View this post on Instagram Traditions are important, and when our own sweet and wonderful Boony V asked me if I could help out with his annual raffle here I said SURE! without a moments hesitation. Then a little time passed, and I leaned that what he'd actually asked is if I could run this show this year. Took me a moment to wrap my head around the enormity of such an undertaking, but I pretty quickly said WHY NOT? and decided to go ahead and do my best to help spread joy, cheer and pretty plastic across the land in his good name. THEN, in an unintended imitation of a big ol' Grinch, I let a full month pass without typing a word about the wonderful thing that should, by gum, have already been in motion even before that bonus month that I let pass... QUESTION: Have I ruined everything? ANSWER: Sweet Lorb, I hope not!!! The root of this thing is a raffle open to all 'brainers, where we engage in fun non-competitions to win one of many overstuffed boxes of goodies. It's kind of like us all giving presents to each other, actually, and here's how: The way this thingie has worked in the past, Boon has amassed a mountain of trinkets over the year to share with not just us, but the many wee chilluns in his principality, too. He has done this again, of course, as he's a good man. The next phase, the one that requires a little effort from the board, is where you good folk donate stuff to the pile, snaps posted as the donations amass, and everyone gets progressively more generous and more excited. This period usually lasts a month or so, with the donation cutoff being right about yesterday. Ahem. SO, surrounded by an amazing array of fun, Boony would then set about dividing up much of the pretties to go in every box, then holding those fun non-competitions I mentioned to determine who might get what of the droolmost worthy objects that landed in his swamp. Okay, I've been typing about this part, the past, for far too long... Go ahead and take a minute to catch-up with the 3 perfectly run years of festivities that led up to this post of mine: ~~~ 2015 ~~~ 2016 ~~~ 2017 ~~~ Here's what I'm asking: PLEASE don't let me be the preoccupied fool that let this glorious tradition die!!! If I may, as this most certainly won't still work if we're still shooting for early January distribution of bounty, let me propose an alternate schedule: From this moment forth until the end of the first week of January, 2019, the donation pool is open and the shipyard will be in receiving mode. The rest of January will be spent with fun and games (that will surely pale to Boony and Nikki's previous ones), which will bring us to the place we all want to be ~~~ smiles spread and bounty divided. Come February 1st, me and my kitty will go ahead and finish up all the packaging, addressing, list checking, bow applying , etc, with the very best of intentions to make sure each and e'rry trinket has landed at it's new home before that one Hallmark holiday that's allegedly about love. Sound reasonable? Sound feasible? Sound fun? If so... Please join me in the latest, belatedest edition of: BOON's (and his proxy's) VELVET BAG of TOY FUN STUFFS SKULLBRAIN HOLLY DAYS(ish) RAFFLE: The Winterspanning Edition View this post on Instagram A healthy smatter of rules and specifics to follow, but I just wanted to get this initial announcement out there...finally! I'll start the smatter out now, though, by reproducing Boony's boilerplate from last year: THE JIST : Mainly looking for soft vinyl toys. There will be a winner for every sofvi toy in the raffle (*Ref. last year's HERE). It is best if all of the sofvi are manageable sized for stocking stuffing / shipping with other items; think micros, minis, or mid-sized. Any toys, stickers, comics, candy, etc are welcome too. Along with the sofvi toy won, each winner gets a stocking full of fun goodies to enhance their holiday, their family's, or to spread to others in need of some of that toy magic. Every December I also give a lot of toys, etc to local children without, so if your contribution isn't quite right for the SB Holiday Raffle, I can continue the cheer and either include your donations with those for the little ones, or get em back to you, or whatever. Just let me know. ... Am I forgetting anything? If you have any questions or answers, just post em. If you would like to donate towards this year's holiday raffle, just put an envelope or a box together, pm me, and I'll give you my address. More toys = more smiling people. But donations or not, I plan on putting up some neato vinyl for many a tastes. 