I guess the traditional Secret Santa is when a user lists 5 interests/items they would like for Christmas and you someone would have to buy them one. The gift must be at least $10. Then you would ship it to them. That person would also have to buy a gift for someone so it's a cycle. It's voluntary and not required. I want a lot of participation on my forum for this event. I am not sure if any of my members would be willing to buy another member a gift and ship it to them. Any alternative ideas/suggestions?
My brother is a part of a forum where they do this and how it works is this: A thread is posted a month or two before christmas (in a private section of the forum that only members can see) where people can say if they want to take part or not, posting their address there (this is why it's in a private section, you could get people just to PM this to you also and you collate all the data). The thread poster (you) then collates all the users and picks at random who is getting who a gift, then PM's each person who they got and their shipping information. From there you just hope everyone actually does it.
Yeah but what if my members don't have money to buy gifts? That's my question. Are there any alternatives I could do that would be just as fun?
Well it isn't a mandatory thing, so only people who have money to do this should apply to be a part of it.