Little People on the Road Swap

(We are keeping this post to the top for new people looking for the sign up info. Please scroll down to read the new introductions!)

You are invited to join the Little People on the Road Summer Swap. We thought it would be fun to do a travel themed swap for summer. It is for kids between 2 and 10-years-old. This swap is going to be a little bit more structured than before, but still open-ended enough to allow for lots of creativity.

The guidelines are as follows (please read through everything before signing up—some things have changed since last time):

1) In this swap, you will purchase or make a new stuffed animal or doll (high-quality please) that will become your traveling friend. It would be fun to name the friend and even create a personality for it. (Thank you to Joy for suggesting a similar idea!)
2) You will then take the friend with you on your travels or if you don’t plan to make any trips this summer, show the friend around your hometown.
3) Document your travels with the friend by taking pictures of him or her in different locations and doing different activities. You can include your family in the photos or just feature the friend. You can also have your child take the pictures and document the travel through their eyes.
4) Make a scrapbook/journal with the photos to send to your swap partner. It doesn’t have to be anything elaborate and you can check the swap blog for cheap and easy ideas. You can also feel free to post your own ideas!
5) Get a souvenir from your travels or hometown to send to your swap partner. You can buy something or collect something such as shells, pinecones, flattened pennies from those machines, etc.
6) Buy or create an activity for your partner to do on their next trip. (It would also be fun to include a CD with fun car songs or anything else extra that is themey.) Check the swap blog for suggestions or add your own.
7) Also, if possible, send a postcard to your swap partner while on vacation. It would be a fun way to help the children introduce themselves to each other.



Things that should definitely be included in your package (this is the minimum):
• A scrapbook detailing the adventures of the friend you chose, as well as the friend itself.
• A souvenir from your travels or hometown.
• A travel activity for kids.
• A note, either written by your child(ren) or dictated and transcribed by an adult.

The commitment for this swap is (read carefully new items added!):
1) Introduce yourself on the swap blog, you don’t have to tell your mother’s maiden name, just a hello and something like we are excited and we are a family of 3, 4, 20 or whatever you want to share, pictures are great, but not required. We are requiring that you do this before partners are made because we would really like to create a community among all the swappers, and this is difficult to do without everyone’s participation. Let us know if you have never blogged before and need any help posting to the swap blog. You will not be partnered unless you have posted. (the swap blog is www.littlepeopleswap.blogspot.com)
2) E-mail your partner introducing your family and answering a few provided questions within a week or two of being paired.
3) One package shipped no later than August 31, but you and your partner can agree on an earlier date, depending on when you will both be finished traveling.
4) Post a thank you to your partner, preferably with pictures, on the swap blog. (We can help you figure out how to upload pictures too. If you do not have access to a digistial camera feel free to still sign up.)
5) Keep us updated if any problems come up during the swap through e-mail (not on the swap blog). We want to make sure everyone has a great swap experience, but can’t help if we don’t know what is going on.
If you choose to do any more that is up to you. But this is the minimum.

To join in send an email to megandmag(at)gmail(dot)com
Cut and Paste the following into your email and answer the questions:
1. Name:
2. Number of Children, also are most 2-6 or 6-10 in age:
3. Month of Travel (or month you want to swap if you staying home):
4. Home State:
5. Who your partner was if you participated last time:
6. Blog, if you have one (we will put a link on the group blog):
7. Best email address to contact you:
8. How you heard about the swap:
9. If you are a listed author already on the group blog:
10. Are you willing to ship to Canada or out of the US:

The deadline to sign up is June 10th or when we reach 50 participants, which ever comes first. This time around we will try to match families according to what month they are traveling in, rather than by the age of the children. If you are from outside the US, you must be willing to ship internationally. If you are inside the US, it is not required that you are willing to ship internationally, but please let us know whether or not you are willing to do so. Also, please add our e-mail to your address book so that messages about the swap do not end up in your spam folder. We would love to have anyone willing, do a post about the swap on their blog, but, instead of listing the full instructions please link to where the instructions are posted on the swap blog and always remember to link to the original creator of any swap content.


Be sure to check out the swap blog to get to know some of the other participants and find links to their blogs, as well as get and share ideas. It is also fun to comment on other people’s posts. A good way to respond if you are the post author is to post a comment back in response to the same post.

After you sign-up for the swap, you will receive an invitation to the swap blog, if you are not already a contributor. If you are sitting out this round we will be removing you as a contributor but, that does not mean you can’t participate in future rounds.

Finally, remember to involve your kids in the creating of the packages, because truly they will have just as much fun sending a package as they will receiving one.

Happily,
Meg and Mag
(Michelle & Melissa and together here)