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December 20, 2017 2:57 AM   Subscribe

It’s nearly Christmas, and you know what that means — it’s time for New Zealand’s nationwide secret santa, the sweetest and purest expression of love and national pride of all time, probably. For the past seven years, New Zealand has been holding a nation-wide secret santa. Complete strangers send their fellow kiwis gifts, after parsing their twitter feeds for hints about what they'd like.

Originally started by a guy called Sam, #NZsecretsanta is now run by NZ Post. Even politicians get involved, with the Prime Minister dropping a major clue about her identity in the form of her APEC Head of Delegation pin. Handmade gifts were popular this year, as were mugs and charitable donations. And pets are not forgotten either.
posted by girlgenius (9 comments total) 34 users marked this as a favorite
 
This is so sweet! Browsing through the hashtag is a delight - so many interesting and thoughtful gifts.
posted by gesso at 3:34 AM on December 20, 2017


This is really really sweet. I'm def going to do Secret Quonsar next year. If people can spread joy like this to absolute strangers, it's high time I send a little love over to someone in my virtual neighborhoody.
posted by like_neon at 3:48 AM on December 20, 2017 [9 favorites]


I love this, thanks for sharing--really needed a boost after the passage of the tax overhaul. Kindness, thoughtfulness, and goodness will triumph in the end!
posted by stillmoving at 9:46 AM on December 20, 2017


As if I needed another reason to be sad that my very sincere plans to pursue a move to New Zealand have been put on hold for the moment.

This is delightful, though, and I am never not in love with Kiwis.
posted by mosst at 9:51 AM on December 20, 2017 [1 favorite]


Can we do this with the Metafilter community next Christmas?
posted by greta simone at 10:30 AM on December 20, 2017


This is phenomenal. I would support doing this on Metafilter next Christmas. DO we start it early so we could gift across national borders or later and pair people up with others in their own countries?
posted by rednikki at 11:02 AM on December 20, 2017


This made my day!
posted by maggiemaggie at 1:03 PM on December 20, 2017


PSA: MetaFilter has its own long-running winter gift exchange, Secret Quonsar. (More background on the wiki.)

Sign up here to be notified when next year's Secret Quonsar registration opens up!
posted by yeahlikethat at 1:48 PM on December 20, 2017 [2 favorites]


What about Secret Quidnunc where we all send the quidninc kid $10? That's kind of fun, although y'know it's secret so we're not supposed to talk about it. At least that's what the quidnunc kid told me.
posted by petebest at 6:22 AM on December 21, 2017 [1 favorite]


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