This swap is a smaller edition of the Spoil Us, (Local) Goodies swaps I've been hosting. Please remember I'll be very happy to receive photos with/without comments of the goodies you'll get, so I can put them on the SULG blog (link above). Email address is in my profile, or you can go to the blog and find the info there. You can also tag me on Flickr.

Please read entire description before signing up.

This swap we'll be sending:

PAPER:

• 5 x local ephemera

• 2 x postcards of local sights. Can be touristic postcards but don't have to be necessarily.

• 3 photos or magazine clippings or anything else you can find that depict things having to do with your life. Include a note telling a bit about these things.

• 3 local recipes. Must include pictures. They can be recipes from your grandmother's kitchen, a local restaurant, or a recipe with ingredients that are culturally traditional. For example, in the Netherlands we eat a lot of potatoes. So I could send a recipe for mash pot.

GOODIES:

• 1 book in your language. Must be at least 20 years old. You can pick it up at a thrift store, the market place, a book store, or you can pull it from your grandmother's closet. All is okay. If you get assigned to a partner who speaks the same language, send a book that means something. For example, a book you liked to read as a child, or a book about a famous artist who was born in your town, etc.

• 2 local delicacies. If you send single items like sweets, a minimum of 3 count as 1. A chocolate bar counts as 1 item if it's 15 cm / 5.9 inch in length, give or take.

• 1 local souvenir

• 1 wishlist gift

Minimum spending limit per item is 1 euro, 1.30 USD, 1.44 AUD, or 0.86 GBP. Maximum spending limit per item is 10 euros, 13.00 USD, 14.40 AUD, or 8.60 GBP.

Please keep in mind that:

a) You have control over the shipping costs. The heavier items you send, the more the shipping costs will be.

To prevent getting surprised by the shipping costs, please ask at your local post office or search Google before you sign up or before you start gathering the goodies. Here in the Netherlands it costs about 18 euros to ship overseas, and that's for parcels with a weight below 2 kg. If the parcel weighs more, we pay more. I assume it works the same way in other countries.

In other words, shipping costs will be much higher than postcards, letters, or your average swap. However, the weight of the parcel determines whether you pay minimum shipping costs or more. Please, keep this in mind.

b) If you make this parcel too expensive, your swap partner may have to pay a customs fee upon delivery. Try to prevent this. Call the Ministry of Finance or ask your local post office.

c) Nothing you send can be damaged (except for the book, it can be slightly damaged), torn, broken, etc. The food/drinks you send must not go bad in the mail, and packs/bags must not have been opened prior to sending. Breakable items must be properly wrapped/packaged, etc.

Last but not least, swappers with a rating of 4.8 and up can join. Must have successfully completed at least 10 Type 3 swaps. No recent (or unexplained) 1s or 3s. No excessive amounts of Type 1 swaps after flaking to get ratings back up. I ban at my discretion.

If I get the idea you're going to flake after I've assigned swap partners, I will do what I can to remove you from the chain and have the parcel that was meant for you sent to the person you're flaking on. That way you won't receive anything, so there would be no point in flaking. Therefore, swappers, if you get the idea someone is going to flake, please send me a message (well before the deadline. It's not much use when almost everyone has already sent their parcels out). This isn't a watertight anti-flake procedure, but I do what I can.

You have 2 months to sign up, and 2 months to send the parcel out. Plenty of time to get your parcel together!

Happy swapping!