A secret Santa one (peed off)

Can you explain the deeper meaning, as I feel we are only getting half a story!

I think the gifts you received are far nicer than the gifts you bought tbh.

Was the quote on the mug at least something personal to you?

My 14 year old DD did a Secret Santa with some friends and they just seemed to exchange gift bags full of the same stuff: fluffy socks, toiletries and sweets. And somehow there’s another one of those giant impractical cups in my house 🙄

£20 is awkward as it’s too much to get away with something a bit daft and silly, but not really enough to get something higher end.

I think it could have cost £20 and sounds lovely. If it didn’t, maybe they couldn’t afford it. Put yourself in her shoes. I think I’m crap at buying gifts but I try my best and I agonise over it. I’m just not good at thinking of good stuff. Doesn’t mean I care any less for instance.

Back when we did it in the office, it was the same.
Stupid ties, silly slogans for your desk, anything with sexual innuendo were the usual gifts. I remember being really disappointed one year when I got a giftset from Boots because it was so boring compared to the 'fun' things others got.

Op im sorry I don't understand your reply. In my opinion what you wrote was nonsense and I replied because thats what the thread is for. Sorry if you took that to mean I was part of the pile on. I wasn't trying to be. Soz 🎄

Not everyone has been unpleasant to you.

Bought. You bought them.

What i find most odd about this post and quote is op is literally complaining about terrible secret santa gifts when (im sorry to say, I don't want to be rude) ops gifts are not much better. All the gifts mentioned are the same type of tat. But op if you are aware youd get flack then maybe that means you also knew what you was writing was nonsense. I don't mean to add to the pile on so sorry for that and of course there's no need to attack anyone's character over secret santa. 🤦🏻‍♀️

She brought them to the event where they were exchanged. She also bought them prior in order to be able to bring them. It might have been an error but it could legitimately have been referring to bringing rather than buying.

Where did you bring them oh illiterate one?

It is not snobbery for everyone. You wouldnt gift someone a supermarket hand wash would you, so why gift a B&H one? People buy it because it is everywhere on the shelves, it is convenient and might look nice because it is in some fancy packaging . I am not a snob, I but supermarket own brand hand-wash, but I would hate to receive a B&H gift set because at the end of the day, it'd just soap.

I've got someone a personalised mug for Xmas, it was £17. What you have could have easily totaled £20.

Sounds like pretty standard Secret Santa gifts to me, and about £20 worth. Everything's so expensive these days!

I think you get a nicer gift than whoever was lumbered with the under £20 perfume!

Someone at our works party , ( again £20 spend) got half used face cream and a gold plated necklace that wasn't new , it wasn't boxed , neither were wrapped and was in a Tesco bag .
I think personalised mugs are expensive around £12 .
Sorry that you didn't like your items , was it a man do you think that bought them?

I expect the mug cost a fair bit if it is personalised.

I always thought Secret Santa (wankey name) was meant to be shite, not a “thoughtful present”. Things must have moved on.

I got a colleague edible knickers one year. She saw the funny side and said “Now I’ve got something to wear when I’ve not done my washing”. Guess these days that would be a “Straight to HR”.

Most socks are 12 quid

I’m surprised you’re “feeling like crap” over this- seems a bit extreme. Is there more to the story with your friends?
I do also think the gift you bought (chocs, bayliss and Harding, a candle) really is on par with the one you received (chocs, socks, mug). In terms of quality of gift I think they’re the same.
And all of this stuff is what I’d expect in secret Santa! I don’t know why anyone is surprised by receiving these generic gifts. I love joining in with SS at work but more so for the camaraderie of it all… it’s a bit of fun, all get together in the staff room, laugh at silly gift and try and guess who bought what. I’ve never entered it in the hope of getting an actually decent gift, it’s always candles and smellies, and that’s fine!

If no one else has suggested this..fill it with cold water...at intervals if necessary. That way you can have the comfort of a duvet pulled up to your nose and still not be hot.

You’d be surprised how much fuzzy socks cost now. At least £8+. More like a tenner even in cheap shops. And then mug will have been £5-£10 too. So honestly sounds like they did spend around £20.

I volunteered this year to be part of a homeless/refuge gifting initiative, and was assigned a mum in refuge. The aim is to put a gift bag together of things they may like as they’re very unlikely to receive anything for Christmas (DV situations etc). I thought it’d be about a £20-£30 spend but have easily spent about £50. The suggestions for gifts included things like fuzzy socks, candle, chocolate. I ended up buying things like basic toiletries, tweezers, nail clippers, mascara, lip balm, hair towel, hot water bottle, a fun Christmas cup, a nice candle, sachets of hot chocolate and coffee (the kind with milk already in, so they just need water), some snacks bars and a little selection box. I had in mind a friend who fled a DV situation with her baby with nothing more than what they were wearing, so it was a lot of ‘essentials’ plus some ‘fun’ bits. I never did buy fuzzy socks because I couldn’t find any under a tenner! Which is honestly ridiculous, because you can get a 5 pack of normal plain socks for less than that.

Anyway, my point is that everything costs more these days, especially around Christmas, so try not to take it too much to heart because I bet your gifts cost more than you thought. I bet the small Celebrations were to bring the final total up to the limit.

As for your colleague not thinking much of you, they might like you a great deal but not know too much about what you’re into so went with some ‘safe’ choices. It can be so hard to buy something lovely for a colleague if you don’t really know them that well personally (beyond the surface stuff most people tend to talk about at work).