Hi SG,

Happy holidays! We have a holiday event starting now and ending on December 25. The event allows users to create custom gift boxes which can be opened by others in the community to reveal giveaways. To get started, follow the below link to browse all of the available gift boxes, or to create one of your own.

https://www.steamgifts.com/happy-holidays

How it works

  1. Creating a gift box and giveaway

    • To setup a giveaway, use the link above and click "Create a Holiday Giveaway".
    • The giveaway will start immediately and end on December 25.
    • The giveaway will be available to the entire community, although region and contributor level restrictions can still be configured.
    • The giveaway will appear as invite only on your profile and not be visible throughout the site.
    • Once created, you'll see your gift box in the link above and users will have a chance to open it to access the giveaway.
  2. Opening gift boxes

    • You can open 5 gift boxes each day until December 25.
    • When you open a gift box, you unlock the giveaway link and are able to enter the giveaway. Unlocked gift boxes are highlighted in green on the holiday page above, and you can freely revisit those gift boxes and giveaways.
    • You will see a notification if you cannot open a gift box. This could happen when the giveaway contained within is region restricted, when you do not meet the contributor level requirements, when you already own the game, when you do not own the base game for the DLC, when you have previously won the game, or when you have been blacklisted by the giveaway creator.
    • You cannot join a giveaway by only having the direct link. If you did not open the corresponding gift box, but received the link from someone else, you will see an error when attempting to view the giveaway.

No spoilers. Please do not share what games you found or what was contained inside of a gift box.

If you have any questions, please ask. I'm looking forward to seeing all the gift box designs. I'll add a few throughout the month with Steam gift cards and games as well. Have fun!


Updates

  • You can now open 5 gift boxes each day, instead of one every 12 hours.
  • A dropdown menu named "Browse" has been added to the top of the screen. This allows you to filter gift boxes by "All", "Available" (only those you can open), "Opened", and "Created".
  • If you have a giveaway creator blacklisted, you'll still see their gift boxes on the "Available" page, and the button on the gift box page will display "Open Gift Box". You'll only be blocked when you attempt to open the gift box (this will not count towards your daily limit of 5 to open). This will prevent users from blacklisting a user, and then checking whether or not a gift box remains on the "Available" page to identify if they are the creator.
5 years ago*

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Wow. This is pretty cool! Great detail on those boxes too. This sounds like it will be a lot of fun.

5 years ago
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Except for the crap games... will there be moderation, or are going ro wade through stuff?
And if we click on one only for it say we cant enter, is that our allocation used up for 12 hrs?

Edit, sorry didnt mean to reply to tou directly, was aimed at cg...

5 years ago
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5 years ago
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If you can open the box, then you are able to enter the giveaway. It's specifically setup that way so you don't waste the 12 hour period on a giveaway you're unable to join.

5 years ago
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Maybe you could also prevent users from opening a box for a game they have filtered, if that's not yet the case

5 years ago
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As someone with over 13k games filtered, I support this suggestion.
Right now its kind of like having a mountain of presents under the Christmas tree but all the boxes are filled with socks. And no one wants to get socks for Christmas.

EDIT: I have clearly underestimated peoples desire to get socks for Christmas :p

5 years ago*
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+1 so many bad games. hate to use up a chance on a game that costs like $1.

5 years ago
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I don't know man, it is the spirit of Christmas. Can't we just enjoy and get along?

5 years ago
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+1

5 years ago
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+1

5 years ago
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5 years ago
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+1

5 years ago
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+1$

5 years ago
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+1

5 years ago
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+0.8

5 years ago
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Hmm... I never buy $1 games! Its too expensive

5 years ago
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my boy XD

5 years ago
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I don't think that this would be fair to anyone else, if some members more or less filtered out all games with the exception of their wishlist. We all risk drawing trash equally, that's the way it should be. It would make more sense if it somehow would be avoidable that trash gets put into boxes at all.

Personally I would have allowed only the top 1000 games from the community wishlist, or something similar.

5 years ago
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I would be happy if it just showed how many points the GA inside is. That way I could at least avoid everything under 5-10p by default.

5 years ago
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Sadly the community wishlist isn't very accurate so you can't go based off that (its from a small sample of users, that's why even on the first page so many games have the same ranking).

Also it's basically impossible to filter out all the games but what's on your wishlist since you can't filter games unless you see them given away on SG. I have 30K set to ignore on Steam, but less then half that on SG because more then half of them I've never seen given away here.

5 years ago
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No doubt, it wouldn't be perfect. Nothing is. But it would be an option that could be easily realized and it would prevent most trash.

