Twelve Days of Christmas TEA – US Only

Please read the entire swap description before signing up.

(You might also want to consider joining my Lunar New Year 2024 Flat Mail - International and/or my Lunar New Year 2024 Package - USA only swap.)

Summary: You will have one US-based partner and mail them a thoughtfully-prepared set of 12 holiday or flavored teabags in time for them to enjoy a festive tea each day during the Christmas season. You will rate the partner sending to you in a timely and gracious manner.

If that sounds like something you´d like to do, read on!

Contrary to what many people nowadays think, the “Twelve Days of Christmas” actually refers not to the 12 days leading up to Christmas but to the days from Dec. 25 (Christmas Day) to Jan. 5 (the eve of the Epiphany). With this swap you´ll be gifting your partner a festive teabag to enjoy on each of those days.

Get together a set of 12 special teabags; ideally, they would all be different, but as that can sometimes be hard to accomplish, there can be a few duplicates—but no more than 2 of any one kind (unless they are included as extras). ¨Special¨ means that they should be flavored teas, or contain holiday spices, or otherwise not be the usual unadorned black, green, or herbal tea (no plain chamomile, for example, or simple Chinese restaurant oolong, or even ordinary Earl Grey, etc.) The teas do not all have to be holiday related, but let´s do try to keep them reasonably festive and uplifting.

No loose tea is permitted, and all teabags should be individually factory-wrapped, fresh, and in good condition. Mail your tea securely packaged in a padded envelope by December 15th at the latest. Include a cute card or a short note—perhaps a comment about your favorite tea in the batch or where you found an especially “exotic” one, etc. Don´t forget to include the name of the swap and your Swap-bot username. This swap is USA-only in order to keep postage costs down; feel free to create a similar swap if you´d like an international version.

The tea variety is sender´s choice, but do try to mix them up in case your partner is less enthusiastic about one kind of tea than the others. (For example, don´t send all green teas, or all black, or all herbal, etc.) Send a nice mix of teabags that you would be happy to receive. As a recipient, plan to be open to receiving and potentially even trying types of tea that you might not otherwise choose. Of course, no one expects you to ingest something you absolutely cannot drink due to an allergy or strong aversion!

Also plan on being a gracious, fairly-rating recipient, and to re-gift any teabags you are sent that you do not particularly care for or cannot use. Rate your partner as soon as you can after receiving your package. You may not rate down just because you received one or more teas that you are unable to use as, again, it´s sender´s choice on this swap. If there is a problem with what you receive, contact your partner privately to attempt to resolve the issue before you rate less than a 5. Be sure to keep me, as host, apprised of the situation.

Feel free to decorate the padded envelope you mail or wrap or otherwise create a special "presentation" for the teabags you´re send; however, this is not at all required. As long as what you receive follows the swap rules, your rating should not depend upon appearance.

Partners will be assigned on December 10th and packages should be mailed soon after that, by December 15th. (“Sender´s choice” means you can absolutely go ahead and get your teas ready to go before the deadline.) A minimum rating average of 4.98 is required to participate, and you should have at least five completed and rated (as 5s) type-3 swaps under your belt, and no recent 1s or 3s. (If your rating is slightly below that and you still want to participate, pm me and we can talk.) I do check profiles, and I reserve the right to ban anyone for any reason. I will angel, if necessary, but please don´t make that necessary.

Questions or comments? PM me or leave a comment below, as I do occasionally check comments on my swaps.