Based upon a previous version published in De Profundis #283, November 1995, by Leigh Strother-Vien

The Gift Exchange is considered an extension of the regular meeting; if you have already paid your dues for that week or for the month, no additional dues will be collected.  All paid-up active members of LASFS are eligible to participate.  You must be present in person — No Proxies!!  You should expect to spend several hours at this event.

To participate in the Exchange, bring a wrapped anonymous gift with a value of at least $20.  The gift must be related to Science Fiction, Fantasy, or Fandom (see Guidelines and Suggestions if you are unsure).   You should consider this gift a donation.  Because of the wide range of gifts that may be contributed, you may not receive a gift that you really want.  You might get something truly not to your liking.  Remember, the purpose of this Gift Exchange is to have fun.  Any unexpected bounty you do happen to get is a nice bonus.

Each participant will receive a registration number, which will be randomized before starting.  The order that the numbers will be called (e.g. left to right, top to bottom, spiraling out from the center) from the randomized list will be auctioned off before the gift distribution.  The participants will then be called one at a time by their numbers to choose a gift from the table, open it and show it to the audience.  The first person will sit back down with their gift.

Starting with the second person, the participants, once they have opened and shown their gift, may choose either to keep their gift or “Force Trade” that gift with any other previously opened gift.  The person holding said gift must accept the trade.

The first person in the Gift Exchange is allowed the last “Forced Trade”, after everyone has selected & opened a gift.

Crud Calls: A “Crud Call” may occur if a gift is deemed unsuitable. “Crud Calls” may only be made if (1) the gift has insufficient value; (2) the gift is not related to Science Fiction, Fantasy, or Fandom. “Crud Calls” may NOT be made merely because a person is unhappy with a gift, if it otherwise meets the requirements.

The person opening a gift may make a “Crud Call” at that time. Also, a person receiving a gift on a “Forced Trade” may make a “Crud Call” at that time. “Crud Calls” are not allowed at any other time.

“Saves” may be made after a “Crud Call”, if any participant wants the gift that has been declared “crud”. If more than one person wants the “crud” gift, the person holding it may choose among the gifts offered in exchange, If only one person offers to take the “crud” gift, the person who made the “Crud Call” must accept the trade. After the trade, neither person may make another “Crud Call” on either of the two gifts in question. A participant may trade their future gift choice on a “Crud Call”. The person making the “Crud Call” will then select another gift at the appropriate time. The acceptor of the “crud” gift may not make another “Crud Call” on it.

If no one volunteers to “Save”, a “Forced Trade” with the perpetrator of the “crud” gift – whether an already-opened gift or a future selection – is mandated.

The participants may overrule a “Crud Call” by majority vote if they consider it unjustified,

If a judgment call is required in any instance, the decision of the Gift Exchange “Producer” is final.

Please Note: Gifts in the gift exchange are considered the property of the club until the gift exchange is officially declared over. If you need to leave (either the room or completely). You must leave your gift with a friend. It is still open to “forced trades”

Also: Tantrums will result in the person or persons having tantrums being banned from future gift exchanges.  Tantrums are not Having Fun.  We are not your relatives, so we are not required to put up with that.

After the Gift Exchange is over: Free Trading of gifts may occur. This trading is outside the Gift Exchange, and is done by persons willing to trade all or parts of their gifts with each other.

GUIDELINES & SUGGESTIONS

1) If you wouldn’t be happy to receive a particular gift, don’t put it in the Gift Exchange. Others probably won’t like it either.

2) Having participants fight over an expensive gift ruins the spirit of the Gift Exchange, If you bring a gift worth more than minimum value, do not expect equal value in return.

3) Rotsler’s Rules for Masquerade Presentations can apply to Gift Exchange presentations, as well; “Funny is better than serious. Short is better than long. Short and Funny is best.”

4) Do not put anything offensive into the Gift Exchange. Lewd, crude, or rude gifts are not funny.

5) If it took more than 20 minutes to wrap the gift, it will take too long to unwrap it at the Gift Exchange, Keep the wrapping simple, so that it can be opened in a reasonable amount of time.

6) When giving books that are part of a multi-part series, it is considered good form (and perhaps even good taste) to include the first book (and perhaps ALL previous books) of the series.

7) Some gifts that were very popular at previous Gift Exchanges were; stuffed animals (especially those from comic strips); telescopes; recently published books (in new condition!); toy ray guns; coffee table books about S.F., Fantasy or Space; and stuff for computers. High Quality Gifts of chocolate are considered Fannish!

Please note that, previously, “quality” alcoholic gifts ware also encouraged. This is no longer the case. The use of alcohol is your own business, but the Club would prefer to not encourage alcohol in the Gift Exchange, as more and more members are abstainers.

8) Items that bombed: miscellaneous (boring) food, handcrafted “artwork,” used paperbacks if small in number or poor in condition, and anything having to do with Zotz! or the Hubbard Decalogy (unless Crud Insurance is included).