2nd Annual Quick Blind Valentine Card Swap

This was so much fun, we're doing it again. Hosting this for @crescendo with a direct copy of her original swap below (with a couple of minor edits).

This is a very quick signup and you only have one week after partners are assigned to complete your Blind Valentine mission. I wished I had thought of this idea sooner, but you don't need to wait for partners to be assigned to do steps 1-4.

Your mission is:

1. Go to a store that sells a nice variety of different GREETING CARD SIZED Valentine cards.This would be approximately the 5"x7" (12cmx17cm) size, give or take a smidgen. So, not a small note card that you get in a pack, and not the kid type ones for classrooms. Ideally there will be lots of different categories for intended recipients, like "To My Darling Grandson", or, "I Wanna Hump You", or, "To My Niece's Great Aunt's Third Cousin"...

2. As you walk down the card aisle, keep your eyes from focusing on the cards or category dividers -- do NOT look at any details. You can close your eyes (hence "Blind Valentine") if there is nobody else in the aisle to accidentally step on (or maybe you don't care about that). Randomly stop somewhere in front of the rack, (still no peeking), then with eyes closed RANDOMLY pickup a card. Immediately flip it over to the back side and tuck it under the envelope flap to take to the cashier, WITHOUT LOOKING AT THE FRONT OR INSIDE. Marvel at what a good Samaritan you are for arranging it so the bar code is right there for the cashier to scan with little effort.

3. Once you get home, keep the card facing down -- you still have not peeked at the front or inside at this point. Open it up and immediately cover the sentiment with your hand or a piece of paper, then write a nice note to your partner on the blank half -- a couple of paragraphs, but leave enough blank space at the bottom to write a sentence describing your reaction once you reveal to yourself what is printed on the front of the card and inside. [NOTE: an easy way to not cheat this part is to slip a piece of opaque paper inside the card before you open it from the back, and then lift up the paper with the back of the card as you open.]

4. NOW you can finally reveal to yourself the front and inside of the card. Either hilarity will ensue over the randomness, your heart will melt over the sweetness, your face will turn red from the dirtiness, your eyes will roll from the sappiness, or, maybe you will just say wow, that is the perfect message from the Universe. Hopefully it will not just be a "meh". Finally, write a few words describing your reaction.

5. Be sure to write the name of the swap and your user name, and add a salutation to your partner using their first name if you wrote the letter before partners were assigned. After all, you don't want a Valentine card to seem impersonal. Seal it up and send it.

Have fun! I had a great time doing this at Dollar Tree actually last week for sending to friends. They have a surprising quality and number of greeting cards to choose from for a buck (and even two for a buck). Plus I love how Dollar Tree prints a fake price on the back so your friends and family think you spent a lot of money on them, heh. So dollar store (pound store, heh heh), grocery store, Target, card shop, wherever there is a nice assortment for sale.

Congratulate yourself if you read all the way to here. You get an A+ for attention span.

( *no recent unexplained 1's or 3's blah blah blah, blah blah blah, blah)