At 1:50PM on November 24th, 2020, Woollim announced 2021 season's greetings for both Lovelyz and Golden Child! (And on November 25th Woollim announced the opening of Woollim Mall on the 27th at 2PM KST with season's greetings for Sung Kyu, Rocket Punch, and Drippin!). Both Lovelyz' and Golden Child's sets can only be purchased via Makestar from November 24th 2PM KST to December 20th 11:59PM KST. There is also an early bird event for both artists: for Lovelyz, the first 300 people will receive a Lovelyz mini poster (A4, 1 type). (Update: Makestar announced the 300 winners; it looks like 300 unique order numbers won, meaning if you bought multiple sets within 1 order, you only receive 1 poster. Also, the 300th winner placed their order 2 hours and 51 minutes after preorders opened). For Golden Child, everyone who purchases from November 24th to November 30th KST will receive a Golden Child mini poster (A4, 10 types random). It was unclear if the poster benefit is per person, per order, or per unit purchased, but after emailing Makestar, they confirmed that the poster is per unit purchased. Unfortunately you cannot combine multiple Makestar projects (ex. Lovelyz' and Golden Child's seasons greetings) into 1 order.
The 2021 Golden Child Season's Greetings here is like Makestar's other video call events. This one is an individual member 1:1; each season's greetings counts as 1 ticket for your designated member, and each order can only be for 1 selected member. There is also the usual PR event where you if made a purchase and promote this pre-order on SNS, you can add a cheering message on the project page with your SNS link for a chance to win 1 out of 20 signed Polaroids. Winners for both the video call and Polaroid will be announced on Makestar on December 21st at 6PM KST.
On December 10th, Makestar announced an autographed Polaroid event applicable from November 24th until December 14th for purchasers who also comment within this event update link, and 20 winners will be announced on December 15th at 6PM KST.
On December 19th, Makestar announced a closing event for those who ordered between December 15th through the 20th and left comments in the update page, 10 winners will receive an autographed polaroid. The winners will be announced on December 21st at 5PM KST.
On December 20th, Makestar tweeted a reminder of the preordering deadline and announced that shipping starts on December 22nd. I'm relieved that the season's greetings won't take as long as Makestar's usual projects, so we can make maximum use of the calendar during 2021.
The Golden Child Season's Greetings comes with the following:
- Outbox
- Desk Calendar
- Message Photo Card (10 cards total)
- Photo Diary
- Sticker Set (2 sheets)
- Photo Garland (10 pieces total)
- AR Postcard + Holder Set (12 cards total)
- Pet Key Ring (1 random out of 10)
- Poster Calendar
Each season's greetings set is $33.74 USD, and shipping to the US is either via DHL or EMS. After much debate on the random member poster and random member key ring, I settled for ordering 2 sets for just under $96 USD shipped. At this point I know I can't collect OT10 but figured having an extra season's greetings set would be nice; one I can display and use, and the other I can keep in my binder and preserve.
On December 24th, Makestar updated my order with a tracking number. Later on in the day, I received DHL's notification that my package is expected to be delivered on December 31st. It ended up arriving on December 28th!
My 2 season's greetings came stacked, then wrapped in 1 layer of bubblewrap, with crumpled up bubblewrap at the top to fill in the space, and the 2 preorder posters at the very bottom of the box.
To set the scene, 2 photoshoots are used in this season's greetings: the paint shoot (like pictured above) and the colorful shoot (like in the key ring and photocard set).
Preorder Poster
The backside has this design. These posters are A4 sized.
I got Daeyeol, and in perfect condition!
Here are the contents as placed inside the box.
The backside of each card has that member's printed sign and message.
Here is a closer look at August, with Bomin's birth date and Golden Child's debut date in red.
Here is how the holder looks like once it's all set up.
Photo Diary
Next is a 2-page spread of the group. All photos within this diary are from the paint shoot.
Next are individual member photos, starting in age order with Daeyeol for January. There is 1 photo per page, and 4 photos total per member.
Jangjun's pose on the left is also so adorable! I just love how soft everyone is on this set.
I love the aesthetics of this shoot; the colorful tape really makes the shoot look even more fun.
