Secret Santa 2025 Sign Up!

It's sign-up time for...

(21st ANNUAL)

Do you know what time of year is coming upon us? That's right! It's Secret Santa time! This year marks PJ & Pixelation's 21st annual Secret Santa.

Unsure of how the Secret Santa works? You sign up here within the sign-up time. When sign-ups close you get assigned a random partner (giftee). Before the deadline you check their wishlist and make a pixel art gift for them. But SHH it's all a secret who you're pixelling for - you are the Secret Santa!!! When finished you send your gift to Mirre. In turn, somebody else (you don't know who) will be making a gift for you! Gifts will be revealed on December 27th on the forum, in the PJ News, and in a Twitch livestream hosted by Mirre.

Take a look at the previous years' Secret Santas here:

2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020 - 2019 - 2018 - 2017 - 2016 - 2015 - 2014

2013 - 2012 - 2011 - 2010 - 2009 - 2008 - 2007 - 2006 - 2005

Taking Part

After reading the instructions below, sign up by putting a message as a comment to this news post, simply saying "I'm In"!

Only sign up if you're sure that you'll be to able to complete your gift, by checking the dates below. If you don't complete your gift you won't be able to join next year's Secret Santa and make someone very sad. Also you will miss the unique Secret Santa profile award.
Provide some indication of your likes/dislikes: this is important! You can be as specific or broad as you like, but be aware this is all your Santa has to go by if they don't know you!

If you have at least a few pieces in your PJ gallery, your Secret Santa will know you better.

You'll receive your partner's name via private message (gallery PM). Consider turning on email notification for this in your profile settings!

Start making your gift, you have over a month!

Submit a gift box to the gallery (not the artwork!), and send your gift artwork in a message to Mirre. See the submission guide below.
Here's a sample post if you are somehow still lost. You can format however you want, however please include "I'm in!" or something similar in your post.

    "Count me in!
    I like:
    hating fun, being a curmudgeon and getting free stuff!!!!
    I do NOT like:
chocolate, childrens' smiles, and also Christmas (which probably makes things a bit awkward, really, but oh well)
    Thanks! P.S. no spiders"

Submission Guide

Important!!! Follow these submission instructions carefully, to not spoil any surprises:

When you've finished your gift, first choose Submit Pixel Art from the main site and upload your gift wrap (see Gift Wrap section below) as the preview (small) image and do not upload anything else. The description should only say “Secret Santa” and should not include the name of the person you’re gifting, at least until the official reveal.
Note: For the Secret Santa purposes, you can upload the template gift wraps below. Still, custom wraps rock!
Now, send your real gift to Mirre by PM or email. You can use imgur.com, or if you can't, you can send it in a DM to her on Discord or to linnaeahl@gmail.com. We will edit and change your pixel art submission with the real one, so we can reveal all presents at the same time. Please don't post your gift anywhere else before December 27th, that would spoil the surprise.

Dates

November 7th ~ November 20th - Sign-ups in these weeks only! Send this post to your friends, share on Twitter or Bluesky and post in your Discords. If there's anyone you'd love to get a gift from, send them this thread!
November 21st - A PM with your partner's name will be sent out to you; keep it a secret and start early!
November 21st ~ December 24th - You have nearly a month to make and hand in a beautiful pixel present!
December 17th - if not already all done, you need to send Mirre a WIP of what you are making by this date, to show that you're working on something.
December 24th - Last day to send in your gift!
December 27th - PRESENTS !!!

Feel free to ask questions under this post, or PM Mirre if you're confused about anything or have any questions to ask after consulting the FAQ below.

Santa's Help Desk

What kind of gift do I make?
Anything you want, just so long as it involves pixel art. Tailor it to your partner's listed interests, or towards them and their work if you are familiar. Any subject you think will be well received is fair game. You can make them a mockup, animation, sprites; you name it! If you're worried about time, don't overly complicate things, relax and do what you do best.

