Thanks everyone! Enjoy!

This is fun, thank you, downtime!

I took out Yoda figuring I will keep him on my desk and consult him during times of trouble. The problem is: he is terribly quiet. :)

I put a book of poetry in the box to replace him and then decided I wanted to add a couple of other surprises too. One of them is an assortment of tea and a pack of apple cider mix. The other thing I added is a bowl filled with an assortment of candy and a small pack of cookies.

Since I am sending this to cafekat I thought about including a bottle of nutmeg but decided that may not be wise since she will have my address upon receiving the package. ..........I'm just teasing cafekat! :)

I had already sealed the box and had it ready to mail when I got the BCID number for it, but I will send it to cafekat in a PM so she will have it when the box arrives.

RELEASE NOTES:

Sent to cafekat this afternoon.
USPS Delivery Con. 0307 0020 0004 5907 9415

Thanks downtime for this fun idea! WingedMan, I am forever grateful that you left the nutmeg out of the box! You're a good man.

I opened the box and the box of candy disappeared before I could even see what was in it because my youngest chocoholic grabbed it! I took out the teas and had a delightful Sunday afternoon reading THE LOLLIPOP SHOES and having a cuppa Cinnamon Stick. The Civil War Poetry and Prose will probably stay around here for a while because after I read it there will be at least two others in the house that will want to have a look at it. I actually exchanged an umbrella for the one that was in the box. I'm lovin' the turquoise and blue thing. My glasses are even those colors!

In addition to the umbrella, I packed several other surprises. (I even had to get a bigger box...oops!) There's a dip bowl w/spreader, Southern Living at Home wine caddy and journal (I got two of them),a couple of picture frames, "magic" washcloths, and a little ornament.

The box is on it's way to Scoobs-buddy now. Oh what fun it is to get an after Christmas box, hey!

Got it yesterday- will take a look through & see what happens. Thanks!!

Brandon insisted on keeping the Wine Guide & Journal and the wine caddy- so took those and replaced with -
photo album & 22 oz thermo mug

red picture frame will be staying here & getting replaced with a magnet kit that I already had one of & got another identical one from my sis

dip mix set is staying and getting replaced with a pack of shop towels & a tire-pressure gauge

and I'm adding for the fun of it-
-black hard shell case for eye glasses
-santa ink pen
-Pikes Peak cap I've never worn

RELEASE NOTES:

rollin' down to TN to carrie1

usps dc- 0306 3030 0002 5606 4620

Arrived at my door today. Looks like it'll be fun choosing what to keep & what to add. Had a chuckle with your tire gauge, Scoobs. I have a feeling that'll make it back to downtime... hee hee

Will report back later.

OK, I'll ship this off to discoverylover on Monday. Here's my list:

Removed:
magnetic poetry kit (college son saw it & just had to take it)
shop towels (can never have enuf of those)
Christmas hand towel
snowflake napkins
clip photo frame
jingle note ornament
foot buffer

Put in:
German good-luck pig
mobile phone holder
notepad w/ pen
musical note clock
"friends" ornament
ceramic angel
Chicago piggy bank
jewelry box

Wooo!!!!! It arrived today and I ran down the hall (in my pjs) to get it!)(leaving the water running in the sink :)) to pick it up! I think I'm gonna have to change my bxing name to bxerinpyjamas! Will attempt to offload some stuff onto my flatmates (thats what they are there for right!) Thanks to Carrie for sending it on to NZ!!! And thanks to Downtime for thinking up the idea to start with :D I am like a child at christmas today :D:D:D:D

Putting in:

ballerina picture frame
year long book of quotes
soap and scrubby thing (I already have hundreds!)
flower hairclips
vase
NZ five cent frame
plastic vase/glass thingy
tissue box cover
(some of this stuff is from my flatmate, as we are both trying to get rid of our hoards of stuff!)

And taking out:
towel things (good for travel!)
bib (for a friend with a baby)
music clock (for alkaline-kiwi)
cell phone holder
the pedometer (it doesn't work so I'm chucking it out)
the spiral notepad
the 'prayer of Jabez' book (it won't fit back in so I'm going to release it)

I'm waiting to hear back from Jools if she wants it or not and will send it on when I do. Thanks Downtime for such a great idea!!

