Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Last Call for Donating Shops and Moms-to-be!

We've had a whirlwind couple of weeks! And we're almost at the end of collecting participants for the Summer 2010 Etsy Baby Shower! We'll be collecting participants until Friday, April 30th and we'll begin the matching process next week! All participants should expect to hear from us once the matching is complete and of course, we'll be posting updates on this blog! If you're not already, please follow us.

Want to Sign up?
Donating shops must be willing to donate a gift(s) free of charge, including shipping, to the mom(s) they are assigned. In the past we have included any shop that makes baby items. This is not a team event and you do not have to be a member of a team to donate a gift for this shower. Everyone is welcome!
If you want to participate as a donating shop, please email us with the following information:

1. Your name, Etsy shop name, and email address
2. How many moms would you like to donate to?
3. Do you have a gender preference for your gift (s)?
4. What country are you in?
5. Can you ship internationally?

Thanks so much for your help and incredible generosity of the donating shops! You'll find a link to each of the donating shops in the right column of the blog. And you'll find information about how close we are to reaching our goals on the left column of the blog!

Moms-To-Be Information...
We've had an incredible response  from moms-to-be.  We are currently at capacity for this shower but we have a waiting list for moms. Historically, we have been able to include a few moms who have been wait-listed and we expect that we will be able to do that again.

Want to be added to the waiting list?   
Email us and provide your name, Etsy UserName, location, email address, baby's sex (if known), and due date or birth-date of your baby. 

Eligibility Requirements:
1. You must be due between May 1, 2010 and August 31, 2010.
2. You must have purchased at least 5 items on Etsy.
3. You may not have received gifts as a mom in the Winter 2010 Etsy Baby Shower.
4. You must be willing to provide a photo of your gifts to us for our Flickr album. We may also ask that you spread the baby shower love through whatever other social media you might participate in currently.
 

Monday, April 26, 2010

Still Looking for Donating Shops

We have had an amazing response over the past couple of days and are just getting caught up from over the weekend.  We appreciate every shop who donates! Every gift counts!

We are now able to provide 4 gifts for each of our 20 moms-to-be! However, we also have a  healthy (and still growing...) waiting list for mommies who want to participate!  We would love to include as many as possible in the shower, so please continue to spread the word to all the Etsy sellers you know! Blog about the event, Tweet about it, put it on your Facebook page, contact the teams you are a member of, etc. etc. Word of mouth is powerful and effective! With any luck we'll have enough gifts by the end of the week and we'll be able to start the matching process for our moms.

Want to Sign up?
Donating shops must be willing to donate a gift(s) free of charge, including shipping, to the mom(s) they are assigned. In the past we have included any shop that makes baby items. This is not a team event and you do not have to be a member of a team to donate a gift for this shower. Everyone is welcome!
If you want to participate as a donating shop, please email us with the following information:

1. Your name, Etsy shop name, and email address
2. How many moms would you like to donate to?
3. Do you have a gender preference for your gift (s)?
4. What country are you in?
5. Can you ship internationally?

Thanks so much for your help and incredible generosity of the donating shops! You'll find a link to each of the donating shops in the right column of the blog. And you'll find information about how close we are to reaching our goals on the left column of the blog!

Friday, April 23, 2010

Thank You for Helping!

Many thanks to everyone who has responded for our call for for help to find more shops to donate to the Etsy Baby Shower! We are making great progress in gathering enough gifts for our moms-to-be!  Our wait list of mommies is also growing! We would love to include as many as possible in the shower, so please continue to spread the word to all the Etsy sellers you know! Blog about the event, Tweet about it, put it on your Facebook page, contact the teams you are a member of, etc. etc. Word of mouth is powerful and effective! We need more donating shops to keep this Etsy tradition alive!

Here is a button you can use on your blog or website to generate the interest of your readers in the shower. Feel free to link it back to our blog so that they can get more information about the baby shower!
Want to Sign up?
Donating shops must be willing to donate a gift(s) free of charge, including shipping, to the mom(s) they are assigned. In the past we have included any shop that makes baby items. This is not a team event and you do not have to be a member of a team to donate a gift for this shower. Everyone is welcome!

If you want to participate as a donating shop, please email us with the following information:

1. Your name, Etsy shop name, and email address
2. How many moms would you like to donate to?
3. Do you have a gender preference for your gift (s)?
4. What country are you in?
5. Can you ship internationally?

