Well, after one very successful round of Secret Sister, Alyssa, Amy, and I as co-hosts for On the Same Page will be opening up sign-ups for a new round of Secret Sister TODAY! Thank you to everyone who made the first round SO successful — we had so many great responses and so many people excited to sign up for round two!
THE WHAT
The Secret Sister project is essentially a cheer club. Think Secret Santa but all year round with less emphasis on big presents, and more thoughtful notes, cards, small somethings sent just to let your secret sister know that you are thinking about her!
THE WHEN
- Sign-ups run January 12, 2015 – January 23, 2015
- You will be paired up with your secret sister by January 30.
- This session will run from February 1st – July 31st (this means that your last something will be sent in July).
THE WHO
You guys! The only “rule” we have is that before signing up, you must “know” at least one of us. Us being myself (@bookaddictguide), Alyssa (@withthebanned) & Amy (@
We will NOT be limiting the amount of people who sign up for this round, though! It’s come one, come all! If you haven’t chatted with us before, start hitting us up on Twitter so we can chat and get to know you!
INTERNATIONAL: If you are outside of the United States and wish to participate, we are allowing you to sign up BUT! We are not sure how many international friends will be interested and where they might be located so we cannot guarantee that you will be matched up 🙁 If you are an international friend wanting to sign up, please include your location and where you are willing to ship in your email and we will try our best to find a sister for you! (We will not ask US folks to ship internationally.)
FAQs
// What will I have to do if I sign up to be a secret sister?
This is a commitment, we can’t lie to you. By signing up to be a secret sister you are promising to send at least one small card OR gift to your secret sister a month. It is very important that you don’t sign up for this unless you are willing to follow through. Please think of how sad (and unfair) it would be for someone to be working hard to make their secret sister feel special and not receiving anything themselves! In addition, we are asking that you PLEASE use the hashtag #OTSPSecretSister on Twitter and Instagram to interact with all of us. Most of us used this hashtag to ask questions and get to know our sisters better! Also, (and this is most important) use this hashtag to THANK YOUR SISTER! One of the biggest complaints we had about round one was the lack of thank yous received!
Your OTSPSecretSister may also be buying you books and we can’t guarantee it will be someone you know well! If you have the time & energy to keep & maintain a Goodreads wishlist AND “currently own” books list, I’m sure it would help her out a lot!
// Do I have to send presents?
No, you don’t have to send anything big, this really is meant to be more of a cheering up sort of club. However, in the six month period we will be going through Valentine’s Day, Easter, and maybe your secret sister’s birthday! It is encouraged that you send one or two presents during these six months (think a book from their wish list, some Easter candy, or if you’re feeling really fancy, some flowers for their birthday!) but please don’t think of this as “Secret Santa every month”. We don’t want you going broke doing this!
// Do we have to remain secret?
No, though that is part of the fun! Just leave your name off of the card or box you are sending if you want to remain secret, and reveal yourself whenever you wish! It is entirely up to you! (If you are looking for some tips on how to remain secret, like if you want to send an e-book, for example, we can help ya out!)
// Anything else I should know?
Use the hashtag and interact with one another! The whole point is to bring positive feelings into the our bookish community. Try and answer ALL of the questions below and be as thorough as you can, the more you share, the easier it is for your sister to spoil you! The best advice I can give you is to be creative. Some of the handmade and personal things meant so much more than just books so you don’t HAVE to send gifts just to show your Secret Sister you care! Some people exchanged letters back and forth, and even some baked goods. If you are looking for ideas, chat us up, we would love to help! We tweet from our own handles pretty frequently, but don’t forget to follow us all over at On the Same Page)!
// READ THIS:
We can’t say this enough…please PLEASE only sign up if you are willing to send something monthly and give 100% to this project. We had very few hiccups the first time around but the problems we encountered were people neglecting to send something to their sister in a timely manner. First, If for any reason you find that you have to drop out of this project, please email us immediately. We will not judge. We will not ask why. We will simply thank you for informing us and then pair your sister off to someone else so she isn’t missing out. Second, if you have not received anything by the last week of the month you must contact us. We are not going to be checking in with all of you throughout the month so it is imperative that you let us know if you are not receiving!
// So how do I sign up?
EDITED: Sign-ups for round two are now CLOSED. Please check back in July for new sign-ups for round 3!
Thanks to everyone for your AWESOME support and interest in this project! We are so excited to have so many people interested in round two of Secret Sister! Can’t wait to get it started!
