or older may request and submit Mature- or Explicit-rated artwork or writing. If a participant is found not to be honest about their age, they will be disqualified and banned from possible future events.
Participants may register as both a Creator (Author and/or Artist) and Pinch hitter.
Signing up as a Pinch hitter is not a commitment, it just indicates your willingness to take on a gift in case of a drop-out. If a pinch-hit opportunity comes up, the Mod will reach out to all participants who have signed up as a Pinch hitter.
Participants are expected to read and adhere to the rules of the event. If you need clarification about any of them, it is your responsibility to ask the Mod for clarification.
All writing and art for this event must be your own, previously unpublished, and inspired by your given assignment.
This event is being promoted/hosted on Tumblr; however, it is not mandatory for participants to have a Tumblr account. Works can be posted on Tumblr, AO3, Dreamwidth, etc.
To ensure the anonymity of the gifts, participants are prohibited from sharing any details of what they’re working on prior the posting and revealing period.
🌟Ships/Characters🌟
This is an open-to-all-ships-and-characters event with only one rule: works are expected to center around one or more characters from the Stranger Things universe.
Works do not have to be strictly canon in nature, but should still have some element related to canon universe, characters.
Creating in an Alternate Universe is allowed if it is mentioned by the giftee in their request.
If you don't feel like working with any kind of character or ship (be it romantic/platonic relationship or friendship), you have to mention it on your sign-up form.
Bashing or shaming any actors, characters, ships, kinks, tropes or stylistic preferences will not be tolerated and will result in a ban from the event.
🌟Communication🌟
Check-ins are mandatory, and will be conducted via a form which will be emailed to participants in the week preceding the due date.
If a participant misses a check-in, the Mod will make one attempt to reach out. If no response is forthcoming in the next 48 hours, the participant will be dropped from the event and a pinch-hitter found if necessary.
If a participant needs to drop out or they are having trouble working on their assignment, they have to contact the Mod as soon as possible.
Limited extensions may be possible. If a participant is in need of an extension, they must contact the Mod until December 5th.
If a participant does not submit their gift by the deadline (December 10) and fail to contact the Mod, they will not be eligible to participate in possible future events.
🌟Author Requirements🌟
Authors will create one complete story inspired by one of their giftee’s requests.
The story must be at least 1,000 words in length. There is no maximum length.
The story must have all the appropriate warnings and ratings.
The story must be at least minimally beta-read for spelling and grammar before posting.
Any character depicted in a mature or explicit sexual situation should be 18 years or older. Pedophilia and zoophilia as a theme, or rape that is glorified is not allowed.
🌟Artist Requirements🌟
Artist will create an artwork inspired by one of their giftee’s requests.
Artists are required to complete one (1) piece of artwork.
Accepted art forms:
Digital art/drawing/painting
Traditional media artwork such as pencil, charcoal, acrylic, watercolor, etc. Both 2D and 3D works are acceptable as long as they are clearly photographable or scanned to minimum image requirements.
Comic strip
Moodboards with min. 6 images
Gifsets with min. 6 images (made and edited by the artist)
Playlists with at least 10 songs.
Video submissions minimum 30 seconds in length (Must include a disclaimer for any and all clips and music used.)
Other artwork guidelines/restrictions:
Images should be of a minimum 500px width, with no maximum size limit.
Any character depicted in a mature or explicit sexual situation should be 18 years or older. Pedophilia and zoophilia as a theme, or rape that is glorified is not allowed.
NO AI-generated artwork will be allowed.
The artwork must have all the appropriate warnings and ratings.
Credit to any source material must be given.
🌟How it works🌟
You can sign up for the Stranger Things Secret Santa by filling out the sign-up form.
The information you give in your sign-up form will be the deciding factor in the gift you’re going to create and the gift you’re going to receive.
You have to request 3 different prompts. You can specify your favorite characters or ships and any characters or ships that you don’t want to be featured in your gift, or that you don’t want to include in the gift you make. You can also add the content you are comfortable creating (SFW and NSWF likes, favorite tropes, Do Not Wants). You can also give additional tags that could help with the matching process.
If any of the requests contains spoilers for the 5th season, the request have to start with “SPOILER ALERT”.