For the month of November, there is 1 2-page spread of this subunit.
And for the month of December, there are 2 pages for the remaining subunits.
At the back are 16 blank pages for notes.
Desk Calendar
I love how the members all look so soft in this shoot.
The skateboard brings me back to Damdadi era with Donghyun's shoot!
I feel like Jaehyun's outfit is the only one that's out of place.
I like how they're lowkey incorporating the sports concept! It fits Golden Child so well^^
Joochan looks so fitting as a cover model with his pose!
And last but not least, our forever precious maknae Bomin^^
December has the hyung line and again is in the film strip format.
And the maknae line finishes of the calendar with January 2022, again with the film strip format.
The very last page includes a 2021 calendar.
Each preorder poster comes in its own resealable plastic bag. I got Y and Seungmin! All the images of these preorder posters are from the paint shoot, and these photos aren't included within the regular season's greetings contents. Y's pose is so cute, and Seungmin looks so adorable with those glasses!
While I can tolerate the slight bend at the top and small dent at the bottom corner of my Y poster, I was really disappointed with the long crease at the top of my Seungmin poster. This was because the poster was sitting at the bottom of the box and took a beating every time the bottom of my box took a beating. I decided to contact Makestar via their 1:1 inquiry, and within 24 hours they replied saying that they'll send me another poster and will update me with tracking soon! Within a few more hours I received the DHL email notification with my tracking number.
I received my package on December 31st! The poster had a layer of bubblewrap around it followed by an air filler on top.
Outbox
I'm always really impressed by the packaging of Golden Child's season's greetings, and am grateful that they've never gone with the cardboard, pizza box style. The outbox is about 9.75" by 7.5" by under 2".
The design is retro and reminds me of my childhood, with the bubble letters, colorful theme, paint icons, and the red triangle in the corner.
The very top includes the smaller items: the photocard set, garland set, sticker sheet set, postcard and holder set, and key ring. Underneath is the photo diary, followed by the desk calendar, then folded poster, and lastly instructions for the AR postcards. Every item comes in a resealable plastic bag, except for the instruction sheet.
Key Ring
Each key ring comes in its own resealable bag. I was worried that the metal would scratch, but fortunately they arrived in great condition.
Each key ring comes with a random member and the original Golden Child logo. I got Donghyun and Joochan! These images are all from the colorful shoot.
These are surprisingly really thin, almost like transparency film. The top also has a lot of air bubbles; I'm not sure if this is a protective layer, but I didn't want to risk ripping this off to find out if I was damaging it or not. The key chain (just measuring the member, not the metal) is about 1" by 2".
Here is the backside of the key rings.
These key rings are definitely too precious to use! Instead I'm hanging them on my bulletin board.
Photocard Set
The photocard set was packaged in age order. The images are all from the colorful shoot and the cards have a glossy finish.
Garland Set
AR Postcard + Holder Set
The postcards are bundled within the holder.
The garland set comes with 10 cardstock pieces and a piece of string. Here you can see there is a hole at each top corner that needs to be popped out before stringing the string through to hang up the garland.
Here is the front side of all 10 pieces, and this is the order they were packaged in. The images are all from the colorful shoot. They have a matte finish. Each piece is about 4" by 4.75".
The backside is either red or blue and has that member's name printed. If you organize these pieces by age order, then the colors alternate nicely.
Sticker Set
The sticker set comes with 2 sheets, filled with the members' heads from the paint shoot, as well as the icons used throughout this season's greetings and Golden Child's original logo and logo for this season's greetings.
The holder is made of matte cardstock and can be opened on the side; the perforated tab makes it easy to pull without damaging it.
The postcards came in calendar order, starting with a group photo from the color shoot, followed by individual photos in age order from the paint shoot, and ending with a group photo from the paint shoot. The postcards have a matte finish. These postcards are just under 4" by 6".
Each backside has a calendar for a month. Sundays are in red while Golden Child's debut date and members' birth dates are circled in red.
To make the holder into a stand, simply break the perforation and fold the 2 flaps. It may look flimsy, but it stands up well.
Here is the final setup! The holder frames the photos nicely, but now I'm thinking how the calendar aspect of it will never be used if I'm only going to display the photo.
