The fourth, and last, South African Book Swap of 2019 took place in December and the theme was a combination of Christmas and summer vibes all in one: **Baby It's (Not) Cold Outside**. The reason for this particular play on words is because, in the Southern Hemisphere, we have Christmas in summer; and it is hot!!
If you would like to see the previous three book swap boxes, check out these articles:
Swap 1: No Theme: https://mrpinkink.wordpress.com/2019/03/27/pinkitup-stalking-jack-the-ripper-handmade-goodies-to-send-as-gifts-or-keep-for-yourself/
Swap 2: Loadshedding Survival Kit: https://mrpinkink.wordpress.com/2019/07/28/pinkitup-book-swap-box-2-loadshedding-survival-kit/
Swap 3: Second Time Around: https://mrpinkink.wordpress.com/2019/09/11/pinkitup-book-swap-box-03-second-time-around/
My partner this time around, Lee from octothorpereaderleorak on Instagram, likes the colour blue, is a Hufflepuff, adores mermaids and unicorns, and is super duper creative.
Since the theme was a little hard to find books with a theme-appropriate title, we decided that we would each buy books that were on our wishlists; so after many conversations with mutual acquaintances, and after answering a long questionnaire, I was able to get the books right off the bat.
This was the first box that I didn't actually make anything myself; we had about 3months to prepare for this, so I was able to stick to the budget by getting a few things each month, effectively not putting any pressure on the wallet.
So the first month, I got the books, a beautiful little tray (for her to use on her bookstagram) that says 'There's No Place Like Home' in pink and white and a three-pack of pens, one of which was blue.
Then, the next month, I found a beautiful Game Of Thrones inspired notebook and a pretty blue mug. I also designed a T-Shirt for Lee, Hufflepuff of course, and sent it off to be made; I also got a pack of coffee from BrewETC. (https://brewetc.com/)
I got all the final touches, including an awesome unicorn box and blue wrapping paper, in month three, and I tried to tie everything up all nice and neat; I got a beautiful sparkly unicorn patch, a pack of unicorn button badges (just for fun), a pack of unicorn themes washi tape and an adorable mermaid's tail keychain. These were the last items I needed and the box was complete!! Yay!!
Then, disaster struck!!!!!!
I got a call from the T-Shirt people informing me that their machine broke (at the last minute) and they wouldn't be able to get the replacement part in time to make it, so that was a bit of a downer... I tried finding another appropriate T-shirt online, but, unfortunately, there either wasn't anything nice or it was beyond my budget.
I spent days thinking of something to replace it with, wracking my brain and stressing out - I really was running out of time...
And then inspiration hit - what about a tote bag instead...
Although it's not Hufflepuff inspired, this beautiful tote screams Hogwarts nonetheless and I thought it would be a perfect replacement item!
So, the next day, I bought all the candy / snacks that I wanted to add, packed the box all nice and neat, added a handwritten letter and sent it right off.
Mission accomplished!!
Let me know in the comments below what your thoughts about this box are - did you love / hate it? Would you like to receive a box like this? What would you change about it? - and whether or not I hit the mark.
I have a video of how I put my box together on my YouTube channel if you'd like to have a look . Also, if you're wondering what was in the box she sent me, you can watch my unboxing video on YouTube here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHUPlnuDuyE&t=1146s
Keep smiling
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