During sign-up everyone have to answer the question if they're okay or not with any spoiler from season 5.
After the sign-up closes, every participant will be matched with an other participant based on both what they are able to create, and what they are willing to create.
After all the participants have been matched, you will receive your assignment until October 2nd.
🌟Posting🌟
Participants will have to submit their finished (or at least 90% completed) gifts until December 10th. This will give us a 10-day window to work around any last-minute dropouts. Hopefully, there will be none, but life happens, as we all know, so it never hurts to be prepared.
How to submit the finished gifts: Participants can submit their gifts via a Google Form by uploading the files or providing access to them via a share link until December 10 th. (This is needed just to make sure that the gifts are completed and everything will go smoothly when the time comes for posting.)
The gift posting will start on December 20th and ends on December 24th. This means that every participant will have to post the 100% completed gift during this time period. The anonymity lasts only until posting, so everyone can post their fic and art under their own name, and Artists may use their watermark on the art piece.
The finished gift can be posted on Tumblr, AO3, Dreamwidth, Bluesky, etc.
The gift must be posted in its entirety during the posting period. Serial posting (posting in chapters across several days) is not allowed.
The participants will get more helpful details about posting in December.
In case you have any more questions, feel free to send in an ask or PM!
Also, if you can, please share/reblog this post to spread the word. ✨
If you don’t want to miss anything, you can follow this blog or you can also track the #strangerthingssecretsanta and #strangersanta tags.
The Stranger Things Secret Santa event is here! ❄️⛄️🎄🚲🌟❄️
If you would like to take part in a low pressure winter holiday season gift exchange, and turn someone’s world on its better side with a fanfic or fanart that was created based on their own prompt(s), you’re at the right place.
Everyone is welcome to join the fun if they love the Stranger Things universe and the characters within. This event is open to all ships and characters.
Since the creating time period will overlap with the release of the first four episodes of the 5th season – and there’re more than one spoilery trailers out there –, it will be mandatory for every participant to answer the question on the sign-up form if they’d be okay with spoilers (from the trailers and/or released episodes) when it comes to their requests and offers. Spoilers are taken very seriously.
❄️You can SIGN-UP HERE!❄️
⛄️SCHEDULE⛄️
September 16-30 – Sign-up period
October 2 – Assignments sent out
October 5 – 1st Check-in
November 20 – 2nd Check-in
December 5 – Last day to ask for an extension
December 10 – Assignments due
December 20-24 – Posting period
⛄️RULES and GUIDELINES⛄️
🌟General🌟
The STRANGER THINGS Secret Santa is a gift exchange kind of event focusing on The Stranger Things tv series.
All participants must register via the sign-up form providing their preferred contact information, age, acknowledgement of reading and understanding the rules, gift requests and offers.
Participants must be at least 16 years old to sign up, and only those 18 years old or older may request and submit Mature- or Explicit-rated artwork or writing. If a participant is found not to be honest about their age, they will be disqualified and banned from possible future events.
Participants may register as both a Creator (Author and/or Artist) and Pinch hitter.
Signing up as a Pinch hitter is not a commitment, it just indicates your willingness to take on a gift in case of a drop-out. If a pinch-hit opportunity comes up, the Mod will reach out to all participants who have signed up as a Pinch hitter.
Participants are expected to read and adhere to the rules of the event. If you need clarification about any of them, it is your responsibility to ask the Mod for clarification.
All writing and art for this event must be your own, previously unpublished, and inspired by your given assignment.
This event is being promoted/hosted on Tumblr; however, it is not mandatory for participants to have a Tumblr account. Works can be posted on Tumblr, AO3, Dreamwidth, etc.
To ensure the anonymity of the gifts, participants are prohibited from sharing any details of what they’re working on prior the posting and revealing period.
🌟Ships/Characters🌟
This is an open-to-all-ships-and-characters event with only one rule: works are expected to center around one or more characters from the Stranger Things universe.
Works do not have to be strictly canon in nature, but should still have some element related to canon universe, characters.
Creating in an Alternate Universe is allowed if it is mentioned by the giftee in their request.
If you don't feel like working with any kind of character or ship (be it romantic/platonic relationship or friendship), you have to mention it on your sign-up form.