OK have sent to Jools today. It may take a while, as postage was SUPER expensive, so apologies to all for taking the cheapest option (which was still insane!) which should take no longer than 5 weeks. And if its not there in 5 weeks I will be going to complain!

Woohoo!! The parcel arrived today, totally packed with all sorts of 'stuff'! : D

I'm going to take a day or two to look through it and decide what to take out and put in, before sending it south to barby-girl.

Thanks to downtime for this really fun idea and a big thanks to discoverylover for going to all the trouble and expense to send it all the way from New Zealand.

RELEASE NOTES:

This is now on its way to barby-girl.

I've added:

a pair of Tigger socks
some snowflake confetti shapes
a puzzle book
a DVD about how to mix cocktails
a clip photoframe
a gift bag
a little heart shape bookmark
a book

Removed:

the umbrella
a photo frame
the little Chicago pig (for my niece)
the vase
candles (they didn't survive the journey)

This was a lot of fun! Thanks everyone : )

Woohoo! What fun....I think! :-o

Now, I just have to make my choices from, oh, let me see...

A Christmas nail? What the %$&£* is a Christmas nail???!!!
A knitted, uhm, thing...with cheapy stiff lace frills on it.
A couple of beaded wotsits


Oh, the list goes on, but I won't spoil it for anyone reading this ;-)

Will let you know my final choice when I send it on its way.

After much deliberation, and jesting in F&G, I have taken out the following:

1. the Tiggerific socks (actually, it was my eldest son who snaffled these...I know! I know! Don't ask!)
2. the plastic vase (taken by my mum's friend as it was just what she needed for a play she's in)
3. giant Santa pen (for my office Christmas naff raffle)
4. the Christmas nail! (as above)
5. the religious notebook and rotating text pen (as above)
6. the 'Don't Quit' poem picture frame (as above)
7. Cocktail mixing DVD (as above)
8. hanging angel with feather wings (for my own Christmas tree)
9. the 'Happy' book (to cheer me up this afternoon as it's dull, wet, windy, cold....)

The Christmas naff raffle at work provides a lot of hilarity, with a huge gold cup for the person who pulls out the naffest gift, and raises money for our care leavers (young people age 16 to 21) to provide them with Christmas goodies etc.

I have put in:
1. a box of 52 naughty nights sexy scratchcards
2. a radio pen
3. BBQ chefs hat and apron
4. a necklace (I don't wear gold, or gold coloured jewellery)
5. a flashing belly button light!
6. a reindeer hanging photo frame
7. a mini jigsaw puzzle
8. Ladies Night Out disco CD
9. Teddy Bear Quotes book
10. a tin of Transformers jelly sweets

I PM'd downtime a while ago to find out if she wanted to put a thread in any of the other forums as this has been such fun and am still waiting to hear from her, though I gather she's been away for a while. I'll PM her again and see what she wants to do.

RELEASE NOTES:

At last, the Christmas box is travelling again!

It's on its way back to downtime, with a few variations to my original list due to phenomenally high postal charges since Royal Mail hiked their prices up recently.

There's still the same amount of items in the box but I had to do a lot of juggling about and swapping larger items for smaller ones.

I've now ended up with the pink ballerina picture frame (which I think was dl's), the jewellery box (I think this was carrie's) and various assorted vile and sundry items!

thanks so much guys! There are a few things that I am really looking forward to using. My neighbor got the transformers tin from portugal and the cd case. My mom will get the gold necklace and photo book. My niece will get the "secret clue" pen and pink frame. I love puzzles, so I'll do the kakuro puzzle book. We'll try out the girls' night out cd at work. the christmas confetti and frame ornament will be saved for the jolly season, and the silver bag will go to good use. I like the key fob and my british friend will get a kick out to the british version of monopoly, since we were just talking about that the other day (apparently, the properties are different). I quite surprised him when I told him that I received a "Royal" package! That was fun, and next year we'll do it again!