The ORIGINAL BOL Ornament Exchange is back again for its SEVENTH year!!!

How the BOL Ornament Exchange works: I pull names and randomly pair each participating BOLer with an "ornabuddy" for them to send an ornament to. A decoration is also acceptable (some BOLers may indicate a preference). The requirement is one ornament or decoration in the $10 range (or handmade), though some people opt to send two ornaments or include candy or other goodies. WHAT YOU SEND BEYOND THE ONE ORNAMENT REQUIREMENT IS UP TO YOU —please do not send anything more than that if you will be upset if your buddy sticks to the guidelines and sends you one ornament. Ornaments MUST arrive to your ornabuddy on or before *December 1st. Please consider whether or not you can have your ornament shipped in time for your buddy to receive it by *December 1st before joining. Names are kept secret from the group until everyone receives their ornament (but include your name with your ornament so your ornabuddy can thank you when they receive it). After *December 1st and once everyone has their ornaments, we all have fun guessing who the ornabuddies were by giving clues about the BOLer who sent our ornament.

A word on Privacy: Your true name and mailing address are provided to me and your ornabuddy only. You may choose to provide your home address, work address, or a PO Box so long as that address can accept packages. Please indicate if only certain shipping providers will deliver to your address.

Who can participate: Anyone registered on BOL! We have regular, well-known BOLers as well as new people join each year, and many of the newbies become regular Cooler rowdies by getting to know everyone. Just make sure you can play nice with anyone who may join. We generally have 40-50 participants.

If you want to participate this year, send me a PM with the subject "2014 Ornament Exchange."
Include your real name and mailing address in one line, i.e. “Betty Boler, 4045 Main Street, Anytown, CA 92101” as this helps me input your info into my spreadsheet easier. I will use this PM to communicate with you during the course of the exchange…getting info, sending you your ornabuddy assignment, etc, so DO NOT DELETE OUR PM.

The cut-off date to register by sending me a PM is Friday, October 10th.

Ornabuddies will be assigned after October 10th and the PM for the exchange will begin shortly after that. The PM is set up for all the participants to get to know each other and share details to help you pick an ornament or decoration. The PM is very active, so you will want to turn off email alerts for PMs. Otherwise, your inbox will be clogged with PM notifications.
To turn off email alerts for PMs: From the threads, go to “My Stuff” and then “Edit Preferences” to turn off email notifications.

Once the PM is set-up, I cannot add additional participants, so please make sure to send me a PM by the October 10th deadline. Also, make sure to clean up your PMs before joining. If you are at your limit BOL will not include you in the ornament PM and you will miss out. I believe the PM limit is 100 or 200.

The ORIGINAL BOL Ornament Exchange...Accept NO Imitations



*I changed the ornament delivery deadline from Thanksgiving to December 1st because it seems every year people run into pre-Thanksgiving crunch-time and sometimes cannot make the Thanksgiving deadline. Thanksgiving is late this year so really this just gives people an extra three days. So grab your mugs and keep eachother company by the window looking for the man in brown...or blue...or whatever color FedEx wears

Once again, I will be in Hawaii during the registration so if you have any questions between now and October 1st, please post them here and a veteran ornabuddy will help you out

PM sent! Super excited to participate this year!

A quick history of the BOL Ornament Exchange...

It all started in 2008. I heard about a cooler of food that was being shipped between BOLers and as the holidays rolled around, I thought, "Wouldn't it be cool to work out a way for BOLers to participate in a secret Santa type exchange?"

I had some ideas about how to do it and posted in the Cooler to see who was interested. We came up with how to do it, including keeping it simple with only a $10 ornament so that anyone could afford to participate. The very first exchange included fifteen of us and that PM is still going today, although at a much slower pace

Personally, the ornament exchange has introduced me to so many awesome people and I will do my best to keep it going for many years to come, knowing how much fun it is for us all. It's not political and we welcome all walks of faith...even the Jew (love ya girl!!! )

The first BOL ornament exchange thread

Oh and I forgot to mention I do not read your PM until I add you to my spreadsheet so do not worry if it shows unread by me for a while. This helps me keep track of who was added already. I won't be reading any of your PMs for at least a week while I am in Hawaii

Link to the BOL Ornament Exchange Facebook page:
Facebook Page for BOL Ornament Exchange

I only add people who are participating.

Did I miss the cut off?

I am sending my PM!! Have lots of fun in Hawaii!!

Excited to do this again. Thanks for all of your work on this Dip!

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO WICKED EXCITED TO PARTICIPATE AGAIN THIS YEAR!!! Every year I love placing past orny gifts on my tree!!Thank you Dip!

Well P*Q, I hope you start to show some excitement with this!!

WOO HOO!!!

Time to break out the glitter!

Newbie to the exchange. Sounds like fun!!!

And the brown spray paint! I wonder if someone else will get cornamented this year

Dangit! I knew I should have saved that dead spider!

Once again I jump, willingly, into the glitter bomb!!
Let fun begin!!!

I will cherish my cornament forever.

Mine was way cool---an alligator head eating an elf. Try explaining that to a 3 year old. I was looking through pix on my computer the other night and came across it. It made me smile!

Just sent my PM...I am one of the original ornies...I LOVE this exchange!

I was on FB last night when Dip's notice popped up.
I dashed over here and sent my PM right away so I wouldn't forget.

I've got a 40 qt Rubbermaid stuffed with rhinestones and glitter and all kinds of embellishments that we use on the synchro costumes. I'm sure I can requisition some for use on my ornament.

And don't forget there is a travelling Pink Flamingo! Can't remember who got it last year but it has travelled from place to place bringing Holiday cheer!

My my oldest daughters back yard now has 3 pink flamingos, because my youngest granddaughter (The Beast), heard us talking about the exchange and decided she needed pink flamingos!

WOOO HOOO !!!!!!!!!!!! My b/f's kiddos were already asking "when do we get to look for the "gifts you mail away at work" LOL

The Pink Flamingo is proudly sitting in my office. My first year ornamenteering and I get the flamingo!

I'm jealous!