E4’s Secret Santa is one of the best events of the year on the EliteFourum.

A group of Pokémon card enthusiasts come together for a Secret Santa event to spread positivity and kindness across the globe.

This is the third Secret Santa I have been a part of on the EliteFourum, and I couldn’t wait to get started.

One of the forum’s moderators, fourthstartcg, sends a task to each person who signs up, along with information about their giftee and a few basic questions that everyone answers during the sign-up phase. These answers include your favorite Pokémon, your collecting interests, and some personal information for shipping, etc.

My Secret Santa Gift
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This year, My match was a fairly new user who had joined earlier in the year. This made the event a little trickier, as you can usually do a lot of sleuthing on your giftee to find as much information as possible about their collecting interests in order to tailor the perfect gift for them. I did have their favorite Pokémon though, Gengar, Jirachi, and Mimikyu as well as information that they liked full-art trainers such as Acerola and Lillie.

Unfortunately, the Instagram link on their profile was not working correctly. I searched around for a possible typo but couldn’t find much. I may have found the Instagram account, but there wasn’t a lot on it aside from some Yu-Gi-Oh cards. No matter, we can still create a gift I hope they will enjoy!

First, some crafts. This year, I had the idea to make some ornaments/coasters for my Secret Santa. One would feature the E4 logo, and another would feature one of their favorite Pokémon. I designed the E4 logo and Gengar in CAD software and cut them out of wood using a water-jet cutting machine.

They turned out pretty nice; I just needed to apply some varnish after sanding.

Next, some cards!

I knew what they liked, so it was time to begin the hunt. I ended up going for the following batch of cards featuring Lillie, along with a few bonus Mimikyu cards.

Next, some signature cards. I absolutely love it when someone sends me a signature card, so I thought I would do the same for my Secret Santa. Although I’m terrible at drawing, tracing is a little easier.

I picked up a few Korean mirror foil Energy cards to draw on and traced a Mimikyu on a Fairy Energy and a Gengar on a Psychic Energy. I decided to try a little bit of Masago magic since they were traced 👀. As a result, the Gengar came out looking like a hairy Gengar 😅.

I also included a holo Pikachu card with just my username and name on it as an extra gift.

Next, who doesn’t love opening some free booster packs? I decided to gift a selection of Sword & Shield–era boosters rather than ultra-modern ones, so maybe they’ll pull some cards they may have missed or don’t own yet.

I included 1 Sword & Shield Base, 1 Rebel Clash, 1 Battle Styles, 1 Vivid Voltage, 1 Darkness Ablaze, and 1 Chilling Reign.

(GOOD LUCK ON THE PULLS!) 🍀

Now for the main gift. I knew they liked full-art trainers and also saw that they had collected a few graded cards in the recent purchases thread. I hunted through eBay for the perfect card and ended up purchasing an Acerola’s Premonition from Brilliant Stars in a PSA 10. Fingers crossed they don’t have this one yet!

All that was left was to design some custom labels and package everything up. oh, and also the mandatory drawing. My original plan was for the cards themselves to be the drawing, but I decided to do one anyway so I could include Jirachi.

I designed custom labels tailored to each gift. Mimikyu labels, Delibird labels, and Lillie & Acerola labels, and printed them using a thermal printer. For wrapping paper, I used a double-sided printout of a page scan from the Silver Bible. I think it turned out pretty nice.

For the drawing, I illustrated the three favorite Pokémon: Gengar, Jirachi, and Mimikyu. I also included my PFP wearing a Santa hat.

All done! until next year :)

Unwrapping My Secret Santa Gift
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A secret package arrived this morning all the way from Germany!

Opening the package i was greeted with delicious treats, the Merci lovelies went down a treat with my family, my oldest daughter eating the majority of them. I can’t wait to try the chocolate santa and the Edelmarzipan.

I also received a talented drawing of one of my favourite Pokémon, Arcanine. I like the style and Arcanines innocent smile. Far better than i could attempt at drawing!

Also received a German Christmas card with a thoughtful note inside complimenting my collection and congratulating me on my recent purchase of the Grand Party Trainer Certification Promo.

Then came the individually wrapped presents in christmas wrapping paper, 3 in total.

One was packaged like a Christmas booster pack, so i opened that one first and pulled out each card featuring artwork from my favourite illustrators, Atsuko Nishida & Kagemaru Himeno!