2017 has been a pretty catastrophic year for a lot of people, touching home for so many members of our own Skullbrain community. I want it to end for us on a positive note while encouraging good feelings towards the new year, all in the spirit of that deep down childhood toy happy, All of the above is pretty much still the case, except it's me that you'll need to be PMing about all the ins and outs, and me that you'll (hopefully) be mailing some sharable goodies to. Further wurd from Burd Man Boon: - In order to put your name in the raffle, Sb members must have a minimum of 50 posts by the time this is up (meaning if you are reading this, you must already have 50 posts to your name). The holiday raffle is a benefit of being a member of skullbrain, and people who join just for free toys aren’t really part of the community. - ALTHOUGH, if anyone with less than 50 posts donates a vinyl toy(s), etc of good quality to the raffle (whether it is trash just being unloaded is to be determined by Toothaction), I view that as someone actively participating. I understand that there are lurkers and other quiet folk here, as well as new members who are looking to get involved. CALL TO ARTISTS & MAKERS : Whether stickers or toys, etc, I think it would be a benefit to our Holiday raffle if we could include items that are specific to the creativity of our community here. If anyone wants to donate single items, please contact @toothaction . Those items are needed for the raffle. If anyone wants to donate items to be included as extras for everyone, please contact myself (@boonvelvet). These items are for post raffle, to be added to everyone’s winnings equally. For example, if there are 15 winners, then 15 stickers would be needed. Okay, with that out of the way... Sorry Boon! Sorry Nicky! Thanks everyone! See you all again in a bit. View this post on Instagram
Wonderful efforts, thanks for carrying the torch this year, D. And of course thank you to JP for bringing this spirit to everyone by starting the tradition. Here's to wishes for another wonderful year, bringing joyful smiles to folks of all ages.
The donations are trickling in, giant thanks to all who have reached out so far! Boony should be stepping in any day now with some updated rools and reggalations, and also some hey-ho-bri-dough-yo-yos, but while we wait... Have a Skullbrain friend that doesn't come around here all that often anymore? Do you keep seeing that one guy or gal all over IG that used to litter our dusty threads with their colorful toy pr0n? Have a card carrying 'brainer in your inner circle that forgot to get their card punched in 2018? REACH OUT and tell them to come play, eh? We miss 'em.
No apologies necessary, @toothaction ! On behalf of Myself, Nickles, and the 2018 holly daze rafflin folk, Thank You So Dang Much for carrying the torch, David! And I don’t think anyone minds that the timeline is different this year. In fact, it actually keeps the holidays going a bit longer, and in a good way. For various reasons, this time of year can be depressing for some of us, but if the raffle marks the end of the holiday, then at least it will end on a positive note of community camaraderie and a sock full of pretty cool sheitt I’m excited to see that a few people have already agreed to donate. I’m sure there will be more to come. Last year was the first time accepting donations and it was the best holiday raffle yet. The more the toys, the more smiley happy people. I have also amassed a hell of a lot of awesome extras this year to be excited for. I really don’t have much to add to what Davey has already said, as he covered most everything better than I ever did (the man has a gift for jab). There are a couple of other important rules to add to the mix tho (David, you might want to add them to your main post). - In order to put your name in the raffle, Sb members must have a minimum of 50 posts by the time this is up (meaning if you are reading this, you must already have 50 posts to your name). The holiday raffle is a benefit of being a member of skullbrain, and people who join just for free toys aren’t really part of the community. - ALTHOUGH, if anyone with less than 50 posts donates a vinyl toy(s), etc of good quality to the raffle (whether it is trash just being unloaded is to be determined by Toothaction), I view that as someone actively participating. I understand that there are lurkers and other quiet folk here, as well as new members who are looking to get involved. CALL TO ARTISTS & MAKERS : Whether stickers or toys, etc, I think it would be a benefit to our Holiday raffle if we could include items that are specific to the creativity of our community here. If anyone wants to donate single items, please contact @toothaction . Those items are needed for the raffle. If anyone wants to donate items to be included as extras for everyone, please contact myself (@boonvelvet). These items are for post raffle, to be added to everyone’s winnings equally. For example, if there are 15 winners, then 15 stickers would be needed. OH, I almost forgot, but if anyone is planning on sending toys to be given out to children this year, instead please find somewhere locally to distribute them . I happened to turn the toys I have been collecting for the