Bashing or shaming any actors, characters, ships, kinks, tropes or stylistic preferences will not be tolerated and will result in a ban from the event.
🌟Communication🌟
Check-ins are mandatory, and will be conducted via a form which will be emailed to participants in the week preceding the due date.
If a participant misses a check-in, the Mod will make one attempt to reach out. If no response is forthcoming in the next 48 hours, the participant will be dropped from the event and a pinch-hitter found if necessary.
If a participant needs to drop out or they are having trouble working on their assignment, they have to contact the Mod as soon as possible.
Limited extensions may be possible. If a participant is in need of an extension, they must contact the Mod until December 5th.
If a participant does not submit their gift by the deadline (December 10) and fail to contact the Mod, they will not be eligible to participate in possible future events.
🌟Author Requirements🌟
Authors will create one complete story inspired by one of their giftee’s requests.
The story must be at least 1,000 words in length. There is no maximum length.
The story must have all the appropriate warnings and ratings.
The story must be at least minimally beta-read for spelling and grammar before posting.
Any character depicted in a mature or explicit sexual situation should be 18 years or older. Pedophilia and zoophilia as a theme, or rape that is glorified is not allowed.
🌟Artist Requirements🌟
Artist will create an artwork inspired by one of their giftee’s requests.
Artists are required to complete one (1) piece of artwork.
Accepted art forms:
Digital art/drawing/painting
Traditional media artwork such as pencil, charcoal, acrylic, watercolor, etc. Both 2D and 3D works are acceptable as long as they are clearly photographable or scanned to minimum image requirements.
Comic strip
Moodboards with min. 6 images
Gifsets with min. 6 images (made and edited by the artist)
Playlists with at least 10 songs.
Video submissions minimum 30 seconds in length (Must include a disclaimer for any and all clips and music used.)
Other artwork guidelines/restrictions:
Images should be of a minimum 500px width, with no maximum size limit.
Any character depicted in a mature or explicit sexual situation should be 18 years or older. Pedophilia and zoophilia as a theme, or rape that is glorified is not allowed.
NO AI-generated artwork will be allowed.
The artwork must have all the appropriate warnings and ratings.
Credit to any source material must be given.
🌟How it works🌟
You can sign up for the Stranger Things Secret Santa by filling out the sign-up form.
The information you give in your sign-up form will be the deciding factor in the gift you’re going to create and the gift you’re going to receive.
You have to request 3 different prompts. You can specify your favorite characters or ships and any characters or ships that you don’t want to be featured in your gift, or that you don’t want to include in the gift you make. You can also add the content you are comfortable creating (SFW and NSWF likes, favorite tropes, Do Not Wants). You can also give additional tags that could help with the matching process.
If any of the requests contains spoilers for the 5th season, the request have to start with “SPOILER ALERT”.
During sign-up everyone have to answer the question if they're okay or not with any spoiler from season 5.
After the sign-up closes, every participant will be matched with an other participant based on both what they are able to create, and what they are willing to create.
After all the participants have been matched, you will receive your assignment until October 2nd.
🌟Posting🌟
Participants will have to submit their finished (or at least 90% completed) gifts until December 10th. This will give us a 10-day window to work around any last-minute dropouts. Hopefully, there will be none, but life happens, as we all know, so it never hurts to be prepared.
How to submit the finished gifts: Participants can submit their gifts via a Google Form by uploading the files or providing access to them via a share link until December 10 th. (This is needed just to make sure that the gifts are completed and everything will go smoothly when the time comes for posting.)
The gift posting will start on December 20th and ends on December 24th. This means that every participant will have to post the 100% completed gift during this time period. The anonymity lasts only until posting, so everyone can post their fic and art under their own name, and Artists may use their watermark on the art piece.
The finished gift can be posted on Tumblr, AO3, Dreamwidth, Bluesky, etc.
The gift must be posted in its entirety during the posting period. Serial posting (posting in chapters across several days) is not allowed.
The participants will get more helpful details about posting in December.
In case you have any more questions, feel free to send in an ask or PM!
Also, if you can, please share/reblog this post to spread the word. ✨
If you don’t want to miss anything, you can follow this blog or you can also track the #strangerthingssecretsanta and #strangersanta tags.
The Stranger Things Secret Santa event is here! ❄️⛄️🎄🚲🌟❄️
If you would like to take part in a low pressure winter holiday season gift exchange, and turn someone’s world on its better side with a fanfic or fanart that was created based on their own prompt(s), you’re at the right place.
Everyone is welcome to join the fun if they love the Stranger Things universe and the characters within. This event is open to all ships and characters.
Since the creating time period will overlap with the release of the first four episodes of the 5th season – and there’re more than one spoilery trailers out there –, it will be mandatory for every participant to answer the question on the sign-up form if they’d be okay with spoilers (from the trailers and/or released episodes) when it comes to their requests and offers. Spoilers are taken very seriously.
❄️You can SIGN-UP HERE!❄️
⛄️SCHEDULE⛄️
September 16-30 – Sign-up period
October 2 – Assignments sent out
October 5 – 1st Check-in
November 20 – 2nd Check-in
December 5 – Last day to ask for an extension
December 10 – Assignments due
December 20-24 – Posting period
⛄️RULES and GUIDELINES⛄️
🌟General🌟
The STRANGER THINGS Secret Santa is a gift exchange kind of event focusing on The Stranger Things tv series.
All participants must register via the sign-up form providing their preferred contact information, age, acknowledgement of reading and understanding the rules, gift requests and offers.
Participants must be at least 16 years old to sign up, and only those 18 years old or older may request and submit Mature- or Explicit-rated artwork or writing. If a participant is found not to be honest about their age, they will be disqualified and banned from possible future events.
Participants may register as both a Creator (Author and/or Artist) and Pinch hitter.
Signing up as a Pinch hitter is not a commitment, it just indicates your willingness to take on a gift in case of a drop-out. If a pinch-hit opportunity comes up, the Mod will reach out to all participants who have signed up as a Pinch hitter.
Participants are expected to read and adhere to the rules of the event. If you need clarification about any of them, it is your responsibility to ask the Mod for clarification.
All writing and art for this event must be your own, previously unpublished, and inspired by your given assignment.
This event is being promoted/hosted on Tumblr; however, it is not mandatory for participants to have a Tumblr account. Works can be posted on Tumblr, AO3, Dreamwidth, etc.
To ensure the anonymity of the gifts, participants are prohibited from sharing any details of what they’re working on prior the posting and revealing period.
🌟Ships/Characters🌟
This is an open-to-all-ships-and-characters event with only one rule: works are expected to center around one or more characters from the Stranger Things universe.
Works do not have to be strictly canon in nature, but should still have some element related to canon universe, characters.
Creating in an Alternate Universe is allowed if it is mentioned by the giftee in their request.
If you don't feel like working with any kind of character or ship (be it romantic/platonic relationship or friendship), you have to mention it on your sign-up form.
Bashing or shaming any actors, characters, ships, kinks, tropes or stylistic preferences will not be tolerated and will result in a ban from the event.
🌟Communication🌟
Check-ins are mandatory, and will be conducted via a form which will be emailed to participants in the week preceding the due date.
If a participant misses a check-in, the Mod will make one attempt to reach out. If no response is forthcoming in the next 48 hours, the participant will be dropped from the event and a pinch-hitter found if necessary.
If a participant needs to drop out or they are having trouble working on their assignment, they have to contact the Mod as soon as possible.
Limited extensions may be possible. If a participant is in need of an extension, they must contact the Mod until December 5th.
If a participant does not submit their gift by the deadline (December 10) and fail to contact the Mod, they will not be eligible to participate in possible future events.
🌟Author Requirements🌟
Authors will create one complete story inspired by one of their giftee’s requests.
The story must be at least 1,000 words in length. There is no maximum length.
The story must have all the appropriate warnings and ratings.
The story must be at least minimally beta-read for spelling and grammar before posting.
Any character depicted in a mature or explicit sexual situation should be 18 years or older. Pedophilia and zoophilia as a theme, or rape that is glorified is not allowed.
🌟Artist Requirements🌟
Artist will create an artwork inspired by one of their giftee’s requests.
Artists are required to complete one (1) piece of artwork.
Accepted art forms:
Digital art/drawing/painting
Traditional media artwork such as pencil, charcoal, acrylic, watercolor, etc. Both 2D and 3D works are acceptable as long as they are clearly photographable or scanned to minimum image requirements.
