I had this nifty little thing set up so that I could write all my Countdown to Christmas posts ahead of time and then tell wordpress to post them at a certain day and time. From there, wordpress would update all the mirror sites and connected social media bits. Obviously I did something wrong since Day 3 never appeared, and since power and DSL were off and on due to storms and flooding in the area on Mon and Tues, I didn’t see until today that there had been a problem, and I didn’t go to check on the final day post until late afternoon today, Christmas Eve. So nothing got fixed until just a few hours from Day 1. Ppphhht.
So I’m just going to bundle the Day 3, Day 2, and Day 1 giveaway into a sort of “triple whammy.” But since the prizes are limited – I only have three of these boxes – then the “triple whammy” giveaway is limited to the first three “entries”/orders placed between 12:01 am 23 December and midnight on Christmas Day that submit the code “countdown” along with their order during checkout.
These are small wooden boxes with brass hinges and clasps, decorated with brass suns with a face in relief on the lid. Inside (or along with) will be a small packet of fixed Road Opener herbs and a fixed, dressed, and blessed skeleton key (my choice – you can see some of what I have available in the photo) on a chain or cord (some keys don’t work so well with chains due to their shape, but there will be *something* to hang or wear it with).
Type code countdown in the comment/note box as you are checking out (you’re looking for an editable text box that is not the coupon code box – it says something like “special note” or “additional information” and appears on the first or second page of checkout). Do NOT use the Paypal note/comment box — it won’t work — and do NOT use the coupon code box – it won’t work. Use the comment/note box in the Shopify checkout, the one that I’m always telling you not to use because it won’t print with your order and I won’t see it 🙂
I have come up with a workable (if ugly) patch for Shopify’s template code that will send the order through to me with a flag if there’s a note (though it will not print the actual note, but since I’m running this free gift thing, I’ll actually go into the system looking for the note when I see the flag and I will mark your order as a gift recipient manually after I print it).
That’s all you have to do – just type countdown in the comment/note box in Shopify as you are checking out. If your order is among the first three, you’ll get the whole set – box, packet of herbs, and skeleton key necklace. If your order is 4th or later, you’ll get a packet of fixed Road Opener herbs sent along with your order, which you can use as incense, as an herbal bath, for inclusion in a mojo, or as part of your own spell bottle or box.
There’s no special format because a machine is not reading this, it’s not like the coupon codes that get applied automatically; as long as you type “countdown” in the box, I’ll see the flag when I print your order, and I’ll go into the system to manually pull whatever it is you typed into that box. And if you check out before midnight Central time on the 25th, you’ll get your free stuff included alongside your other items when I ship your stuff. (Since you are NOT using the coupon code box, that means you CAN also use a coupon with the same order, too!)
Happy holidays from Karma Zain and Maggie!
Big Lucky Hoodoo 