Secret Sister Program

Secret Sister Program Guidelines

Do you want to feel loved every month? Do you want to let someone else know you are empathetic to their situation?

The Secret Sister program allows moms the opportunity to support, encourage, and inspire other moms through small, but thoughtful gifts and/or messages. The message I we want to send is "Another mom knows what you are going through, is thinking of you, and wishes you health, happiness, and sanity." Join the Secret Sister program. Each month you do something nice for your Secret Sister, and your Secret Sister does something nice for you.

Overview

Members who want to participate in the secret sister program need to fill out the secret sister form by December 15 for the secret sister. Members who want to participate need to submit $3 to the treasurer or secret sister coordinator before the beginning of the program.

-The secret sister coordinator will match up secret sisters. Each participating member will know the name of the person they give gifts to, but will not know the name of the person giving them gifts.

-Each participating member needs to do at least one nice thing for their secret sister each month. The nice thing could be: giving a gift, sending a card, sending an anonymous email card, baking cookies, etcetera.

-At the end of the period there will be a revealing party and participating members will learn who their secret sister is.

-At the revealing party, an extra special gift can be given.

Secret Sister Program is Voluntary

The Secret Sister program is a voluntary program. Please consider the following before joining. This program will cost you time, in that you have to think about what to give your secret sister and then implement your decision. This program will cost some money. Gifts are typically around $10 a month and can be up to $20 for the last month. It can be done cheaper, but it will cost some amount of money. If you join, you are expected to participate for the full five months. If you join and then quit, or you join and do not participate, it is unfair to your secret sister. Please consider this before joining.

Time Frame

There will be one secret sister period a year. This will start in January and continue through April, with a revealing in May.

Money

The "entry fee" for the program is $3 and will be kept by the Treasurer or Secret Sister Coordinator. This discretionary money is to be used by the Secret Sister Coordinator for the revealing party, incidentals, and missing gifts. It is suggested that participating members spend no more than $10 per month for the first four (4) months of the program and no more than $20 at the reveal party.

Quitting

If participating members must quit before the end of the period, they need to let the Secret Sister coordinator know. At that point the Secret Sister coordinator will, at her discretion, either use the entry fee money to give the neglected sister a present or reassign the quitting member’s sisters.

If You Don’t Get Anything

If you are a participating member and you are not getting anything from your secret sister, let the secret sister coordinator know. The secret sister coordinator will call/email your secret sister and find out what is going on. If the coordinator cannot make contact with the mom after a reasonable attempt, then the coordinator will deem that the member has quit and either reassign sisters or use the entry fee money for gifts. This is not fair to participating members, so please consider the time and money commitment before joining. We will understand if your have a death in the family, someone loses a job, your child ate the gift, you get fired, or you want to be a hermit for a few months, and stuff like that. However, let the coordinator know so that no one is left out.

Themes

Each month a theme will be suggested for the month. The theme is not a requirement. You can give a gift off the theme. The theme is provided for those of us who need a little help coming up with ideas. The monthly themes will be posted on the facebook, in the newsletter, and sent via e-mail.

Ideas

If you need ideas for your secret sister, please see list below.

*****Potential Themes*****

The following themes are based on holidays that happen to occur during that month.

- January - Chinese New Year, New Beginnings, Get Organized, Oats, Bubble Wrap, Trivia

- February - Love, Mardi Gras, Groundhogs, Baking, Birds,

- March - The Irish, Spring, Music, Bubbles, Nutrition, A Good Night's Sleep, Breakfast

- April - Jokes, Rain, Earth Day, Marathons, Decorating, Stress Relief, Family History

- May - Streamers and Flowers, Cinco de Mayo, Space Weather Week, Reading, Eggs, Mother Goose, Scrapbooking, The Ocean, Princess

- June - Gingerbread, Flag Day, Summer, Rose, Favorite Superhero, Donuts

- July - Red, White, and Blue, Blueberries, Ice Cream, Sun, Bees, Cows, Houseplants

- August - Friendship Day, Eagles, Native Americans, Elvis, Smiles, Relaxation

- September - Grandparents, Talk Like a Pirate, Autumn, Honey, Waffles, Citizenship

- October - Spooky and Scary, Corn, Goodwill, Teddy Bears, Eggs, Favorite Color

- November - Peanut Butter, Our Animal Friends, Sadie Hawkins, Mickey Mouse

- December - Winter Solstice, Christmas, Bingo, Peace

****If you are interested in joining contact Linda at st.marthamothersandothers@yahoo.com