5 years ago
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5 years ago
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One by one. Went through a few hundred a day over the course of several months.

5 years ago
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I couldn't open box with snorlax :sadness:

5 years ago
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5 years ago
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You have stalker? Imposter??

Silent admirer? :blobsmug:

5 years ago
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5 years ago
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How do you know I can't open box?? Mods!!

5 years ago
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5 years ago
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.......
.............
....................

I think I will silently walk away

5 years ago
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View attached image.
5 years ago
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Munch

5 years ago
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It's already not fair because there is no rule against leaking what is in each box, and since they're not randomized and easily distinguishable (not just the cover but when it was created as well), it's a matter of time before you have gibs leaking, except not giveaway links this time but information about what is in each box. Of course, you won't have it posted anywhere publicly.

I kinda miss point of this event, it sounds cool at first but you quickly find its flaws. The execution could be much better considering how powerful tools SG has (e.g. wishlist of each member), but instead we got something that doesn't make much sense considering you blindly unpack a link to a giveaway. I'd rather just get a button that says "give me a random giveaway link" and would call the event much better and more fair, without a room for unnecessary abuse and exactly the same amount of fun for the user that plays fair.

5 years ago*
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I think reducing the timer from 12 to 8 hours could alleviate some of the problems, since you would likely be able to open almost all boxes. But I understand why it's 12 and not 8, don't want to make it feel like you have to keep coming back here over and over and stuff. But I think 8 hours is a nice middle point between "too long" and "gotta check this site every 10 minutes".

5 years ago
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I'm wondering the same, soon you will find threads in the forum listing what each box contains. As I understand, that is not against the rules...

EDIT: see 👇

5 years ago*
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I updated the topic to mention this is against the rules.

5 years ago
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+1

5 years ago
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That seems rather difficult to enforce. Will you simply be monitoring on-site discussions, or would any observed attempt (eg, as Mully notes, through SG groups) be considered a violation? And if so, what kind of punishments would there be? 'cause this site doesn't exactly lack for users who aren't afraid to face punishment for the sake of exploitation, so I can't imagine any wrist-slapping would be taken seriously in the least. Of course, if it's not a wrist-slap, the difficulty of enforcing things would make punishments feel all the more disorganized..

It's a pity, given the fun box-building and great designs we're already seeing, but standardized box designs with masked URLs probably woulda been a better choice if the intent was to disallow discussion of contents.

5 years ago
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Looks like no spoilers was added to the rules so I think that fixes the main problem with collective intelligence spoiling everything.

5 years ago
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On the other hand, it means people can unbox games that they're literally incapable of playing (e.g., VR), or ones they already own (e.g., restricted). That seems bad.

5 years ago
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Can't unbox ones you own at least - I had to click on 7 boxes before it came up with one I didn't own (I own a lot of crappy games).

5 years ago
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You can, if they're not visible in the API. I own several hundred games that SteamGifts thinks I don't own, and could unbox one of those if I got unlucky.

5 years ago
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5 years ago
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Another reason to add this is because the usual limitations of the Steam API apply here - it will let you open a box for a game you already own if it's one Steamgifts can't detect ownership for (of course; no easy way to avoid that.) Preventing people from opening boxes for games they've blacklisted would reduce the impact of that problem.

As an aside, make sure to double-check before entering for just that reason!

5 years ago
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Actually, I do need some socks... I just still haven't bothered to go to the sportswear shop just for that 👀

5 years ago
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Speak for yourself, I have holes in many socks. I want socks. Some strong, independent socks. 😁

5 years ago
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Dude, I rather get socks for Christmas. The joy you get for those socks. Clean clean socks. New ones. Oh so soft.

5 years ago
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Socks are actually really expensive my dude.

5 years ago
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5 years ago
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I think that would be a great idea. Or maybe highlight boxes if the game is on your wishlist.

5 years ago
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Well. It could and would be swell. I've wasted my first box for filtered game :P Yes.

5 years ago
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Maybe you could also prevent users from opening a box for a game they have filtered, if that's not yet the case

Yes, please.

Adding wishlist filtering would be even better: filtering out games is a very inefficient process, given the signal to noise ratio for giveaways is very low: for that reason, I haven't bothered to look at public GAs without wishlist filtering in a long, long time.