kiddos over to Toys For Tots today. Every child matters, but when it comes between Toys For Tots and the Salvation Army, I recommend Toys For Tots. The Salvation Army will throw out toys that they don’t deem appropriate, which includes toys relating to magic such as Harry Potter. It is such a waste and a shame because that is one more child who might not have a toy this year, and for some children toys are their only friends . But anyway, if anyone has any toys for children, please find a place locally to take them this year. The deadline may have passed for TFT and the SA in your area, but shelters are usually always looking. Thanks again to T&A David for stepping up to keep this fun ride alive while I’m unable to. I couldn’t be more appreciative of you, David. We All owe you a round of Thank Yous for taking on this task. And you know that I am here to help however I can, skullbrother. Hope everyone has a good weekend (sorting out toys to donate that is)
Anybody want a blurry tease of some of this years donations so far? I'm just floored by the generosity displayed here, and these scrappy snaps don't even show all the candy, commix or random non-vinyl lovelies that have landed on my porch this month. Wow. Anyway... There's still a week to get something in the mail for this year's festivities, if'n you're so inclined. Just shoot me or the Booner a PM and we'll let you know what to do. PLENTY of time to remind a friend that this place exists, too! Hi, all. Happy New Year!
I look forward to my first year of participation. Thanks @toothaction and @boon velvet for getting this set up (sorry if I missed anyone!)
A combination of some late-to-the-party interest in donating in tandem with my own unexpected busyness for the past several days has led to (the inevitable?) extension of the shipping and receiving portion of this year's festivities --- as long as you let me know by, say, the 16th that something is in the mail, we'll hold the door open for you. Helps me, helps you, yes? Arrived home from said busyness to find even more plastic pass-me-downs and paper pretties awaiting entrance to our warehouse, so expect another tease collage to appear sooner than later. How's January treating you, by the way?
I am hoping to get some vinyl things in the mail to share before it's too late. Could take a week. Could take a month. Fingers crossed though!
Octavio, are you referring to the toys you and I messaged about last year, and then again a month or 2 ago? If so and you still want to include 1 for everyone that enters, you don’t need to send anything in until we know how many people are playing. Once the raffle starts moving then we’ll know just how many of all extras to send. David or I’ll keep you updated. If you’re wanting to put something(s) in the actual raffle tho, that is gravy too, and that is the deadline Davey is referring to, in about a week’s time. Thanks for donating either way tho. The amount of toys this year is going to make a lot of people mighty happy
So here's where we're at... Not really! It's just that I never got around to taking a 'real' second set of tease snaps. This hasty cell capture is what you get instead. What's actually happening is me and the Booner are hard at work putting together the contest portion of the festivities, everything that we've received so far has been cataloged and photographed, and we're just waiting on one final box of donations to land so that we can open the gates and get to it. Yep, general donation time is over and done with, finally, unless of course you want to supply a bonus item that everybody gets one of just for playing. Plenty of time for those sorts of things to materialize; gingers crossed that a particularly exciting batch of those makes it over from Japan in time! That's all I can think of to say for now. As ever, if you have any questions just shoot me a PM, and expect this lumbering thing to enter phase two of the funsies by the end of next week. See you then. Almost forgot... Happy MLK day, y'all! Spend it with someone you love.
This is looking so amazing, I just want to be there in person and dive into that pile of toy goodies!!! Have to echo Ben's sentiments and say this is so stellar of both JP and David to organise for another year. (And, as with anything, it is always ~2000% more effort in actuality than it seems from the outside) Many, many humble man-hugs and virtual bottle-clinking toasts to the two of you. Excited for another wonderful SB raffle in 2019.
FINAL TEASE!!! The door to the actual raffle, barring natural disaster or heart failure, will be open at some point tomorrow! No worries about catching the post right away, though: You can enter any time up until the first game closes, and that won't be until early next week. TTFN!
I know it's after two in the morning and all, and I am feeling rough as it is from a burnout week, but my eyes are shot, everything is just purple to me.
