/r/RandomActsofChristmas is a place where families can request assistance for their children at Christmas or offer assistance to those in need. From start to finish, the photos tell the stories of each Christmas that was graced with a Santa from RAOC. Welcome to the most holiday spirited subreddit there is!

We will open for the 2023 season on November 5, 2023.  We look forward to seeing you then!

Rules

1. 1. To post a request for help this Christmas for your family, please read the How to post a Request on RAoC wiki.
   2. All requesting users are required to register on our site. All registration information is kept confidential to RAoC Moderators only.
   3. Prior to filling out the registration form, all requesting users must read through the rules and answer a short quiz. We will not approve registration submissions for any user who has not also completed the quiz.  Find the quiz here.
   4. All applicants must take our quiz.  Your application will not be approved without it.
   5. Accounts must be at least 1 month old (10/01/2023) and have a minimum 100 COMMENT karma in non-assistance/non-gifting subreddits to apply. You will need to complete both our Basic Registration AND our Registration+ forms.  Accounts less than 6 months old, with at least 100 comment karma or established, older accounts with minimal account activity, must complete both our Basic Registration and Registration+ forms. Activity must come from non-assistance/non-gifting subs and no activity in any karma farming subs.
   6. Accounts at least 6 months old (5/01/2023), with a minimum of 300 Comment karma in non-assistance/non-gifting subs and no karma farming activity, need only complete our Basic registration.  Note: We take into consideration how consistent your activity is in your account – established accounts (1+ years, with only the 300 minimum comment karma) would need to have consistent recent activity over the past year of consideration – at least 2 posts per month, or they need to file our Plus registration, in addition to the Basic.
   7. If you have requested in a prior year and have no/limited account activity since, you will not be approved to participate as a requester. Priority for approving registrations will be given to users that meet non-Registration+ requirements.  Due to the large volume of registration requests from newer users, we may not be able to approve all required registration+ users in time.  Also, if moderators cannot independently verify the information submitted for Registration+, we may not approve the registration.
   8. In order to spread out the gifting joy, we have implemented a limit for repeated yearly requests to 3 years in a row.  If a user has been gifted from our subreddit each of the last prior 3 years, their registration will not be approved for this year.
   9. If any of your children have already been gifted from other subreddit requests for Christmas help prior to the date of your submitted registration for this subreddit, the application for registration will not be approved. 
   10. Please have both your verification picture and Amazon wishlist list(s) ready before you begin the registration form, especially if you’re on mobile. All Amazon wishlists must allow “Purchased” items to be seen. If your wishlist doesn’t have this option, your registration will not be approved. If at any point, the “Purchased” sort option is removed from a wishlist, your registration will be revoked until it has been reinstated.
   11. With the advent of the COVID19 plague that hit us in 2020 and is still affecting us all even to this day, there are many more people in need coming to Reddit for help (and unfortunately, many more people coming to Reddit to scam) so we are instituting a change in the picture verification requirement.  All applicants, including established, active accounts as well as new users and those with older accounts with minimal activity, will need to do the following before they can post a request here: Provide a group picture of yourself and your kids, holding up a piece of paper with your username and the date clearly written on it, and upload the picture to your application form.  If you are unable to upload your picture to the registration form, you can upload the picture to an image hosting site like Imgur (make sure you set your account to private or hidden) and include the Imgur picture link in the additional info field on the form.  Note: These pictures will not need to be used in your request posts, they are for verification only.
   12. Before your registration can be approved, your Amazon wishlist must be safeguarded against shenanigans that can be caused if your wishlist has the “buying elsewhere” option for items on your wishlist.  Unfortunately, the only way to do this is by calling Amazon Registry customer service, asking a representative to go to your wishlist, and have them toggle off the column option for “buying this elsewhere”. If the representative doesn’t know how to do it, please ask for a supervisor.
   13. The maximum number of wishlist gift options allowed per child is 10. Please keep all gift options under $40 and at least half the gift options under $20. This allows our Santas to spread more cheer. When creating your wishlist, keep in mind that a variety of Amazon Prime items priced under $40.00 is preferred.  You must make an Amazon wishlist for each child.  If any user is discovered to have snuck and added non-allowable items, high dollar items, or additional gifting options (without mod approval), the requestor may be banned.
   14. Failure to fill out the registration will result in your request being removed. If the moderators message you for missing registration information, you will have 3 days to respond with said information or your registration will be denied.  Upon approval of your registration, you will receive both a reddit notification message from a moderator and a green stamp to right of your name saying ‘registered’ so our Santa’s know you have signed up properly.  Please wait for your registration approval notification message from our mods before you post a request, otherwise the post will be automatically removed.
   15. When making request submissions it is mandatory to use the following format or the request post will be removed by the mods: Number of kids / Ages / Names / City, State.  Example:  1/3/Lilly/NY,NY
   16. Be honest in your submissions – As long as you tell the truth, we will do our best to help you.  Please also try to keep your request posts positive; our Santas are here to help and enjoy reading about your child(ren)’s personality, likes, and accomplishments. As much as we appreciate the urge to give back in the form of offers or contests, please limit these to handmade, secondhand, or similar items and not wishlist purchases for other requesters.
