Reddit gift exchanges

Mike is on Reddit (I don't even really understand what the site is) but a cool thing they do is have random gift exchanges.  They can be on various themes (examples are cook books, shot glasses, the avengers, Disney, etc.) and you get paired up with one person to buy them a gift and paired up with a different person who buys you a gift.

Well, Mike saw that one of the gift exchanges had a runner theme so he signed me up for it.  It was a pretty cool experience.  First, I had to fill out a little questionnaire that talked about myself, my interests, running specific information, basically anything that would help a stranger choose a gift for you.

So my gift arrived and it was really cool!  It included a Nike running shirt (that I wore at the Semper Fi 5k).  The material was super soft and the shirt had a lot of venting so it was really cool.  I also received an armband and a tube of a new flavor of Nuun I hadn't tried yet.

Shelby approved of the gift too

On the other side, I was super excited about choosing gifts to send to someone.  The recipient we were paired with did a great job about describing her running and weight loss journey and all the things she was into.  She is running the Philadelphia marathon as her first marathon, she loves motivational quotes, and she enjoys running with her dog.  So here is what I got her :)

Another cool part about the Reddit exchanges is that the recipients go back on the site after receiving their gift to describe it and express their feelings about it.  The recipient we were paired with left a really sweet thank you and that definitely left me with a nice feeling about participating and made me think this may be something I want to do again!

Have any of you ever participated in a gift exchange with strangers?