Thanks so much for your help and incredible generosity of the donating shops! You'll find a link to each of the donating shops in the right column of the blog. And you'll find information about how close we are to reaching our goals on the left column of the blog!

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Help us find more donating shops!

Hello everyone!
We've had a wonderful response so far for the Summer 2010 Etsy Baby Shower. We have reached capacity for our list of moms-to-be and already have a healthy waiting list! Historically, we've been able to include some of our wait-listed mamas and we hope to be able to again.

One of our challenges for this shower is that we have not posted in the Etsy forums looking for participants and as a result, our participation is down. We've received a few inquiries about why we have not done this and wanted to give everyone some information about it.

During the Winter 2010 shower, our forum thread on Etsy got closed. This had never happened before and we were very surprised. Unfortunately, our inquiries about the thread closing went unanswered. Because most of our participation historically has come from that thread, without the influx of new participants during each shower, eventually the participation will drop and the event may die.  We typically have a 60% rate of repeat participation from shops, so without the extra new 40-50% we'll be arranging to give fewer gifts to fewer moms.

The actual rule cited from the Do's and Don'ts is this:
"Solicitation for direct donations or other fund-raising is not allowed in the community spaces. (Etsy shop promotions that entail donating proceeds to charities must comply with Etsy's Charitable listings and shops policies.) "

We very much appreciate the need for a policy like this one and want to respect ALL Etsy policies.  However, we really don't beleive that our forum posts about the Etsy Baby Shower violate this policy as we are not soliciting donations for ourselves and we are not fundraising...we're being match makers so-to-speak. But as a result of the thread closing, we do not want to open another thread as we do not want the Etsy Baby Shower to receive any sort of negative reputation for policy violations.  So we will not be using the Etsy forums unless we hear from Etsy admin that we may.

Long story short: We need YOUR HELP to find more shops to donate to the Etsy Baby Shower!  Please spread the word to all the Etsy sellers you know!  Blog about the event, Tweet about it, put it on your Facebook page, contact the teams you are a member of, etc. etc. Word of mouth is powerful and effective! We need more donating shops to keep this Etsy tradition alive!

Donating shops must be willing to donate a gift(s) free of charge, including shipping, to the mom(s) they are assigned. In the past we have included any shop that makes baby items. This is not a team event and you do not have to be a member of a team to donate a gift for this shower. Everyone is welcome!

HOW TO SIGN UP...
If you want to participate as a donating shop, please email us with the following information:

1. Your name, Etsy shop name, and email address
2. How many moms would you like to donate to?
3. Do you have a gender preference for your gift (s)?
4. What country are you in?
5. Can you ship internationally?


Thanks so much for your help and incredible generosity of the donating shops! You'll find a link to each of the donating shops in the right column of the blog!

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Call for Etsy Shops!

We had an amazing response for our first day of recruiting participants yesterday!  In case you missed it, the Summer 2010 Etsy Baby Shower is starting!  The Etsy Baby Shower tradition was started more than 3 years ago. Since then, the Etsy Baby Shower has occurred several times a year! For this shower, your hosts will be Jessica from BuggaLove and Deniz from DecorativeLabels. We would be so grateful if you would consider participating in the Summer 2010 Etsy Baby Shower!

We Need Etsy Shops...
Donating shops must be willing to donate a gift(s) free of charge, including shipping, to the mom(s) they are assigned. In the past we have included any shop that makes baby items. This is not a team event and you do not have to be a member of a team to donate a gift for this shower. Everyone is welcome!
HOW TO SIGN UP...
If you want to participate as a donating shop, please reply to this email with the following information:

1. Your name, Etsy shop name, and email address
2. How many moms would you like to donate to?
3. Do you have a gender preference for your gift (s)?
4. What country are you in?
5. Can you ship internationally?

Many of the showers have had the continued support of the same shops each time and we applaud you for your unending generosity. We hope that you’ll be able to participate again and are looking forward to hearing from you.

OUR GOAL...

For the Summer 2010 Etsy Baby Shower, we would like to give gifts to 20 moms who are due between May 1, 2010 to August 31, 2010 and our goal is to provide 4 gifts to each mom. That means we need to raise 84 donated gifts (we have at least one set of twins so far)!

SPREAD THE WORD...

