Selected Articles from
The Gull Archives

If you would like to submit an article for The Gull, please contact the Chronicler.

Jingles Is Coming, Jingles Is Coming In December!

or what can I get for the gift exchange.

By Mistress Jania of Call Duck Manor

I have always found that Jingles is one of the events that I enjoy more than others. It is a relaxed event where everyone seems ready to start enjoying the holiday season. There are usually games in the afternoon, then a potluck, and contests that take many and various forms. Do you have clothes decorated with bells? Since I am one of the autocrats, there will be a table decorating contest on this year's theme of deer, hart or stag, so start looking around for those old deerly (I know, I shouldn't make bad jokes) beloved decorations. (No, we are not having a stag party.)

But the moment fraught with the most excitement and energy has always been the gift exchange. To participate in the gift exchange, you must bring a gil1, the value of which is around $5.00, which would be of use or enjoyed by someone else in the group. The wrapped gifts are all placed on a table and everyone is given a number. When their number is called, they choose any gift from the table; they unwrap the gift and then decide to keep the gift or exchange it with any other gift already opened. The person who was first can choose to exchange with anyone after all the gifts are open.

The first thing that many people say is, "What could I get for $5.00? Everything is so expensive." I have been asked many times, "What could I suggest?" I used to always say go to Cost Plus, but Cost Plus is not inexpensive these days. One of my favorite gifts was to purchase a wooden bowl, plate and spoon. It was a perfect gift for someone not long in the society. One year I wrapped them in a draw string bag and napkin which I had made. While it is still a good idea, it can cost closer to $10 now.

Let me list some of the things which have been more popular. There was a cute little dragon ornament, a blue vase with a pretty unicorn on it, a quart size beer mug with a dragon marching around it, a blue velvet flat cap, someone's famous shortbread cookies, someone else's famous banana bread, a brass plate, a jar of candied ginger, a fancy belt buckle, a pair of brass wall candle holders. Not all of these things cost the giver $5 in green money, but there may have been a lot of effort put into the article.

Did you ever make a flat cap, you certainly could not purchase one for $5, and this one was well made and pleased the recipient very much. It may have been made of scraps of fabric that the giver no longer needed, but the effort put into making the gift made it more than acceptable. I donated the quart size mug with the dragon around it. The mug I found at a resale shop. It did not cost $5, but then I took a few hours to design and etch the dragon around the outside. It was very nice when I finished, and the several people who exchanged it several times thought so also.

Some of my favorite things for the SCA have been found at flea markets and resale shops. My tall candle holders which I use at every potluck came from a resale shop, put they have been repainted. A polished footed brass bowl in which I presented a winning Silver Spoon entry came from the Foothill Flea market. I probably could not have found either of these items new. They took some work, but certainly add to my medieval setting.

If you find a nice candle holder set at a resale shop, be sure that you remove the old wax (hot water). If it is wooden and has a few scratches, but is not broken, get some paint stain and fix it. If your possible gift is used in any way, you need to make it look really nice by cleaning, painting, polishing, fixing or trimming in some way or another.

At some of the gift exchanges, there have been the one or two "gifts" which no one wanted, a collection of various pens, a leather ring, some used votive candle holders, a plastic sewing kit. These things did not seem useful to the recipient and did not have value in the SCA. Remember that anything you donate, you should be willing to use; it should not just be something you don't want - you could get it back. There are two things to keep in mind: it must have value to someone else, and you don't know if the recipient will be male or female.

If you want some other suggestions, Payless has a gift area which frequently has things around $5; there is a basket shop at San Antonio shopping center which has some nice baskets; there is a place called Affordable Accents on the main street of Los Gatos with nice brass plates at reasonable prices sometimes; the flea market at De Anza is a great place to look; there is a resale shop called Thrift Mart near Grant Road and EI Camino which on Sunday is 30% off.

If the possible gift has a dragon or a unicorn or a castle on it, someone will like it. What you must plan not to do is wait till the morning before Jingles and rush down to the store and buy something. That's why this article is published now. You have to look ahead and look several places to find something nice that someone else will genuinely enjoy. If everyone makes just a little extra effort, then all in the gift exchange will take home something nice.

You never know what you will wind up with and there are always several things which change hands many times. This may seem unfair to some, but if everyone has made the effort to choose things that could really be enjoyed by someone else, it can be a lot of fun.

NOTE:

Copyright of each article belongs to the original author. Reproduction rights are not given by virtue of their appearance here.

If you wish to reprint any of these articles, in whole or in part, in any medium, you must first get permission from the the author. Please contact the Chronicler, who will forward your request to the appropriate party and respond to you.