Getting informed // Rules and the Specifics
Signups Open: October 18th
Signups Close: November 15th
Assignments Given: November 22nd
Check-in: December 6th
Gift Submission Deadline: December 20th
Posting: December 24-25th
Mods will message all participants on November 22nd with their preferred method of communication and give them the wishlist of the person they will be making a gift for. Everyone will have a month to create their gift.
There will be a check-in midway through to ensure all participants are working on or are still interested in working on their gift. This is mandatory, but please don't stress about it even if you haven't started on your gift at that time! It's just us checking on your progress and ensuring we have active contact with all participants.
Submit your gift to [email protected] by email once you're finished. If you'd like, you may include a message to your recipient in the same email which will be posted publicly alongside your gift on December 24-25th. Submitting finished gifts through email is highly preferred, but if you're really not comfortable with that, or don't have an email, you may private message us your gift instead.
Your gift must follow your recipient's wishlist and respect their blacklist.
Your gift must be finished. We're purposely keeping the definition of "finished" vague, but it should at the very least have color and, if your gift is a drawing, have little to no sketch or construction lines. If you are submitting writing, your finished work must be a minimum of 1200 words (but can be however long you'd like) and should be able to be read standalone, with no additional context or chapters needed.
No NSFW/18+ content is allowed in this event. Our definition of NSFW covers explicit/pornographic content, extreme gore, and other sensitive topics at moderators' discretion. You may not request nor gift it. Any romantic pairings involving minors and adults together are also banned.
Do not post about your gift or who you're gifting for before gifts are revealed. This also extends to not posting WIPS and not messaging your giftee. Additionally, if you have a question for your giftee, message us and we will relay the question for you.
If during the event you feel you need to drop out or need an extension, please message us as early as possible.
Be respectful and have fun!
Make a wishlist using Google Docs or a .txt file. If using Google Docs, your wishlist must be able to be viewed by anyone with the link. If you do not know how to make your document public, click here for a tutorial.
List at least two characters and at least three prompts. Order them top to bottom from most wanted to least wanted.
At the bottom of your wishlist, have a blacklist section listing what you do not want to gift and what you do not want to receive for any reason. Make the "gifting blacklist" and the "receiving blacklist" each their own section. The gifting blacklist will help us assign you to a suitable partner, while the receiving blacklist will inform your santa what not to make for you.
To make this event friendly to all artists of all skill levels, characters from other series are not permitted. OCs that are not Kirby OCs or not in the Kirby universe are also not permitted.
Gijinkas and Kirby OCs/FCs are allowed, but you must provide a reference for their design.
Here's an example wishlist including examples of all of the criteria above. Feel free to copy it and use it as a template if you'd like. [link]
All gifts will be posted on this blog on December 24-25th (with roughly half of the gifts being posted each day), listing both the gifter and giftee along with a note the gifter left if they left one. Once the gift you made is posted, you may post it on other sites and show it anywhere you please.
The sign-up sheet will ask you for a portfolio.
For artists who draw and crafters: make a Google Drive folder showing at least three (but up to ten) finished pieces of yours. You can also just link to any art posts you've made, or include links to the images themselves. As long as we can see your art, it's all good. We ask this to ensure all participants are eligible to participate (for example, we wouldn't accept someone who has no finished art, or is unable to take photos of their art in good quality). We are also using this portfolio to assign partners based on skill level*. Again, if you use Google Drive, please make sure your folder is visible to everyone who has the link.
For writers: Please link any clean writing work you've done. You are only required to show one piece minimum, but at least one piece (out of however many you chose to link) must be at least 1200 words. The work(s) you link do not have to be considered finished, but they should be clean (not drafts, and with reasonably good spelling and grammar).
If you can gift multiple types of art, please include examples of all of those types of art in your portfolio. It's not required, but it will help us pair you. Please follow one set of requirements above, at minimum.
*About assigning partners based on skill level: in previous years we ran a poll to decide whether to assign based on skill level or completely randomly, and both years the community preferred being paired based on skill. We're skipping the poll this year, so as a disclaimer for new participants, we try to ensure our internal skill metric is as unbiased as possible with it being based on technical skill, how finished the works shown are, and the resolution of the works (low resolution to the point it affects the overall quality of the piece = points dinged). This is only done for the purpose of pairing for this event and is completely confidential. We aim to create a welcoming space for artists of all skill levels and we expect our participants to act similarly.
Other things to keep in mind:
If you participated in our event in previous years, please note who you gifted for and who you received a gift from on your sign-up form under the user blacklist. This will prevent you from getting paired with the same users again!
Additionally, you may make as many gifts for your recipient as you'd like as long as they follow their wishlist. The more the merrier, as they say. But the minimum (and the default!) is just one gift. Don't feel pressured to make multiple.
If you're gifting traditional art, make sure you're able to either scan it or photograph it in good lighting and in good quality. Ideally the picture should be cropped so that any sort of background is not visible.
Physical crafts and other gifts of that nature should likewise be photographed in good lighting and good quality.
Going a little wild with your gift is a-okay. Extra things like animation, comics, fancy backgrounds, etc., are very welcome. (Though if it happens anyone doesn't want to receive these things for whatever reason, note it on your blacklist).
Reminder: submit your gift to [email protected] by email once you're finished, or private message us your gift if you really don't want to use email. Include a message to your giftee in the same email/message if you want to. It will be posted alongside your gift on Christmas.
Ready to sign-up? All links are at the bottom of all information posts. Send us an ask or message if you have any questions.
Rules and the Specifics (You are here!)
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