Unfortunately, we will not be able to use the Etsy forums to help get the word out about the Etsy Baby Shower to moms and shops who might be interested. In the past, the forums have accounted for 40-50% of our participants. We would greatly appreciate it if you would forward this information, or our blog link, to any shops (or teams that you are a member of) who you think might be interested in participating in the Etsy Baby Shower.

Want to RECEIVE gifts from the Etsy Baby Shower?
Are you a member of Etsy? Are you pregnant? If you are/were due May 1, 2010 to August 31, 2010 you may be eligible to receive gifts in the Winter 2010 Etsy Baby Shower!

Eligibility Requirements:
1. You must have purchased at least 5 items on Etsy.
2. You may not have received gifts as a mom in the Winter 2010 Etsy Baby Shower.
3. You must be willing to provide a photo of your gifts to us for our Flickr album. We may also ask that you spread the baby shower love through whatever other social media you might participate in currently.


We had an incredible response yesterday from moms-to-be.  We're just confirming our last few moms who will receive gifts. We will start a waiting list when we reach our capacity. Historically, we have been able to include a few moms who have been wait-listed.

Want to be added to the waiting list?  Email us and provide your name, Etsy UserName, location, email address, baby's sex (if known), and due date or birth-date of your baby.

Monday, April 19, 2010

It's Time for the Summer 2010 Etsy Baby Shower

We’re pleased to announce that the time has come for another Etsy Baby Shower!

The Etsy Baby Shower tradition was started more than 3 years ago. Since then, the Etsy Baby Shower has occurred several times a year! For this shower, your hosts will be Jessica from BuggaLove and Deniz from DecorativeLabels. We would be so grateful if you would consider participating in the Summer 2010 Etsy Baby Shower!

Donating shops must be willing to donate a gift(s) free of charge, including shipping, to the mom(s) they are assigned. In the past we have included any shop that makes baby items. This is not a team event and you do not have to be a member of a team to donate a gift for this shower. Everyone is welcome!

HOW TO SIGN UP...
If you want to participate as a donating shop, please reply to this email with the following information:

1. Your name, Etsy shop name, and email address
2. How many moms would you like to donate to?
3. Do you have a gender preference for your gift (s)?
4. What country are you in?
5. Can you ship internationally?

Many of the showers have had the continued support of the same shops each time and we applaud you for your unending generosity. We hope that you’ll be able to participate again and are looking forward to hearing from you.

OUR GOAL...
For the Summer 2010 Etsy Baby Shower, we would like to give gifts to 20 moms who are due between May 1, 2010 to August 31, 2010 and our goal is to provide 4 gifts to each mom. That means we need to raise 80 donated gifts!

IN OTHER NEWS...
We are looking for one (or possibly more) new hosts. Due to personal reasons, this will be Jessica’s last baby shower! She has enjoyed hosting over the past year and is sorry to be unable to continue with this responsibility. If you are interested in becoming a host for the Fall 2010 Etsy Baby Shower please contact us at etsybabyshower@gmail.com

SPREAD THE WORD...
Unfortunately, we will not be able to use the Etsy forums to help get the word out about the Etsy Baby Shower to moms and shops who might be interested. In the past, the forums have accounted for 40-50% of our participants. We would greatly appreciate it if you would forward this information, or our blog link, to any shops and expecting moms who you think might be eligible and interested in participating in the Etsy Baby Shower.

Want to RECEIVE gifts from the Etsy Baby Shower?
Are you a member of Etsy? Are you pregnant? If you are/were due May 1, 2010 to August 31, 2010 you may be eligible to receive gifts in the Winter 2010 Etsy Baby Shower!
Eligibility Requirements:
1. You must have purchased at least 5 items on Etsy.
2. You may not have received gifts as a mom in the Winter 2010 Etsy Baby Shower.
3. You must be willing to provide a photo of your gifts to us for our Flickr album. We may also ask that you spread the baby shower love through whatever other social media you might participate in currently.
Are you Eligible? Sign up!

Email us and provide your name, location, email address, baby's sex (if known), and due date or birth-date of your baby.

Birth Announcement!

We'd like to welcome...

Atticus Gray

Born March 21, 2010
 8lbs 13oz

CONGRATULATIONS!

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Birth Annoucement from jodi2208

We'd like to welcome...

Natalie Elizabeth



Born on March 16, 2010 at12:26 pm
Weighing 7lbs 2 3/4oz, 19 3/4 inches long

Congratulations!