Comic strip
Moodboards with min. 6 images
Gifsets with min. 6 images (made and edited by the artist)
Playlists with at least 10 songs.
Video submissions minimum 30 seconds in length (Must include a disclaimer for any and all clips and music used.)
Other artwork guidelines/restrictions:
Images should be of a minimum 500px width, with no maximum size limit.
Any character depicted in a mature or explicit sexual situation should be 18 years or older. Pedophilia and zoophilia as a theme, or rape that is glorified is not allowed.
NO AI-generated artwork will be allowed.
The artwork must have all the appropriate warnings and ratings.
Credit to any source material must be given.
🌟How it works🌟
You can sign up for the Stranger Things Secret Santa by filling out the sign-up form.
The information you give in your sign-up form will be the deciding factor in the gift you’re going to create and the gift you’re going to receive.
You have to request 3 different prompts. You can specify your favorite characters or ships and any characters or ships that you don’t want to be featured in your gift, or that you don’t want to include in the gift you make. You can also add the content you are comfortable creating (SFW and NSWF likes, favorite tropes, Do Not Wants). You can also give additional tags that could help with the matching process.
If any of the requests contains spoilers for the 5th season, the request have to start with “SPOILER ALERT”.
During sign-up everyone have to answer the question if they're okay or not with any spoiler from season 5.
After the sign-up closes, every participant will be matched with an other participant based on both what they are able to create, and what they are willing to create.
After all the participants have been matched, you will receive your assignment until October 2nd.
🌟Posting🌟
Participants will have to submit their finished (or at least 90% completed) gifts until December 10th. This will give us a 10-day window to work around any last-minute dropouts. Hopefully, there will be none, but life happens, as we all know, so it never hurts to be prepared.
How to submit the finished gifts: Participants can submit their gifts via a Google Form by uploading the files or providing access to them via a share link until December 10 th. (This is needed just to make sure that the gifts are completed and everything will go smoothly when the time comes for posting.)
The gift posting will start on December 20th and ends on December 24th. This means that every participant will have to post the 100% completed gift during this time period. The anonymity lasts only until posting, so everyone can post their fic and art under their own name, and Artists may use their watermark on the art piece.
The finished gift can be posted on Tumblr, AO3, Dreamwidth, Bluesky, etc.
The gift must be posted in its entirety during the posting period. Serial posting (posting in chapters across several days) is not allowed.
The participants will get more helpful details about posting in December.
In case you have any more questions, feel free to send in an ask or PM!
Also, if you can, please share/reblog this post to spread the word. ✨
If you don’t want to miss anything, you can follow this blog or you can also track the #strangerthingssecretsanta and #strangersanta tags.
The Stranger Things Secret Santa event is here! ❄️⛄️🎄🚲🌟❄️
If you would like to take part in a low pressure winter holiday season gift exchange, and turn someone’s world on its better side with a fanfic or fanart that was created based on their own prompt(s), you’re at the right place.
Everyone is welcome to join the fun if they love the Stranger Things universe and the characters within. This event is open to all ships and characters.
Since the creating time period will overlap with the release of the first four episodes of the 5th season – and there’re more than one spoilery trailers out there –, it will be mandatory for every participant to answer the question on the sign-up form if they’d be okay with spoilers (from the trailers and/or released episodes) when it comes to their requests and offers. Spoilers are taken very seriously.
❄️You can SIGN-UP HERE!❄️
⛄️SCHEDULE⛄️
September 16-30 – Sign-up period
October 2 – Assignments sent out
October 5 – 1st Check-in
November 20 – 2nd Check-in
December 5 – Last day to ask for an extension
December 10 – Assignments due
December 20-24 – Posting period
⛄️RULES and GUIDELINES⛄️
🌟General🌟
The STRANGER THINGS Secret Santa is a gift exchange kind of event focusing on The Stranger Things tv series.
All participants must register via the sign-up form providing their preferred contact information, age, acknowledgement of reading and understanding the rules, gift requests and offers.
Participants must be at least 16 years old to sign up, and only those 18 years old or older may request and submit Mature- or Explicit-rated artwork or writing. If a participant is found not to be honest about their age, they will be disqualified and banned from possible future events.