But I'm quite likely to be embroiled in some sort of ~festive revelry~ around the end of December; can I still take part?
You can send your gift in as early as you like. The 24th is the deadline, but submissions will be accepted from the time you receive your partner's name via PM, up until the 24th. It's not fun to try and rush this stuff leading up to Christmas, getting it done with time to spare is highly recommended.

I'm not going to manage finishing my present in time, will I still be banned from next year's Secret Santa?
WIPs will be OK temporarily... It's better to have your WIP under the tree than nothing, but please finish quickly afterwards to avoid consequences. If you know you won't be able to finish, for whatever reason, let Mirre know ASAP so that something else can be sorted out for your partner.

I think making a present for so-and-so would be really fun, I wish I was their Santa!
If you finish your present early, you're more than welcome to make gifts for multiple people. Spread the holiday cheer! But concentrate on your partner first.

Gift Wrap!

You can use one of these generic gift wraps as the preview icon of your gallery submission:

Alternatively: Make a custom wrapping for your gift; in this way you can have a bit of fun teasing the contents within. Just submit this in your gallery as the preview image. So it should be max 100x100 px. Here are a few examples from previous years... with a link to their gifts, for ideas. (you can't use these! come up with your own!)

by Wolfenoctis

by Jeremy

by Drazelic

Still awake? Read everything? Great!! If you sign up below before or on the 25th of November, you'll be added to this list. After you submit your gift, we'll mark you on our list with a little

Posted by Mirre @ 11/6/2025 13:53 | 17

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Just For Fun

, November 2025, Mirre Posts

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Discussion

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pixelglade (Level 2 Tulip) @ 11/7/2025 18:00

I'm in!

I like:

stylisation, cute or cool things
anime
nature imagery
retro gaming (SNES, GBC)
slice of life scenes
classic sword and sorcery fantasy
solarpunk themes

I dislike:

animal based foods or animal exploitation (I'm vegan for context)
excessive or frenetic motion
nsfw imagery
gore and violence
horror (no ghosts, zombies)
hyper-realism

Pixel Art Restrictions

limited colour palettes (1bit, 4, 8, or max 16 colour palettes)
canvas dimensions and size (small or medium, maximum size 640x400)

bluexel (Level 6 Tsathoggua (The Horror in the Museum)) @ 11/7/2025 17:51

I am in!

I like:

-limited palette

-small format

-vibrant color block compositions

-stylized dithering

-atmospheric scenes

-visual tension

-lanscapes

-botanical elements.

I don't like:

none,just have hun!

Mirre (Level 9 Whale Shark) @ 11/7/2025 16:51

I'm in!

Loves:

- My original characters: https://www.linneart.com/characters.html (The Witch is my fave at the moment)

- Myself inserted into anything related to the below likes (for example: me as a Pokémon Trainer...) If you need any reference material of me, there are photos in my instagram, also there's my PJ avatar, PJ class photo 2025, and PJ Photo Board Collab in my gallery.

Likes:

- Mermaids

- Pokémon (especially water, dark, and ghost types, some favourites: Wooper, Mudkip, Ditto, Sableye, Cosmog, Shinx/Luxio/Luxray, Vaporeon, Espeon, Lunala, Misdreavus/Mismagius, Popplio/Brionne/Primarina, Shuppet, Gastly/Haunter/Gengar, Drifloon/Drifblim)

- Purple, blue, green, teal

- Dinosaurs; especially pterosaurs, triceratops, stegosaurus

- Frogs, Salamanders, Geckos, Axolotls, Bats, Cats

- Fantasy, Sci-fi, Steampunk, Cyberpunk

- Folklore, Witches, Knights, Monsters

- Mockups, scenes, ISO, RPGs, strategy/turn based/puzzle games

- Mushrooms, crystals

- Tasteful nudity (for example: topless mermaids)

- Stardew Valley, Ace Attorney, LoZ: The Minish Cap, Sea of Stars

Dislikes:

