Online Stalking: It’s a {Christmas} Gift!

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, this year I am very excited to be taking part in the annual FMS Gift Exchange!

I absolutely LOVE buying gifts for other people and take it on as my own personal challenge to find my recipients the perfect gift, so for the last few weeks I’ve been stalking my assigned exchangee ‘Mary’ online (not her real name, so don’t get too excited all you Mary’s out there: It ain’t you!)

After many weeks of stalking/research and several fruitless trips to the shops, last week I believe I found her the perfect gift, at least I hope that I have! Here’s the clues that I used as a guide and what I’d deducted from each one:

My Gift Exchangee ‘Mary’…

• Has 2 kids (probably doesn’t spoil herself that often)
• Likes the beach, and the forest (a nature fan!)
• She likes to read, make candles, and go for long walks (No idea what kind of books she likes, clearly can’t buy her a candle, and sweat-bands probably aren’t going to cut it)
• Her favourite colour is orange (Great! I can work with this!)
• She prefers savoury over sweet (Can’t relate personally, but this certainly helps narrow things down!)
• She drinks tea (Ohhh, I think we’re onto something!)
• The best gift she’s ever received would be a gift that shows that the person giving it knows something about her (Well I know heaps cos I’ve been stalking her like crazy!)

With the information above, as well as my frequent sneaky peeks at Mary’s Facebook and Instagram feeds (FYI: You didn’t give me a whole lot to go on Mary!) I’m hoping I’ve nailed it and found the perfect gift…what do you guys think?

T2 Spi Chai Tea.  I love T2 because it’s filled with beautiful, fancy teas that make the perfect gifts (I love their stuff but I’d never be extravagant enough to shop there for myself!) I grilled the lady in the store to find the most suitable type of tea, and ended up purchasing the ‘Spi Chai’ loose leaf tea.  Filled with gorgeous ingredients including Star Anise, Cardamom, Licorice Root, Cinnamon, Jasmine, Cloves, Ginger, and Rose Petals, it smelt AH-MAZING! Like Christmas in a cup…Perfect much?! I certainly thought so!  It also fit the ‘savoury’ bill, so I figured I was on to a winner! Throw in the lovely orange box that it came in (Mary’s favourite colour) and I decided it was meant to be.

Teapot Tea Diffuser. I spotted this little vintage teapot diffuser whilst I was scouring the shelves of T2 and just HAD to have it! I know Mary has an appreciation for all things vintage, and the old-fashioned teapot design seemed the perfect fit to go her style AND with the loose leaf tea!  It was cute and practical, and a nice little keepsake that I hope will make her smile every time she makes herself a cup of tea.

Candy Canes. I know that Mary prefers savoury over sweet, but there’s something quintessentially Christmasy about red and white candy canes, and I know that she has kids so I figured I’d throw in a little goody bag to sweeten the deal!

How do you guys think I went? Do you think I nailed it? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Confession: I’m stalking a stranger online.

You guys, I’ve gotta tell you something: I’m actively stalking someone I’ve never met on Facebook and Instagram. It’s not something I’ve ever really done before, but I’ve realised I’m quite good at it! As of this morning, I’ve started trawling through their pictures, checked out where they work, and I’ve even gone through their friends list, hoping to learn more about who they are. And I’m LOVING it! Before you start backing away away from the computer to call the cops, I should explain myself!

As I’ve mentioned here in previous posts, this year I’m taking part in the FMS Gift Exchange! It’s basically a gigantic Secret Santa, where you are assigned a random person to ‘stalk’ (in the friendly sense) via their Facebook and Instagram in an attempt to learn more about them.

I got my email this morning telling me who my assigned person was (it actually arrived a few days ago but went to my junk!). I was so excited and quickly started my assigned duties. Let’s pretend her name is Mary.  I was given her name and postal address, and a link to the private Facebook group open only to other gift exchangers/exhangees.