Participants may register as both a Creator (Author and/or Artist) and Pinch hitter.
Signing up as a Pinch hitter is not a commitment, it just indicates your willingness to take on a gift in case of a drop-out. If a pinch-hit opportunity comes up, the Mod will reach out to all participants who have signed up as a Pinch hitter.
Participants are expected to read and adhere to the rules of the event. If you need clarification about any of them, it is your responsibility to ask the Mod for clarification.
All writing and art for this event must be your own, previously unpublished, and inspired by your given assignment.
This event is being promoted/hosted on Tumblr; however, it is not mandatory for participants to have a Tumblr account. Works can be posted on Tumblr, AO3, Dreamwidth, etc.
To ensure the anonymity of the gifts, participants are prohibited from sharing any details of what they’re working on prior the posting and revealing period.
🌟Ships/Characters🌟
This is an open-to-all-ships-and-characters event with only one rule: works are expected to center around one or more characters from the Stranger Things universe.
Works do not have to be strictly canon in nature, but should still have some element related to canon universe, characters.
Creating in an Alternate Universe is allowed if it is mentioned by the giftee in their request.
If you don't feel like working with any kind of character or ship (be it romantic/platonic relationship or friendship), you have to mention it on your sign-up form.
Bashing or shaming any actors, characters, ships, kinks, tropes or stylistic preferences will not be tolerated and will result in a ban from the event.
🌟Communication🌟
Check-ins are mandatory, and will be conducted via a form which will be emailed to participants in the week preceding the due date.
If a participant misses a check-in, the Mod will make one attempt to reach out. If no response is forthcoming in the next 48 hours, the participant will be dropped from the event and a pinch-hitter found if necessary.
If a participant needs to drop out or they are having trouble working on their assignment, they have to contact the Mod as soon as possible.
Limited extensions may be possible. If a participant is in need of an extension, they must contact the Mod until December 5th.
If a participant does not submit their gift by the deadline (December 10) and fail to contact the Mod, they will not be eligible to participate in possible future events.
🌟Author Requirements🌟
Authors will create one complete story inspired by one of their giftee’s requests.
The story must be at least 1,000 words in length. There is no maximum length.
The story must have all the appropriate warnings and ratings.
The story must be at least minimally beta-read for spelling and grammar before posting.
Any character depicted in a mature or explicit sexual situation should be 18 years or older. Pedophilia and zoophilia as a theme, or rape that is glorified is not allowed.
🌟Artist Requirements🌟
Artist will create an artwork inspired by one of their giftee’s requests.
Artists are required to complete one (1) piece of artwork.
Accepted art forms:
Digital art/drawing/painting
Traditional media artwork such as pencil, charcoal, acrylic, watercolor, etc. Both 2D and 3D works are acceptable as long as they are clearly photographable or scanned to minimum image requirements.
Comic strip
Moodboards with min. 6 images
Gifsets with min. 6 images (made and edited by the artist)
Playlists with at least 10 songs.
Video submissions minimum 30 seconds in length (Must include a disclaimer for any and all clips and music used.)
Other artwork guidelines/restrictions:
Images should be of a minimum 500px width, with no maximum size limit.
Any character depicted in a mature or explicit sexual situation should be 18 years or older. Pedophilia and zoophilia as a theme, or rape that is glorified is not allowed.
NO AI-generated artwork will be allowed.
The artwork must have all the appropriate warnings and ratings.
Credit to any source material must be given.
🌟How it works🌟
You can sign up for the Stranger Things Secret Santa by filling out the sign-up form.
The information you give in your sign-up form will be the deciding factor in the gift you’re going to create and the gift you’re going to receive.
You have to request 3 different prompts. You can specify your favorite characters or ships and any characters or ships that you don’t want to be featured in your gift, or that you don’t want to include in the gift you make. You can also add the content you are comfortable creating (SFW and NSWF likes, favorite tropes, Do Not Wants). You can also give additional tags that could help with the matching process.
If any of the requests contains spoilers for the 5th season, the request have to start with “SPOILER ALERT”.
During sign-up everyone have to answer the question if they're okay or not with any spoiler from season 5.
After the sign-up closes, every participant will be matched with an other participant based on both what they are able to create, and what they are willing to create.