** UPDATE **
Secret Sister sign-ups are now closed and Round 2 is underway! Missed the sign-ups? Just finding out about Secret Sister and would like to join next round? Here’s what you need to know!
// Yes, sign-ups are CLOSED closed. If we have people who are no longer able to participate along the way, we will simply re-arrange the pairs. I’m sorry, but we are not taking on anyone new mid-round!
// The next round will start in AUGUST. Round 3 will run from August 1st, 2015 – January 31st, 2016. Unless we end up reassessing the project, duration and procedures will remain the same.
// This means that sign-ups will mostly likely happen in July 2015. We kept Round 2 sign-ups open for 2-3 weeks and that seemed like a decent amount of time! We didn’t want to keep people waiting TOO long to get their matches.
// We WILL be enforcing the “we need to know you” rule this time around. We let some people sign up in Round 2 that we didn’t know… but with so many people interested, we get a bit more worried and we just want to make sure everyone has a great time! If you don’t know Alyssa, Amy, or me yet — DON’T FRET. You still have time to get to “know” us. All we ask is that you start chatting to us on our blogs or on Twitter (@bookaddictguide, @withthebanned, @trippingbooks) so we know who you are and that you’re super interested in being a part of this project!
// Follow any or all of us to find out when new sign-ups are opening! We will ALL be post a blog post and CONSTANTLY tweeting about it. If you don’t want to miss sign-ups, make sure you’re following us and you cannot miss them!
35 thoughts on “On the Same Page: Secret Sister Project | Round 2”
Only just discovered what this was all about and it sounds like so much fun. What a lovely thing you guys set up, good on you!! x
When is the next sign up? I’m so excited to do this!!!! I found out about it on instagram.
This looks like so much fun and I absolutely love the idea. I’m just getting started with my book blog and I think this would be a great way to get to know a bunch of other book bloggers and have some fun at the same time! I look forward to the opening of round 3!
Oh, this sounds super fun, and I always love trying to cheer people up with books. Hopefully, you do a round 3.
I’m dropping by to say hello I’m Ashley from Bookaholics Anonymous
Hi there! I am SO excited to have discovered this project! I will DEFINITELY be signing up to participate in Round 3! 🙂
This is seriously one of the coolest things I’ve come across since I found the bookternet!!! You ladies are incredibly creative and so kind to spread such joy and excitement! 🙂
I look forward to participating in the next round! I’ll keep an eye out for sign ups in July 🙂
I just found out about this from someone on twitter and I think it is absolutely amazing. I wish I would have known about it sooner, but I’m hoping you will have another one. That’s my question basically, when, if you are, having another one? I would love to join in on that one!
Such a great idea!! 🙂
Thanks, Erica! Yes, we would be having another round start around July/August. Hope to see you join in!! 😀 We’d love to have you!
Ohhh I missed out by two days 🙁 I am currently reading the trending tweets and this sounds great. I have never heard of this before but this looks to be a great way to spread love and interaction in the blogging community. Please do a round 3!
This sounds amazing. I am very interested.
Thanks for putting this together.
Tula Shamhart
Primary Library Diva
This sounds like so much fun! I’ve been intrigued ever since I saw your post on Twitter saying that this was coming … 🙂
I’m sooooo excited you guys are hosting this again! It sounds like so much fun and I loved seeing everyone’s tweets. Sent in my email so I’m all signed up and super excited about it 🙂 I love sending mail and receiving mail. Plus I can’t wait to make some new reader friends!
This is super awesome 🙂 Great ideas and thanks for putting it together!
This is a perfect way to spread some love that I think the blogging community could really use right now. Very excited!
Thanks for setting up another round of this! Really enjoyed being your Secret Sister, Brittany, and going to miss sending you goodies.
Would love to be a part of this. Will be chatting you all up on twitter 🙂
YES! I just sent my email… I cannot wait to find out who I have. This month is going to seem suuuuper long!
I love the spending tier. Question: is that how much you plan to spend per month? Or on the whole 6 months?
It’s per month! 🙂
I’ve been waiting for the sign-ups to open and I’m so glad that day has finally arrived!! Thank you for all your organization with this!
YAY so glad! Thanks for joining us!
Sent my email in! Cannot wait to join in the fun 🙂
YAY thanks, Meghann!
Yayyy!! Can’t wait to start this!
Thanks, Jess!!!! SO happy to have you join us <3
Yay Brittany! I was just gushing in Alyssas blog how excited I am!! Thanks for doing this and I can’t wait to see who my sister is eeeeppp!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Thanks, Brittany! We’re so excited for your excitement 😉