I jumped straight into the Faceboook group to commence my stalking! I quickly found Mary, and discovered her Facebook page was largely private. Bugger! I saw a few pictures, where she worked, but not much else.  I then popped back into the forum to see if she’d answered the set of questions we’d all been given to randomly answer:

Favourite colour:
Sweet or savoury?:
Favourite smell:
Best present you ever got?:
Do you have a hobby?:
If you were down to your last $10 how would you spend it?:

She had! I had my first gift giving leads! I then popped over to stalk her Instagram.  Mary wasn’t giving much away, so I have my work cut out for me! Here’s what I do know so far:

• She has 2 kids
• She likes the beach, and the forest
• She likes to read, make candles, and go for long walks
• Her favourite colour is orange
• She prefers savoury over sweet
• She drinks tea
• The best gift she’s ever received would be a gift that shows that the person giving it knows something about her.

Ok, so the first 6 points I can totally make work I think, and I already have a couple of gift ideas. As for that final point, I’m not sure that I ‘know’ Mary, but I’m hoping that my assumptions are educated enough to hit the nail on the head and get her something great! Either way, I’m taking it on as my own personal challenge: I pride myself on being a gun at gifting, so I’m going to NAIL this!

I’ll continue to stalk Mary a little longer and see what else I can find out about her, and then I’ll be hitting the shops to find her the perfect gift.

What would your answers be to these questions?

Favourite colour:
Sweet or savoury?:
Favourite smell:
Best present you ever got?:
Do you have a hobby?:
If you were down to your last $10 how would you spend it?:

The Lighter Stuff: Exchanging Gifts with Strangers

As you guys know, I’ve made it my personal mission to not get bogged down in all the yucky headlines of late and instead turn my focus to the lighter stuff in life so I don’t cry myself to sleep every night. Well, I’m a woman of my word, and in my attempt to do good, I’ve recently signed up to the FMS Gift Exhange for 2014! I thought that this is a perfect example of a fun little project that might help restore our faith in humanity and a real sense of giving!  It also helps that I’m mad keen present buyer/giver and nothing gives me greater joy than to get my present on!

So, what is this magical FMS Gift Exchange I’m waffling on about? It’s basically a little project dreamed up by the fabulous Chantelle (AKA Fat Mum Slim) that encourages people to sign up to a worldwide group of beautiful gift-exchangers! (Hello! FUN!) You’ll be assigned a random person from the group to buy a gift for,  and then given the spy-like opportunity to ‘stalk’ your gift recipient to find out more about them (in a cute way, not a creepy way!). Once suitably stalked, you will be armed with the knowledge to able to buy the gift of their dreams! (so long as the gift of their dreams has a $25 limit). Now as if that’s not rewarding enough, not only will you receive a lovely return gift in your mailbox from a complete stranger, but more importantly you are being a part of a fun little movement that is spreading love across the world! Yay!

I’m super stoked that this year, signing up to the FMS Gift Exchange invokes a $5 ‘fee’. This fee is then donated towards one of my favourite charities, Rafiki Mwema!  Rafiki is a very worthy cause that I also support through my business Pineapple Traders (I volunteer my services by packing and posting their charity totes which you can buy here).

The beautiful girls of Rafiki Mwema

Rafiki Mwema is a safe-house in Kenya that has been set up to protect and heal girls who’ve been horrifically sexually abused.  Some of the girls are as young as 3, and it’s awful the things they’ve endured, but Rafiki Mwema is the big fat rainbow after the rain for these girls! Who better to throw a measly $5 at?! (And you can totally donate more than that if you’re feeling generous!).

Wanna sign up? Yay! you can do so until Sunday October 5th 2014. Just pop over here for all the details!

I’ll be sharing my experiences of the FMS Gift Exchange here on Marns the Mama, so make sure you keep popping back in and  you can keep helping me spread the lighter stuff!

Anyone else signed up to the FMS Gift Exchange?! Tell me in the Comments below!

#TheLighterStuff

xo Marns