£20 Secret Santa for a colleague I don't know very well... wwyb?

[DollyMixtureLulus]

Is there such a thing as a thoughtful neutral gift?

Is there a choice to take part? There's no way I could afford to spemd £20 on a colleague, total waste of money, can you suggest everyone watches Martin Lewis on wasteful Christmas giving?

Yes, there was a choice, I was just hoping I'd get someone easier!

Something to eat or drink that doesn’t have to be kept forever

Maybe I'm out of touch then nowhere I've ever worked has been more than £5 for a secret santa. Do you work in the City or somewhere like that?

Male or female?
Not very exciting but if I barely knew them then I’d go for something quite generic like a nice christmassy scented candle, posh bubble bath, pillow sleep spray, oil burner with wax melts. Or maybe a nice mug with some hot choc and marshmallows?
It’s difficult to go for something less bland if you don’t know their interests

Do you work in the City or somewhere like that?

Ha! Far from it! We decided to do it 'properly' because there is obviously no Christmas night out.

Female, mid 40s, not a big drinker I think.

Voucher for a local nice shop or outing?

£20 of scratch cards or lottery tickets.

Book token?
Or voucher for a restaurant as pp have said?

I wouldn't but then I hate Secret Santa's (after being given a leopard skin thong as a Secret Santa one year when I was a size 16)

Unoriginal - but I would go for an Amazon voucher. They are unlikely to go bust and anyone could find something on there they want or like. Or just swap it for cash with someone else easily.

Voucher from a local shop that caters to one of their hobbies? Art and craft, gardening? But £20!!! Way too much for a secret Santa, it's hard enough at the £5-10 mark.

There’s a really good website that you can sign up to, it will randomly give you the name of someone (perhaps you can skip that part out), you add the budget it will suggest gifts based on age and gender with links to Amazon or wherever but the absolute best part is that everyone can add a wish list of items they would like so they still get a gift secretly but they get something they would actually like or use. It was a great relief to me when we used it in my team recently, the person I had to buy for had drill bits on his wish list! I wouldn’t have bought them in a million years had they not been on the wish list. I’ll try to find the site now.

@Bargebill19

Unoriginal - but I would go for an Amazon voucher. They are unlikely to go bust and anyone could find something on there they want or like. Or just swap it for cash with someone else easily.

Agreed. If they don't have prime they'd get free delivery on £29

£20 🤦🏻‍♀️

@MyView2 I think we used something similar last year, great idea because you might get something you actually want (I got £5 worth of double deckers 😋)

Blimey £20 is a lot. I would have opted out at that price

Do they drink tea or coffee? Id get some nice coffee if poss.

Or a JL/M&S/amazon voucher.

Or some posh chocolates.

Or a nice notepad

Honestly sometimes the £5 secret santa is the worst! Suppose it saves money if no works do.

Do you have to spend all the £20?

I ask cos some of my suggestions are cheaper:
Copy of a new novel
Nice reed diffuser
Fleece blanket for cold evenings
M&S posh chocolate biscuits
Nice skincare - Elemis cleansing balm is lovely and about £20
Lovely silver earrings (if she wears them)
Three months' sub to Netflix
Mini hamper (hated on MN I know) with £1-£2 items like biscuits, loose leaf tea (whatever she likes - you must know this), chocolate, Tyrells crisps, preserves of some kind - all the nicest ones
Costa voucher (bit crap tho)

I would like all of those and use them all (apart from the diffuser tbh)

Please don't spend it on something crappy as £20 is too much for that

@Gunpowder

£20 of scratch cards or lottery tickets.

Please don't do this.

I got £5 worth of scratch cards one year and won £1

I’ve found it, it’s www.drawnames.co.uk I’d be suggesting this to help everyone out.

No, I don't want something crappy for her. A proper gift. I might have to ask someone who does know her better than me and do some digging.

What do you think of £10 for a local cafe (that buy a lunch + cake at the really nice local place, which I hope wouldn't be out of business) plus nice M&S biscuits and something at £5??

Cookery book. TKMaxx have a great range just now. You’d get a really nice one for £20

That sounds nice, I'd really like those as secret Santa gifts (I usually get crap ones!)

Lovely soft scarf in a neutral shade. There's loads on Etsy for around £20, some good quality fabrics.