Secret Santa-has anyone else had supposed bad luck with it? Lighthearted.

[Noodge]

I have been in four including this one.

First one, new team member got me and didn't get me anything. Blank stare when he was asked why (by me and others). I had got some lovely hair accessories for the woman I got, which were well received.

Second one, again I didn't get anything. This time the excuse was that his shift pattern meant he didn't have time. We all had differing shift patterns.

He was a smoker and I had bought him some very well-thought out smoke related things. I ended up giving them to my lovely manager who was also a smoker.

Third one, I as always bought some thoughtful presents-I was presented with a box of cheap brown hair dye. I dyed my hair bright colours at the time. There was no 'joke theme' or such for which it would have made sense, and I had no desire to dye my hair. Binned, and had cost a fraction of what I had spent and much lower than the budget given.

Two different work places.

This year, obviously not complete yet but a different workplace, and I have been given the name of a woman who really doesn't seem to like me. I have posted about her on here before, the way she addresses me is rude and unprofessional and she often allocates me more work than others. I like everyone else I work with!!

I end up with her. SO typical!

I almost opted out but nobody else seemed to want to and they're all excited about it so I didn't want to be a scrooge.

Anyone else?

I get second-hand embarrassment/empathy sometimes-seeing people being disappointed over their gifts.

I don't take part in Work Secret Santas now. Don't work in places where it's done however I wouldn't even if I did.

I've been completely missed out twice - so embarrassing as both were big public gift handing out and openings. It was the 3rd time that really got to me - it was a crafting group I belonged to and the brief was to make something for your person. Everyone got beautifully handmade gifts. Me - a supermarket basket of nuts, to which I am allergic!. I did complain about that one, not that it did much good.

OP - you have my sympathies. Just buy a supermarket toiletry set. And next year just opt out

OMG everyone’s work colleagues here sound terrible! I only ever had good gifts from my colleagues, albeit our team is small and we know each other reasonably well. We haven’t done it for a few years now though. Sort of got phased out from that Christmas during covid when we couldn’t meet up for team lunch. Due to COL crisis etc we haven’t ever revisited the idea.

The hairdye probably WAS a joke though, if you dyed your hair bright colours at the time. Kind of like a come on, act your age, get a normal colour kind of thing. Might be funny if it was from a close friend who you joked about it to.

(Incidentally I'm currently thinking about going bright pink but I don't quiiiite have the nerve!)

Be professional. Get her something thoughtful.

Write her a nice note wishing her happy holidays and success in the new year.

Who knows maybe she will defrost.

I just don't take part. I've no interest in wasting money and time on people I work with.
xmas is expensive enough

Secret Santa at work makes me a little uneasy. I was young, about 21and my team were all mid-30's and into 40's. I wanted to fit in, so I participated in whatever came along. I got my gift and ended up opening it at home - thank God. It was a pair of green satin panties. 😳
I never mentioned it at work, wouldn't have known what to say anyway and thankfully Secret Santa was forgotten by the time we returned to work after Christmas. I forgot about the weird gift and life went on. I moved around the company, but very casually stayed in touch with a nice male colleague. We worked in the same office occasionally over several years and maybe once a year met for lunch if he was in my work area. At our last meet-up he confided he was a sex addict and I ended up ghosting him after that. Anyway, I then found out he was caught having sex with a co-worker after hours in the office. And one day at a new office the topic of Secret Santa came up and it popped into my head that the weird gift I received all those years earlier was likely from creepy John. 🤮

I got a Prosecco glass that says "mummy's wine time". I don't drink...

We used to all give a person a donation to a charity. You tried to pick a charity they might like to support but even if the guess was way out it did not matter as all the money went to good causes. It was £10 but Most of us spent a lot more and again it did not matter if you gave a lot or a little. We all had a glass of mulled wine, a good old song song and then went home or on to a bar. I don’t remember anyone ever feeling aggrieved.

No need to be coy. Tell us how you really feel. 😲

Yeah I ended up with nothing! The person who had my name was off sick. When she came back in February she randomly got me a chanel lipstick

I got a vibrator one year. I was underwhelmed. It wasnt even a nice one.

I'm so surprised that any workplaces are still doing secret santas. Thought they'd all been scared off years ago.