- Religious themes

- Orange

(I'm pretty sure I'll like whatever I get though, so please have fun with this!)

trawlixn (Level 4 Button Man) @ 11/7/2025 16:44

I'm in,

I like

Any of my original characters
High contrast saturated colors
Cyberpunk
Webcore
Speculative fiction
Sci fi or Sci fantasy
Elden ring or Dark souls or Blasphemous styled Dark Fantasy
Moody Landscapes
Biblically accurate angels or other divine Abrahamic creatures
Pagan folklore

I don't like

Cutesy pastel art

There isn't much I dislike, but you have a lot of leeway to work with! Go ham.

jeremy (Level 11 Sphinx) @ 11/7/2025 16:12

i'm in

i like
birds, flowers/plants/fungi, broken statues, haloes, joan of arc, interesting palettes, patterns, james turrell, félix vallotton, mythology, retrofuturist sci-fi, a sense of scale

i don't like
epic pop culture mash-ups
"internet culture"

shm31 (Level 7 Baklava) @ 11/7/2025 13:38

Sign me up !

What I like this year (you can merge these elements in the same scene) :

Taverns, Potion shops, Antique shops etc
Collections of icons of any kind
Wizard doing wizard stuff
Barbarians doing barbarian stuff
90s-00s Point & Click (Leisure Suit Larry, Sam&Max Hit the Road etc)
Rainy or cloudy or moody scene
Old run down tower
Comfy room with rain outside
Vehicles of any types (bonus if it's an idle animation)

What I dislike:

Dentists (Allowed it if it's in a funny point & click scene)

My favorite resolutions (not an obligation, more of a suggestion if you have a hard time choosing a canvas) :

240x160 Game Boy Advance
320x200 Old DOS

Use any palette you feel comfortable with, but if you have any trouble I recommend these :

amberMechanic (Level 5 Harbor Seal) @ 11/7/2025 12:05

I’m in.

Some things I like:

aardvarks, birds, cityscapes, dynamism, exoplanets, fantasy adventures, 
giant robots, hidden worlds, imaginative details, jackalopes, 
keas, large robots, magicians, nineteenth century art & illustration, 
one-bit dither, personal vision, quite small robots, robots,
silksong, tasteful melancholy, ultra tiny robots,
very impressive clouds, William Gibson, xenon 2, yaks,
zebras or zebroid animals that are secretly robots after all.

And some I don't:

brand name TV/movie scifi (Star Wars and Treks etc.)

hby (Level 5 Elder Thing (The Mountains of Madness)) @ 11/7/2025 11:58

I'm in!!!!!

I like, in no particular order:

somber+overgrown+abandoned man-made structures
sunny or rainy (or both?!) atmosphere
"weird fiction" type horror (chambers, lovecraft, etc. but prefer more creative and subtle horror instead of a bunch of eyes and tentacles)
twin peaks (particularly the "other world")
silent hill 1-3
evangelion
eureka 7
cyberpunk (gibson, adam jensen DX, 2077)
liminal spaces
insects/bugs/spiders

I dislike: not much really. Feel free to lean into your strengths.

vemigvan (Level 3 Nasturtium) @ 11/7/2025 11:45

I'll just copy last year requests

I love:

Plants, mold, mushrooms
Ocean life, especially non fish ones, like molluscs, echinoderms, worms etc
Stanislaw Lem's kind of scifi, exoplanets, xenobiology
Horror, Giger's artworks, body horror, biopunk, "meat and veins" stuff
Post-soviet aesthetic, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games
~~little girls. They make me feel so~~
I also really love mockups, NES/GBC-inspired styles, topdown view, item sets etc., so if you draw things like this from time to time, would be really cool to see this kind of work from you! Though if you don't, I'd prefer any type of piece you usually do

Things I don't like do exist, but I don't want to hit the things you like drawing. Really hope even if you don't like my themes you'll make the piece the way you enjoy

Terff (Level 6 Serial Killer) @ 11/7/2025 11:40

I'm in!