After all the participants have been matched, you will receive your assignment until October 2nd.
🌟Posting🌟
Participants will have to submit their finished (or at least 90% completed) gifts until December 10th. This will give us a 10-day window to work around any last-minute dropouts. Hopefully, there will be none, but life happens, as we all know, so it never hurts to be prepared.
How to submit the finished gifts: Participants can submit their gifts via a Google Form by uploading the files or providing access to them via a share link until December 10 th. (This is needed just to make sure that the gifts are completed and everything will go smoothly when the time comes for posting.)
The gift posting will start on December 20th and ends on December 24th. This means that every participant will have to post the 100% completed gift during this time period. The anonymity lasts only until posting, so everyone can post their fic and art under their own name, and Artists may use their watermark on the art piece.
The finished gift can be posted on Tumblr, AO3, Dreamwidth, Bluesky, etc.
The gift must be posted in its entirety during the posting period. Serial posting (posting in chapters across several days) is not allowed.
The participants will get more helpful details about posting in December.
In case you have any more questions, feel free to send in an ask or PM!
Also, if you can, please share/reblog this post to spread the word. ✨
If you don’t want to miss anything, you can follow this blog or you can also track the #strangerthingssecretsanta and #strangersanta tags.
The Stranger Things Secret Santa event is here! ❄️⛄️🎄🚲🌟❄️
If you would like to take part in a low pressure winter holiday season gift exchange, and turn someone’s world on its better side with a fanfic or fanart that was created based on their own prompt(s), you’re at the right place.
Everyone is welcome to join the fun if they love the Stranger Things universe and the characters within. This event is open to all ships and characters.
Since the creating time period will overlap with the release of the first four episodes of the 5th season – and there’re more than one spoilery trailers out there –, it will be mandatory for every participant to answer the question on the sign-up form if they’d be okay with spoilers (from the trailers and/or released episodes) when it comes to their requests and offers. Spoilers are taken very seriously.
❄️You can SIGN UP HERE!❄️
⛄️SCHEDULE⛄️
September 16-30 – Sign-up period
October 2 – Assignments sent out
October 5 – 1st Check-in
November 20 – 2nd Check-in
December 5 – Last day to ask for an extension
December 10 – Assignments due
December 20-24 – Posting period
⛄️RULES and GUIDELINES⛄️
🌟General🌟
The STRANGER THINGS Secret Santa is a gift exchange kind of event focusing on The Stranger Things tv series.
All participants must register via the sign-up form providing their preferred contact information, age, acknowledgement of reading and understanding the rules, gift requests and offers.
Participants must be at least 16 years old to sign up, and only those 18 years old or older may request and submit Mature- or Explicit-rated artwork or writing. If a participant is found not to be honest about their age, they will be disqualified and banned from possible future events.
Participants may register as both a Creator (Author and/or Artist) and Pinch hitter.
Signing up as a Pinch hitter is not a commitment, it just indicates your willingness to take on a gift in case of a drop-out. If a pinch-hit opportunity comes up, the Mod will reach out to all participants who have signed up as a Pinch hitter.
Participants are expected to read and adhere to the rules of the event. If you need clarification about any of them, it is your responsibility to ask the Mod for clarification.
All writing and art for this event must be your own, previously unpublished, and inspired by your given assignment.
This event is being promoted/hosted on Tumblr; however, it is not mandatory for participants to have a Tumblr account. Works can be posted on Tumblr, AO3, Dreamwidth, etc.
To ensure the anonymity of the gifts, participants are prohibited from sharing any details of what they’re working on prior the posting and revealing period.
🌟Ships/Characters🌟
This is an open-to-all-ships-and-characters event with only one rule: works are expected to center around one or more characters from the Stranger Things universe.
Works do not have to be strictly canon in nature, but should still have some element related to canon universe, characters.
Creating in an Alternate Universe is allowed if it is mentioned by the giftee in their request.
If you don't feel like working with any kind of character or ship (be it romantic/platonic relationship or friendship), you have to mention it on your sign-up form.
Bashing or shaming any actors, characters, ships, kinks, tropes or stylistic preferences will not be tolerated and will result in a ban from the event.
🌟Communication🌟
Check-ins are mandatory, and will be conducted via a form which will be emailed to participants in the week preceding the due date.