   17. If your reddit account is predominantly active in requesting type or assistance type subreddits (i.e. Assistance, RandomActsOfAmazon, Wishlist, etc), you will not be allowed to participate in our subreddit.  Acceptability decisions are made at moderators’ discretion and you will be notified if your registration is turned down for this reason.  No exceptions.
   18. If you or another household member are participating in other assistance subreddits, you may NOT use multiple wishlists for different subreddits; please disclose which other subreddits you are using in both your registration form and your request posts. Keep in mind there are many families in need and after a total of 5 [combined subreddits] gifts are received per child, do not repost a request.  Only a parent or a guardian may request for a child; if you have different circumstances please message the moderators. If any wishlist shenanigans are discovered, your registration will be revoked and you will be banned.
   19. Please keep in mind this is a stressful time for many people.  Do not be greedy.  This is a bannable offense.  If you are fulfilled in our subreddit and then proceed to post additional requests in other gifting subreddits, this will be considered greedy behavior.
   20. Sending personal messages (PMs) to anyone and asking for gifts is not allowed. Failure to comply will result in being banned from this subreddit.  
   21. Only 1 request repost is allowed. Reposts must be labeled “[REPOST]”, with the same title formatting as the original post, and must include both a link to the original post in the text and the Amazon wishlist link(s).  Please don’t copy and paste the body of the original post in your repost, just include the link to the original post. All gifts already purchased by a Santa (including any from other gifting subreddits) must be included and listed in the repost per child.  Any outstanding accounts where a child has not reached the 5 gift goal threshold is automatically included in our final “Undergifted Megathread” posted 2 weeks before Christmas Day.
   22. Users must be registered in order to enter contests.  Each user is limited to 2 contest wins and may not enter more contests thereafter.
   23. Please try to keep gifts under $40 so our Santas can spread more cheer.  When creating your wishlist, keep in mind that a variety of priced Amazon Prime items is preferred.  If you’re using one Amazon wishlist for multiple children, please specify per wishlist item which child the gift is for.
   24. SANTAS: In order to focus on helping as many children as possible reach that 5 gift goal, we have discontinued the single $30+ dream gift option of prior years.  However, if you want to gift a more expensive item, we welcome any larger budget purchases in the form of a contest. As always, make sure any winners have a registered flair.   Also, please let us know if you add-on any items to a user’s wishlist purchase since those don’t automatically show.  
   25. If you’re a Santa and have purchased a gift, please post a comment about the child you’ve gifted, and the gift you’ve purchased in that request thread. Also please fill out the short ‘Report a Gifted Child’ form in the sidebar; it helps the moderators update gift totals which is found on the sidebar link ‘Gifts Received Per Child’.
   26. All gifts, either received or ordered but in transit, must be reported to the moderators for our records.  No exceptions.  Not reporting gifts or underreporting by a requester can result in a ban.
   27. If your post does not show up, message the mods. Entitle your message “The Grinch Stole My Post!” If your post does not show up right away, please wait before you message us. Make sure you followed the proper posting rules.  Multiple messages are not necessary, we do get busy and we will reply to you.  For follow up on any questions/issues sent to our moderators, please reply to the most recent mod message rather than creating a new message, that way all associated messages are grouped together and easy to find in our modmail.  Registration and Registration+ approvals are processed from a queue on a first come, first served basis.
   28. We may use your child’s picture on our Facebook page – Let us know beforehand if you object.
   29. Please submit your required Christmas Day (or very shortly thereafter) “[THANK YOU]” post as soon as you are able which must include photo(s) of gifted kids on Christmas morning and the gifts they received from their Santas.  There are few things better than showing the happiness spread by our givers – We would love to include them in our annual slideshow as well.  Exceptions to the Thank you photo requirement may be made, but you must message the mods beforehand.  If you do not post a timely Thank You submission including a Christmas Day photo you will be banned and not allowed to participate in the future.
   30. Please only request for children aged 3 months to 17. An exception will be made for children younger than 3 months if they have older siblings.  Children 18 and older may be gifted at the discretion of the giver.
   31. Requests for cards and decorations are allowed but remember, children are our first priority.
   32. In order to focus on requests, please do not post memes and/or other joke posts that will clutter the front page.
   33. Requests for adults or other non-Christmas related assistance are not allowed, please see the related Subreddits in the sidebar.
   34. Food items (aside from stocking stuffers), diapers, beds, etc., are not allowed to be requested for.  There are subreddits that do allow these posts and are in the sidebar.
   35. Users who do not thank their Santas will not be allowed to participate again here in future years.  Please tag any Santas by user name in your thank you post so they will be notified.  The best way to tag your Santas is by commenting under your thanks post and tag up to three Santas (with their usernames) per comment; doing so will insure each Santa will get a tagged notification.
   36. Items on wishlists that have been purchased should never be deleted.  Also, do not delete any wishlists used or make wishlists private until after Christmas.  Doing so will result in a ban.
   37. If you made a mistake in a post, message the moderators.  Never delete your post.  This may result in a ban.
   38. Do not harass other users, Santas, or moderators.  This is not limited to just this subreddit.  We’re here to help.  Be respectful.  Not doing so will result in a ban.
   39. If you suspect a scam or have another concern about a user, notify moderators with your evidence.
   40. Mods are here to assist with all stages of the process. However, do not private message moderators. Message the mod team if you need assistance.