Watch this space! Yuleswaps 2020 match-up emails are coming over the next few days (mostly due to mail merge limits)! This post will be updated as each batch goes out:

Books? ALL MATCH-UPS SENT as of 7:52 PM PDT on Saturday 10/24, from the yuleswaps email. Comment here with your AO3 name if yours didn't come!

Candy? ALL MATCH-UPS SENT as of 8:42 PM PDT on Monday 10/26, from the yuleswaps email. Comment here with your AO3 name if yours didn't come!

Drinks? ALL MATCH-UPS SENT as of 10:39 AM PDT on Wednesday 10/28, from the yuleswaps email. Comment here with your AO3 name if yours didn't come!


If match-up emails have gone out, and you do not have yours:

Uh-oh! Do you remember what email you signed up with? Are you sure? Check every inbox folder (stupid gmail with their "Promotions") + Spam! Use the search function!

If you still don't have it (or have forgotten which email you used), please leave us a comment here WITH YOUR AO3 NAME. Also, email us -- ideally also with your AO3 name -- at yuleswaps at gmail dot com.


If you do have your match-up email, as everyone does in our dreams:

Please check in at, as always...

SWAPS CENTRAL [2020]
PLEASE DOUBLE-CHECK THAT YOU HAVE ENTERED THE SAME AO3 NAME YOU SIGNED UP WITH, with correct capitalization/spelling, and with no extra spaces!!

Throughout the course of the next 1-3 months, please keep us AND your sender and recipient as in the loop as possible. Your sender and recip, via email. Us, via Swaps Central (and sometimes also email)!


At Swaps Central, you will be able to tell us:

+ RIGHT NOW: that you've received your match-up email/s! (Please make sure you are checking boxes under the correct swap. Leave swaps you are not participating in BLANK.)

+ when you've first written your recipient, and heard back!
+ when you've first heard from your sender, and written back!

+ when your package is SENT and on its way to your recipient (yaaaay)!
+ when your sender tells you their package is SENT and on its way to you (double yaaaay)!

+ when your recipient emails to let you know they RECEIVED your package (triple yaaaay)!!!!
+ when you've RECEIVED the package your sender sent to you (no yays. I've overplayed the yays)!!!!

+ IF ASSIGNED A PINCH-HIT: all of the above, in the same general fashion. (Please tick the relevant pinch-hit box -- INCOMING if you're the recip, OUTGOING if you're the pinch-hitter -- plus whatever ticky-box you're actually there to report.)

Note that, at later stages, there is no need to re-check boxes you've already submitted, but you can if you can't remember if you've already done them. Or just enjoy checking boxes. :)


If you've received your match-up AND checked in about it on Swaps Central:

Woohoo! Now email your recipient and chat with them about:

- any questions you still have about their tastes
- allergies and other needs (ALWAYS DOUBLE-CHECK)
- their address and any possible customs-related issues (if international)

Please give your recipient 48 hours to respond, and be conscious of any away periods mentioned in your match-up. If they do not respond after 48 hours, and no away periods seem relevant, please email us, and we will do our best to check if they and/or your email have been eaten by bears.


When purchasing or otherwise locating gifts:

- Pleeeeeeeease double-check ingredients against dietary restrictions, if applicable! We cannot stress this enough. WE CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH.

- Don't feel like you have to break the bank! Most recipients are more interested in local color, genuine effort, and/or variety than sheer volume or cost. If you're worried about pleasing your recipient, or wondering if the swaps package you're creating is sufficient/appropriate, please refer to the Yuleswaps FAQ -- and then, if still super-concerned, feel free to email us.

- Again, customs. You don't want your package confiscated by Australia!!!! (For those shipping to the US, bobcatmoran once kindly offered information on this here.)


SENDING DEADLINE: Saturday, November 14, 2020


Extensions/Defaulting: As always...get your packages out as early as you can! Holiday post is slow always and will likely be extra slow this year. However, should you need an extension for any reason, please email us as soon as you realize it is a possibility AND INCLUDE A REQUESTED TIMEFRAME. We almost always grant small extensions, especially to historically reliable swappers, without feeling like a pinch-hitter is needed.

And, of course, if you need to default for any reason, please, please email us. Communication is everything! Life happens! Just let us know. (It's silently disappearing that will get you banned.)


One More Time: don't forget to check in at Swaps Central! And a [reasonably] merry Swapstide to you all.

Current FAQ and very old resources post here, for anyone who needs them. Questions and comments here or via email, as always.


Kat & Livi