Rules for 12 Days of Christmas Giveaway 2011

Welcome to everyone's favorite part of A Shady Glade Christmas... the contests!

Those of you who are long time readers know that I'm always looking for new an innovative ways to do contests. So this year I'm proud to announce that we will be having a Christmas White Elephant Book Exchange!

I'm doing the rules in FAQ format this year, so they're a little easier to read. Make sure you've read all the rules, and then fill out this Google form to enter.

So what happened to the 12 days of Christmas?
Well, I'm still calling this the 12 Days of Christmas giveaway. There will be 12 prizes, and the actual event will start on December 12th. So it's a little different than last year, but the idea is still there.

Do I have to have a book to exchange?
Nope! The title is a little misleading, I admit. There will be 12 prizes, all provided by me. We will be exchanging prizes as a white elephant swap. If you don't know how that works, there's a brief overview at the very bottom of this post.

So how do I enter?
You need to fill out this Google form before 11:59 PST on December 10th. Since there is only 12 prizes, we can only have 12 players. On December 11th I will randomly select 12 participants from the list to play in the exchange game. Play will commence on the 12th.  Everyone who enters will be given +1 entries.  Extra entries available are listed below. 

Who can enter?
There are only two requirements: you must be a US or Canada resident (sorry international friends!) and you must be able to respond to emails within 24 hours (very important!). I know people get busy this time of year, but we want the game to move fast (otherwise you'll get your prizes in February).

What are the prizes?
That's the other surprise. The prizes are a secret this year! But you will get a clue about each prize and what type it is (picture book, anthology, non-fiction, etc.) when our 12 players are ready to play. I can tell you that they are ALL Christmas books this year. I scoured all my sources to search out Christmas books for you guys, since last year was lacking on the book prizes.

Are there extra entries?
Yes! You can earn extra entries before you submit your form. This will give you a great chance at being picked as one of our 12 players.
+7 for submitting a guest post
+5 for grabbing the A Shady Glade Christmas button. You can find it in the right sidebar.
+1/link for posting about the contest (sidebar, blog, twitter, etc.)
+1 for following

How does a White Elephant Exchange work?
Honestly, I have no idea where the name came from. But in general, this is how it works (our players will get more detailed rules before they start playing for prizes):

There are 12 players. Player 1 will pick a prize from the list, and I will reveal what that prize is. Player 2 then has two options. They can either pick a different prize they want revealed, or they can "steal" Player 1's prize. If they steal Player 1's prize, Player 1 will need to pick a new prize to be revealed. Player 3 can either steal Player 2's prize or Player 1's prize, or choose a new prize to be revealed. If a prize is stolen, then the person it was stolen from will need to pick a new prize or steal from someone else. And so on and so forth until every player has a prize.

Now, if you're ready, make sure you've filled out the Google form to enter for a chance to be one of our 12 players.

As always, let me know if you have any questions. I will update/expand this post as needed.

Good luck!