We put things we would like on ours.
Previously it was buy what you think and the worst I got was a cheap gift set. So cheap it didn’t have a name on it.
I’ve had jewellery several times and apart from the time I received several pairs of poor quality earrings, I’ve still got, and wear the jewellery.
I’ve also bought jewellery too.
I don’t like generic gifts. I don’t drink much alcohol. I can buy myself chocolate and don’t appreciate it as a gift. This year I’m struggling what to ask for as the things I want are very specific and probably over budget.

We have a theme - one year was calendars, one year a new mug for work, this year is £10 to a charity in the name of your colleague - has prompted some really interesting discussions about why folks choose who they choose to support

last time, i didnt like it,
you dont know the name and it seemed to be an unnecessary expense
although since then we have done a whole team one with a lower price, which is better
i remember i got given when named, pot pourri, which i did not appreciate.

That’s so bizarre! I wonder if others could see all the participants’ wish lists too? On some websites, you can click on everyone’s names and see their lists. Maybe someone else added it as a joke or by mistake, and she didn’t actually want it? Either way, you were just following her request — it’s not your fault at all! Honestly, mugs and socks are classics for a reason — safe and practical!

@Pumpkincozynights If you have a favourite phrase or saying etc., you could provide an Etsy link like this and get a custom print that you can print in a print shop 😋

I’ve posted a couple of these before so apologies if you remember them from previous SS threads.

Working on an NHS ward we would start planning at beginning of November when a list would go up and interested participants could sign up. By 1st week in December, everyone involved would have picked a name out of a hat, their name would get ticked off on the list. Gifts were to be left in a box in the ward office by a set date, usually a week or so before Christmas, and there would be a few reminders to bring in by xx date. You would collect your gift on the shift you worked closest to Christmas Day and could open during the shift.

System worked well for a few years then, one year, a couple of people didn’t get gifts in time for Christmas, and the “Santa's” said they’d forgotten - but still took their gifts as nothing was left; so they added the safety net of the organiser being responsible for checking the box every few days and ticking recipients names off the list so no one was forgotten

One year, my gift was taken from the box before Christmas - it was there because it was ticked off the list as being there, and I’d seen the gift bag when depositing the gift I’d bought, but had gone by my night shift on Christmas Eve. No one ever admitted taking it so, after that year, the box was moved to a shelf in the Srs office and staff had to be let into the locked office to add their gift. Following year, the person who picked me, resigned before Christmas because they didn’t get the shifts they wanted (basically demanded to only work 27, 28 & 29 December and none of the “big” shifts - nights Christmas Eve/NYE; Christmas Day, Boxing Day, NYE or NYD) and didn’t bother getting anything. It was only come Christmas Eve that someone realised when there was a gift for that person but not me - and their friend swiftly took it for them!

After those 2 years, I refused to take part anymore.

Strangest gift I got was when I worked for a care agency and someone got me a silky headscarf that was very unlike anything I’d wear, a set of cheap market stall type make up brushes and a pack of 3 half empty tubes of lip gloss 🤮🤮. The lip glosses went in the bin and the other things went into a donations box at the local day centre to provide something for a tombola for their next fair.

i got the person who got me. i bought a bone china mug with a design of something they were interested in on it and popped some chocolates in.
i got a wheelie bin pen tidy and one of those lipstick holders with a press stud and a mirror and it wasn't even new.
both put discreetly in the outside bin as my tasteless kids would have lived a wheelie bin pen holder but it would have given me the rage every time i saw it.
i just don't bother now and there is no hoo ha about it.

I used to work somewhere where some bright spark thought there should be rules added to the secret Santa. Things like it had to begin with the same letter as the persons name, or in their favourite colour.

I hate Secret Santa, in larger organisations I worked mine was always the one which didn’t arrive on Secret Santa day

I understand that, but it was so far under budget (the type you could get for £2.99 in home bargains) and it wasn't something I could use-everyone else got proper gifts rather than joke ones?Maybe it would have been funny if they got me something else too, a real gift, but it was utterly useless to me and disheartening when I'd spent budget or maybe even slightly over, on a thoughtful and appropriate gift.
My hair colour didn't mean I couldn't do my job effectively, and we weren't public-facing.

Missed the last bit, sorry! Go for it! It brightens your day. The only reason I stopped is I lost a bit of confidence for various reasons and having bright hair draws a lot of attention from people, that I was no longer comfortable with.