I like many things.

Whimsical forest creatures, gnomes and mushrooms
Brutalist architecture
The color purple
Bionicle Legos
Crabs
Japanese Cars (Favorites are the Subaru WRX, Nissan 240z and R32 GTR)
Skulls

I dislike:

Raisins (feel free to include them it they're being harmed in some way)

In the end, do whatever inspires you. Add your own flair.

gragmet (Level 2 Corporal) @ 11/7/2025 11:06

I'm in!

Likes:

I really love seeing artwork where I can sense how much the artist enjoyed creating it. Feel free to get inspiration from my works or don't
To be a bit more specific, I really love the atmosphere in David Lynch’s movies. I like to feel as if I’m in a place when I look at an artwork.

Dislikes:

None

Pyxis (Level 2 Flatfoot) @ 11/7/2025 10:49

IM IN!!!

Likes:

Nuclear bombs and huge guns
evangelion (specifically 3rd impact from the end of evangelion)
Mathematical objects embedded in art
Frutiger aero/dorfic
Breakcore/jungle
Berserk
Raw personal expression

Dislikes:

Art that takes itself too seriously

The more contrasting concepts you can fit into one piece the better!!! I love insane drawings. :)

SeDiceBisonte (Level 8 Spaceman) @ 11/7/2025 10:41

I'm in!

Likes:

Pictures of people or with people prominently featured.
Atmosphere, emotion and personality. I'd love to see your personality and style in this as much as anything I've asked for.
Original artwork as opposed to fanart (I know I have more fanart than original work in my gallery but you're probably more imaginative than I am).
Pre-Raphaelite artists and others associated with them. I particularly like John William Waterhouse.
Fashion.
Retro aesthetics. I have a fondness for a lot of design from the 60s to the 80s.
Horror films. I like these more for their surrealism, social commentary and atmosphere than for the scares themselves or the monsters. Favourites include Suspiria (1977 and not the remake), Alien, George Romero's Living Dead films, Candyman, The Thing, House (the 1977 Japanese film) and The Shining. The more colourful and dreamlike, the better the film!
Near-future and Soviet/post-Soviet sci-fi. Think chunky designs and a relatively down-to-earth feel. Examples include Stalker (the Tarkovsky film but I did also like the first game), the Strugatsky brothers, Stanislaw Lem, Blade Runner, the first Deus Ex, Cyberpunk 2077, Technobabylon etc.
C64 art (I put this in every year because I like it, but really don't feel you have to go there. I know it's a big ask).

Dislikes:

Spiders. Seriously, no spiders.
Fantasy.
Anime art for the most part, but I will add that I love some examples so it's not a hard and fast rule either.
Anthropomorphic animals.
Superheroes.

hintoflime (Level 3 Swiss Roll) @ 11/7/2025 10:39

I'm in!

Likes:

Sci Fi and fantasy
Whimsy
Cryptids
Analog technology
Roller skating
Rabbits
The color green
terraria/minecraft
dungeons and dragons
90's and early 2000s internet, AOL days
Anything else you want to draw!

Please don't:

Politics
NSFW

The Doge (Level 2 Flatfoot) @ 11/7/2025 10:39

I'm in
.
I likes: Bug (especially Beetle) ,Uniqued Fantasy Weapon ,Eldritch Monster, Silkweave Pallete, Turquoise, Dark purple
I dont like: What i see when i stand infront of a mirror, Fish eye perspective, industrial product

Silwra (Level 2 Flatfoot) @ 11/7/2025 10:35

yeaahh

Likes:
Unbounded self-expression

Dislikes:
descriptions writing

skamocore (Level 11 Dolphin) @ 11/7/2025 10:23

I'm in.

Likes:

Dolphins
Weird/surreal/unsettling creature designs.
Weird stuff in general
Dark purples
The CGA palettes
1970s interior design, especially conversation pits.

Not necessarily all at once.

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