I know there unreasonable but £30 is insane!

You will find that not many people opt in. I organised the school secret Santa and the limit was £5. Some people spent more because they were close with the person they got. £30 is just too much.

can you speak to the actual staff like drop it into conversation? Do not send the email as all the replies will comeback to you.

speak to head teacher as it also won’t look good to parents when schools are saying they are struggling financially and then word gets out about this. Even some of the teachers will struggle as I was top of the pay scale but all the extra bills meant less disposable income.

you need to say something. Many of the TAs will also be on universal credit.

It's much too much.

I'd be happy with 5 - 10£s.

don't send the email! people will forever associate you with the budget-busting secret Santa! there is no way I'd be taking part in that unless it was £5/£10.

^This^ make it clear you have been asked to send this information.

I wouldn’t send the email on the basis that most people will find it too high, and you’ll get the blame, even more so if you don’t join in yourself.

£30 is far too much. We used to do £5 but put it up to £10 last year. I might even pass this year, although I’ve been called Scrooge in the past for trying to get out of it.

Ours is a fiver.

Sorry probably being thick since no one else has asked but what is ‘very PT?’

But yes £30 is a bit insane. I don’t even spend that on some adults in my family for Christmas, never mind a work colleague!
I agree with others who’ve suggested that £30 should be a maximum. Perhaps say ‘please only spend what you feel is appropriate as it’s all for fun and definitely £30 is an absolute maximum’. Or refuse to participate in the whole thing.

Make sure you end your email with "please send any feedback to ". "

£30 is crazy. No way.

I have stopped with Secret Santa participation.

More than one time I ended the game with no gift. 'Oh I forgot - today?!...” or with a £1 gift when the budget was £15.
Fun after spending the budget trying to find a nice gift? No.

I'm better off spending the money on myself and my family.

Tell them both to start flaunting their wealth to their staff. £10 would be an absolute limit. We were asked to do Secret Santa, and we all refused it. The very best which comes from it, is someone buys you a present you like and you buy a present for someone else who also likes the present they got. The likelyhood of that happening between 20 people is rediculously low. It leads to hostilitity because people don't get presents they like and not everyone spends the same amount.
You give presents to your personal friends. Christmas has no place in the workplace UNLESS the business buy the same presents for everyone. (We had this one year when we did exceptionally well and we were all given bottles of bubbly) - Which we then had to point out that they shouldn't be giving alcohol with no alternative... as we not only had people who don't drink for religious reasons, but alcoholics (who hadn't drunk for many years).

If you are a reader it's brillant. If not it isn't...

Great fun (or not) to be told to donate the book because of other people joy of books.

Ive twice ended up giftless due to someone off sick or forgot! Which is fine at a fiver but not if youve coughed up £30. Its too much for a secret santa gift

I’m also going against the grain here.

if it is up to 30 pounds then people can spend as much as they can afford and no one should spend 30 if they will be pissed if they don’t get the same back, gifting should never be about what you get in return. And you can chose to not participate.

if it’s a mandatory 30 I think this is too much, but again if people can chose to not participate then it’s fine,

my workplace doesn’t do it, likely as it’s predominantly male. Let’s face it, this is a female thing, but previous workplaces have and it was always an opt in/out thing,

You have a few options.

1. You confide in someone else to send out a different unofficial secret Santa email set at £5-10. At this point you should have your £30 email in draft, sent to the other person "just to check everything's as it should be". You still send it but of course it say it's optional
2. The £3 I love although tbh I'd find that just as annoying as £30! £3 is hard!!
3. You have a chat with a few other people and find out whether £30 is too high. If so you just send the email out and include the line "after asking many of you we've set the limit at £10"

That was OP correcting herself.

I've just realised this has already been mentioned- apologies :)

I don't know if this helps, but we do a £10 budget and call it a charity shop secret santa. The idea is you can spend up to £10 but it has to be something from a charity shop. This way you are gifting someone something and raising money for charity too. Especially at christmas time. This sounds way more reasonable to me than £30!

PERFECT

Just send them out, ask if they want to participate. People who don't reply obviously don't isn't to pay that. People can speak for themselves.

Good grief cannot believe this post, £30 for secret Santa is ludicrous. Also £30 is a lot of money for some people. I would do away with secret Santa all together. It is just nonsense, there is a cost of living crisis and people are seriously in debt, I don't feel it is in any way fair to put people in this position.

I have worked in an office where someone was in tears over the expectation to bring cakes in on their Birthday because they didn't have the money to pay for them. Some people do literally live hand to mouth, it is unkind to put pressure on people to participate in a £30 secret Santa arrangement.

Absolutely outrageous. £10 tops - £5 better. They seem to have forgotten what Secret Santa is all about...

£5 for a work Secret Santa is the norm in most workplaces. Most people don’t want to waste money on colleagues. £30 is my budget for some family members!! We do a £5 Secret Santa and it’s often novelty gifts like stress balls or bath bombs or chocolates. People will be really pissed off if it’s £30

That is very true and a good point.

Brilliant advice. And yes £30 is way too much.