Thanks for the comments Damian.
There has been some excellent toolmaking shown this year. Whilst I never made it compulsory that the gift should be handmade, in truth I see this as the essence of the event. It would exclude a number of people if making the gift was compulsory so probably not a viable route to go, but thats something Waka can decide on when he sets up next years.
My frustration this year, as it was to a lesser extent last year, is that we end up with people not getting something on the day, which in my view takes the shine off. This is due to a combination of the vagaries of the post office and in some cases things simply not being sent in time. In one case it was down to me with an address **** up, so I'm not infallible.
I've been racking my brains to think of a way to solve this and not really come up with anything. One thought that did occur was that a Secret Santa bash could take place, where you turn up with the gift and the exchanges are done there and then for whoever turns up with something. This has geography problems in finding somewhere that everyone could get to so probably doesn't really work. Might be worth considering though, as it means if you turn up with something you're in, if you don't then you're out.
Just some thoughts, its with Waka to tweak things as he sees fit for next year.
Ed