5 years ago
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+1 I already wasted many gift box openings just to find out it's a package I already own (and have filtered) for example
or it's a game I have filtered: https://www.steamgifts.com/account/settings/giveaways/filters

would it be possible to filter the list https://www.steamgifts.com/happy-holidays
by not showing the gifts that cannot be opened?
or at least show some kind of symbol next to the gift (*gift cannot be opened because you already own, have filtered it, region restricted...)

5 years ago
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I just want to echo @TempeteJoachim's GREAT INPUT!!! Because the gift I open is NSFW and a game I both filtered out on Steam and SG. If this is implemented later, perhaps I can get another chance to Open? ;) Like it wont add up towards my next timer.

Edit: As Mully highlighted, would be great if the result of each gift opened is randomized for each user.
Seasonal Greetings and Holiday Cheers, Cruse~ :D

5 years ago*
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Can we get a clarification on if leaking the contents of a box is allowed?

Edit: Looks the rules were updated to no spoilers.

5 years ago*
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Don't

5 years ago
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Ah this looks pretty cool, looking forward to messing with it!

5 years ago
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And here I thought I was getting a spam ad. Thank you.

5 years ago
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Wow. Is this the first holiday event on this site? Besides a few secret links like last Halloween.

5 years ago
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This is... this is... this is REALLY COOL!

5 years ago
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Neat

5 years ago
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Damn, this is cool. I wish I had the skill to make some cool looking boxes.

5 years ago
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Hey that's really cool!

5 years ago
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Nice event, thanks for organizing it :)

5 years ago
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This is a neat idea, but I hope it doesn't end up being abused. Even so, it looks so fun! Thank you, CG. Happy Holidays!

5 years ago
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Nice to see this feature!

5 years ago
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I tried to created one, looks good for now.

But I am wondering if there are too many box at one time, will the page lag?

5 years ago
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my laptop fan got loud when I opened the page ;)

We definitely gonna need some pagination.

5 years ago
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My laptop was struggling as well. Pagination is now live.

5 years ago
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I just wanted to take a second and thank you for the time and effort you spent to add this to the site.

5 years ago
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great, thanks for adding it :)

5 years ago
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excellent job, event, idea, implementation, everything! love it

5 years ago
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Cg any chance you implement the box being red if we own it?
Just tired to open so many boxes for games I own and have to search what page I was on and what box I clicked since even after I saw that I own the game it does not mark it :(

5 years ago
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love the gifs gifts, maybe i will add more

5 years ago
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This a nifty idea, thanks for implementing it :)

5 years ago
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Ooh this is fun, thanks and happy holidays. :)

5 years ago
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Could you somehow filter which games we already own? Clicking just to be denied could get quite annoying.
I also wonder if blacklists are checked. Would be upsetting to open a box, just to discover that you can't enter. ;)
Sweet idea though!

5 years ago
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Maybe this wasn't up when you wrote your comment or maybe you just missed it:

You will see a notification if you cannot open a gift box. This could happen when the giveaway contained within is region restricted, when you do not meet the contributor level requirements, when you already own the game, when you do not own the base game for the DLC, when you have previously won the game, or when you have been blacklisted by the giveaway creator.

5 years ago
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Excellent and fun idea! Happy Holidays everyone

5 years ago
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bbuon natale, cg!

5 years ago
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Happy holidays. Thanks.

5 years ago
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Great idea! I hope this will be recurrent...

5 years ago
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incoming giveaways of badrats

Muhahahahahahahahahaha
hahahahahahahahahahahah
hahahahahahahahahahahaha

No, jk. It looks good!

5 years ago
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You asked for it!

5 years ago
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mmhmm sg lootboxes. in before the ftc!

5 years ago
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Q.Copy and paste the image URL of the game store page to imgur's post, paste the URL of the image saved in imgur, can you make a box? ☺
A.Probably it can be made.
(。-Θ-。)ooO

Wonder if I will find a good box wallpaper ...?
The Pattern Library
Is it like this?

Thank you for a fun event. CG!

5 years ago
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Thank you for the link, seems very useful!

And of course, thank you cg and everyone contributing!! 8)

5 years ago
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CG makes the Grinch get angry
Whom express his hate very frankly

View attached image.
5 years ago
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Now he's mad, but he run, because there is much joy

Is this new?

HERE

View attached image.
5 years ago*
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grinch, it's me again

5 years ago
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You can't hide from me, Grinch!

5 years ago
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I like this, especially the part "You cannot join a giveaway by only having the direct link. If you did not open the corresponding gift box, but received the link from someone else, you will see an error when attempting to view the giveaway." I'll make sure to create some giveaways as well. Have a nice December everyone!

5 years ago
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Closed 4 years ago by cg.