If a participant misses a check-in, the Mod will make one attempt to reach out. If no response is forthcoming in the next 48 hours, the participant will be dropped from the event and a pinch-hitter found if necessary.
If a participant needs to drop out or they are having trouble working on their assignment, they have to contact the Mod as soon as possible.
Limited extensions may be possible. If a participant is in need of an extension, they must contact the Mod until December 5th.
If a participant does not submit their gift by the deadline (December 10) and fail to contact the Mod, they will not be eligible to participate in possible future events.
🌟Author Requirements🌟
Authors will create one complete story inspired by one of their giftee’s requests.
The story must be at least 1,000 words in length. There is no maximum length.
The story must have all the appropriate warnings and ratings.
The story must be at least minimally beta-read for spelling and grammar before posting.
Any character depicted in a mature or explicit sexual situation should be 18 years or older. Pedophilia and zoophilia as a theme, or rape that is glorified is not allowed.
🌟Artist Requirements🌟
Artist will create an artwork inspired by one of their giftee’s requests.
Artists are required to complete one (1) piece of artwork.
Accepted art forms:
Digital art/drawing/painting
Traditional media artwork such as pencil, charcoal, acrylic, watercolor, etc. Both 2D and 3D works are acceptable as long as they are clearly photographable or scanned to minimum image requirements.
Comic strip
Moodboards with min. 6 images
Gifsets with min. 6 images (made and edited by the artist)
Playlists with at least 10 songs.
Video submissions minimum 30 seconds in length (Must include a disclaimer for any and all clips and music used.)
Other artwork guidelines/restrictions:
Images should be of a minimum 500px width, with no maximum size limit.
Any character depicted in a mature or explicit sexual situation should be 18 years or older. Pedophilia and zoophilia as a theme, or rape that is glorified is not allowed.
NO AI-generated artwork will be allowed.
The artwork must have all the appropriate warnings and ratings.
Credit to any source material must be given.
🌟How it works🌟
You can sign up for the Stranger Things Secret Santa by filling out the sign-up form.
The information you give in your sign-up form will be the deciding factor in the gift you’re going to create and the gift you’re going to receive.
You have to request 3 different prompts. You can specify your favorite characters or ships and any characters or ships that you don’t want to be featured in your gift, or that you don’t want to include in the gift you make. You can also add the content you are comfortable creating (SFW and NSWF likes, favorite tropes, Do Not Wants). You can also give additional tags that could help with the matching process.
If any of the requests contains spoilers for the 5th season, the request have to start with “SPOILER ALERT”.
During sign-up everyone have to answer the question if they're okay or not with any spoiler from season 5.
After the sign-up closes, every participant will be matched with an other participant based on both what they are able to create, and what they are willing to create.
After all the participants have been matched, you will receive your assignment until October 2nd.
🌟Posting🌟
Participants will have to submit their finished (or at least 90% completed) gifts until December 10th. This will give us a 10-day window to work around any last-minute dropouts. Hopefully, there will be none, but life happens, as we all know, so it never hurts to be prepared.
How to submit the finished gifts: Participants can submit their gifts via a Google Form by uploading the files or providing access to them via a share link until December 10 th. (This is needed just to make sure that the gifts are completed and everything will go smoothly when the time comes for posting.)
The gift posting will start on December 20th and ends on December 24th. This means that every participant will have to post the 100% completed gift during this time period. The anonymity lasts only until posting, so everyone can post their fic and art under their own name, and Artists may use their watermark on the art piece.
The finished gift can be posted on Tumblr, AO3, Dreamwidth, Bluesky, etc.
The gift must be posted in its entirety during the posting period. Serial posting (posting in chapters across several days) is not allowed.
When the gift is posted, you have to send the permalink to the Mod via email.
If the gift is posted on AO3, it can be gifted to the giftee. If the gift is posted on Tumblr, you can tag your giftee and @strangerthingsfests.
Every gift will be promoted, reblogged on the event blog.
In case you have any more questions, feel free to send in an ask or PM!
Also, if you can, please share/reblog this post to spread the word. ✨
If you don’t want to miss anything, you can follow this blog or you can also track the #strangerthingssecretsanta and #strangersanta tags.
