What’s a Secret Santa? Creative Edition!
‘Tis the season for gifts and giving! What better way to get into the spirit than a Secret Santa exchange?! Even better, what about an artistic version of the event?! Before we get started, if you’re looking for something to do with your own OCs instead…check out one of these other blogs!
A couple by me…
And a couple by my cool Co-Writer!
Now, let’s get back to talking about Secret Santas!
What’s a Secret Santa?
For starters, what exactly is a Secret Santa? A Secret Santa is basically a holiday event where someone is assigned a random person to get a gift for! Since it’s random, the person receiving the gift won’t know the other person is getting them a gift…hence the name “Secret Santa!” So how do we turn the game into something artistic? Let’s talk about it!
Secret Santa…Creative Addition!
Secret Santa events are popular here on Unvale too! But how do you give a gift online? Through art of course! Instead of giving physical gifts, it’s common to draw art of others’ characters instead. Who doesn’t love getting art of their OCs?!
When it comes to a Secret Santa event, you can either join an existing one or start your own!
How do you host a Secret Santa event?
If you want to host your own gift exchange event, there’s a few things you need to do to get started!
Step 1: Getting your event ready and setting rules in place!
First off, start with making your event post! In your post, you’ll want to include important details about your event! Not sure what to include? You can consider…
- What’s the deadline for signing up?
- How will you go about assigning people to be each other’s Secret Santa? (Replying to their comment on the post, leaving a comment on their profile page, etc!)
- What’s the deadline for the art to be finished?
- What’s the rules regarding dropping out of the event?
- Does the art have to be holiday themed?
- What tag should be used for the event?
- Make sure to mention Unvale’s guidelines!
- Include a space for questions!
You’ll want to make sure your post has all the details folks need to understand your event! This will make both your life easier…and your participants lives too!
Step 2: Get your Secret Santa’s assigned to one another!
Now that your event is ready, it’s time to assign your Secret Santas to each other! With assigning your Santas, you’ll want to consider…
- Making sure there’s enough participants for everyone to have a Secret Santa!
- Either reply to your participants’ sign-up comments on the post, or leave a comment on their profile to tell them who they’re gifting art to!
- Make sure everyone has a different person to give a gift to!
- Make sure to make an announcement when sign-ups are closed!
If you don’t have enough people, be prepared to make some art for those who don’t have a Secret Santa…We don’t want anyone to be left out!
Step 3: Keep an eye on your Secret Santa event and enjoy the festivities!
Now that your event’s ready and Santas are assigned, it’s time to keep an eye on your event! While your event’s taking place, you can…
- Make sure the rules are being followed!
- Check on your participants: make sure nobody needs extra time or needs to drop out!
- If there’s drop-outs, make some art for the people who’s Santa dropped out!
Keeping an eye on your event will ensure there’s no miscommunications or problems and make sure everyone has a good time!
Partaking in a Secret Santa Event: things to keep in mind!
Partaking in a Secret Santa event can be a lot of fun too, but there are some things to keep in mind!
- Be respectful of the sign-up deadline! Try not to join an event after it’s closed!
- Be respectful of the event deadline! If you think you need more time, be sure to let the host know. Try not to drop out, but if you end up having to do so, be sure to let the host of the Secret Santa know about that too!
- When you’re picking the character to draw for the person you’re gifting to, be sure to pick a character you’re comfortable drawing. But if you want a challenge, that's ok too!
- When drawing the character, make sure to keep important details! Some details play a big part in a character’s design, so be sure to keep those details in your art. If they have a reference sheet, be sure to use it!
- When drawing the character, be respectful of culture and ethnicity as well! It’s very important to stay true to the original character design!
When partaking in any kind of event, it’s important to be respectful and considerate of everyone. Doing so will make sure everyone has a good time!
There’s plenty of cool Secret Santa events here on Unvale! Check out…
- ThatTGuy’s cool Secret Santa + Christmas Cards Event!
- Oboegirl85’s fun Winter Art Exchange!
- PhoenixMasked’s awesome Secret Santa!
- KadeTheTransGuy’s festive Art Secret Santa!
If you need some inspiration for Secret Santas, check out these wonderful gifts from previous Secret Santa events!
- FlamesHope’s beautiful Secret Santa for Darklake!
- divu22’s awesome Secret Santa for KittCat!
- Aoifawho’s gorgeous Secret Santa for VikaRosnova!
- Mitarashi’s super cool Secret Santa for Twisted!
- Theotherkyree’s wonderful Secret Santa for PastaBucket!
Secret Santa exchanges can be a super cool way to enjoy the holidays. Whether you create an event of your own or partake in one, be sure to have fun!
If you do create your own event, (whether it be Secret Santa related or not!) don’t forget that you can add the tag #UVFeatureMe for the chance to be featured in a Community Event Spotlight!