These postcards are AR postcards, which were activated on January 1st, 2021. The included instruction sheet has the QR codes for the necessary app for iPhone and Android, as well as instructions in Korean and English on the front, and Chinese and Japanese on the back.
The AR feature is really simple to use: first download the app, then select your language, and finally line up your screen with the postcard image, and the video clip should play. You can do this with all 12 postcards. The group postcards include messages from the group while the individual member postcards include video of their solo shoot along with a message for their respective month. The highlight for me was from the December card, when Jaehyun sang!
The photo diary has the cute paint icons on the front and back covers. I was surprised just how big this diary is! It is 6.75" by over 9" by 0.5".
The first page includes a 2021 monthly calendar, with Sundays and holidays in red and Golden Child's debut date and the members' birth dates highlighted in red.
Next is a 2-page spread of that month's calendar. Golden Child's debut date and the members' birth dates are also noted when applicable, and holidays are in red. The last column is for you to write any memos.
Following the month calendar are 4 2-page spreads like the above, each supposedly representing 1 of the 5 weeks in a month. Just as I hit January 25th expecting a 5th 2-page spread in January, I realized I had to go into February to finish off the last week of January...You can circle the month in the top left and the week in the top right, then there is a memo box and a box for each day of the week. All the pages are matte so it's easy to write without smearing ink.
Y is next, and his photoshoot from this set is so adorable! I love the tape and he just looks so soft and his poses are really cute.
I really like these shots too, showing Seungmin spray painting on a clear wall. This reminds me a lot of the photoshoot from Golden Child's 2019 Season's Greetings (Tag holding the spray paint bottle), but this time it's much more my style with the colorful and bright concept.
I cannot get over Jaehyun's photos here! He looks like the most precious baby ever that must be protected at all costs!
And this is such a superior era for Jibeom! I really wish there were more photos from this shoot, or if the preorder posters were more easily accessible.
The very last page includes a cute group photo.
On January 5th, Makestar send an email notice that there were errors in some of the dates within the photo diary. To compensate, starting on the 18th Makestar will send a corrective sticker for the month containing those errors for however many season's greetings were purchased to the address on your order.
On February 2nd, I received my stickers! They came in a padded envelope via USPS. The stickers are so cute! I didn't think that they'd actually send stickers with the boys on them, so this was such a pleasant surprise. The photos are also generally different from those in the season's greetings. They all have a matte finish. As for the actual errors in the photo diary, I'm still at a loss...
The desk calendar is about 9" by 6.75" when flat. There are a total of 14 physical pages, or 28 pages including both sides. All the pages are matte. The backside is made of thick cardboard, creating a sturdy base for when the calendar is standing.
The calendar has two sections: the skinny strip and the thick strip. Each side contains that month's calendar on one strip, and a photo on the other strip. The photo layout for group and subgroup photos has a retro style, showing the same photo cut off at the top and bottom, like a cropped film strip.
February through November are all individual member photos by age order. All photos from the desk calendar are from the colorful shoot.
I really like the format of this desk calendar - how the calendar is actually viewable on either side (instead of 1 long strip at the bottom), that the photos are also still nice and large, and that the photos are separate from the calendar so you can choose which photo to display no matter the month.
Overall, I really love this year's season's greetings! I absolutely love how fun and bright the paint shoot is, and would've preferred if the entire season's greetings used photos from this shoot. I really like how the outbox is high quality unlike those cardboard pizza boxes that many season's greetings are packaged in. The extra random member poster is absolutely gorgeous and if possible, I'd love to collect all 10...but I'm really happy having 3. The AR postcard set is also quite fun with the members' behind-the-scenes clips and messages. It'd be nice if the key chain were of higher quality, but with the way it is, I'm content with just having 2. And as for the photo diary and desk calendar, I'm really happy with having 2 copies. This is my first time actually using a photo diary included in a season's greetings, and I'm writing all my thoughts and emotions related to Golden Child throughout 2021. The only downside is how the photo diary only has enough pages for 4-week months, not 5-week months. And with the desk calendar, I can look at both photos dedicated to that month without having to switch to the other side in the middle of the month.
