another clean slate

I knew this Holiday Swap was going to go well when I read this note.

As a long-time blogger, I’ve watched as many other blogs do some interesting things. Whether it’s a meet-up, giveaway or some sort of swap, it’s always seemed kind of cool.

Truthfully, I’m often late to the party and miss these things. Other times, it just doesn’t fit.

See, a lot of these things are aimed toward female bloggers as, it seems anyway, they are the dominant sex in the blogging world — especially when it comes to personal blogs.

The swap came in the mail…

I’m an active member of the Northeast Bloggers Network, which has a few male bloggers but it pretty female dominated. That’s why I hesitated a bit when I saw the post about the holiday swap.

For those who aren’t bloggers, a swap like this is where a group of bloggers have some sort of theme (sometimes not at all) and do a gift box and send it to the other blogger. Think of it as a Secret Santa, where you know who the person it. The fun part of it is getting to know another blogger and having to think of different things to send.

Basically, you signed up by a certain date, were told who you were sending to (and who was sending to you — two different people) a few days later and you then had a couple of weeks to get to know your partners — whether it be e-mail, blog stalking or something else — and then send the package. At the end, the bloggers could optionally choose to write about the box they received and link up with others. It seemed like a fun thing to do.

Before I get to that, however, I’d like to talk about the experience. I truly did enjoy this because it took me a little out of a comfort zone. I got to know somebody and got a bit creative with the box I sent. I was matched with somebody whose blog I had read before, so that was good. Still, I had to do some work to figure things out. It was challenging and fun. I hope MarlaJan (at Luck Fupus) enjoyed the results as much as I did doing it because it became a project of making sure I did things a little differently.

As for me…

I was matched with Kate at Another Clean Slate. I’m a regular reader of Kate’s blog, so it was fun to know the person who was sending to me was somebody I had actually gotten to know a little through blogging. A Boston-area blogger, Kate’s blog is one I always enjoy, so I figured the box wouldn’t be any different.

And … I wasn’t disappointed.

What I received was a thoughtful and fun package full of things that made me smile and items I’ll definitely use. Kate had sent me a few questions to answer and then she went from there. But the note at the top of the page made me smile because I realized she really had fun (hopefully) and understood what these types of swaps are all about. Thanks, Kate, for sending such a great box!

In the end, this was a fun thing to do and I hope to get involved with a few more swaps with other bloggers.

Allow me to share Kate’s wonderful items she sent along in this swap: