To think if you want to take part in office secret Santa

[lastqueenofscotland]

You have to get into the spirit of it....

Not gladly accept the well thought out £10 gift from another colleague while handing the person you got (who you happen not to like) a bottle of that £1 Alberto balsam shampoo and a normal sized galaxy bar.

We are all on fairly senior roles in the city so money is NOT an issue.

She'd spend more than the budget on lunch a day

I'm not even the reciever of the gift, but I organised it within the team and am annoyed at the lack of effort when everyone else tried

I loath secret Santa's and resent spending money on people I don't even want to send a Christmas card to but if you don't join in with ours you're "not a team player" so achieve year I buy a charity gift.

This year was a goat for a family somewhere in need (Oxfam) but have previously given gift certificates from local charities thanking them for their generous donation.

Inoffensive to the recipient and I don't get angry and gifting to someone unnecessary.

Last one I had to do, I did not get anything. It was horrible.

I mean I did buy a gift for my person but did not actually get given a gift!

Yes, I was at a Christmas meal once when one person didn't get anything. The chap was an unusual character anyway, nice and well meaning but not Mr popular. I felt awful for him, and the manager was not impressed. He had a record of who was buying for who as well so had words I think.

As it was an opt in secret Santa I do think a bottle of shampoo was mean.

If you can't be bothered with it then why didn't they opt out?

we do the bring a present and put it in the bag, then someone wears a santa hat and beard and takes the bag round at the end of the xmas lunch the budget is £5 and although there are always lots of chocs and biscuits there are some imaginative gifts too. we have had banana holders (always good for a laugh) a pineapple corer, always stationary stuff and mugs, the ladybird books for adults make an appearance too. all inoffensive fun really.

I would worry the bottle of shampoo was a personal dig at someone. I was once new in a really big team and got forgotten in the secret Santa (I wonder if people kept putting my name back in as they didn't know me), they had a spare gift they had clearly brought in just in case (was a cheap nail tools kit- I never do my nails!). They tried to hide it but it was really obvious.

The next year I got lovely personalised presents (cider and a mug with my name on) so I felt much better then!

I'm crying laughing at the giant tub of hair gel passive aggressive gift giving at its best!

DH's work do dirty Santa with a budget of £10. they're all wise to it now so end up buying something they want themselves and then trying to steal it off other people. They have a laugh with it as they all get on really well in his department.

My department at work do themed secret Santa which is opt in. One year we had to buy the recipient a mug, the next year it was something beginning with the first letter of their name. It works quite well; everyone in the department knows who can take a joke and who is more sensitive so the presents are usually pretty well thought out. I don't think anyone has been upset by what they have received.

Agree they can be a bit of a minefield though, especially if you've put time and effort into buying a gift and then get any old shit in return.

URaghu.....this thread brings back bad memories. I used to work in a supermarket where the ratio of female to male staff was fairly equal. My secret Santa present was a hideous white thing with the slogan (excuse me while I retch) "Slippery When Wet". I was horrified. Luckily I opened it on my break so whichever wanker sent it didn't get the pleasure of my reaction. The only way I could cope with it was to convince myself one of the women had given it to me as a laugh - the thought of any of the truly awful guys who worked there actually choosing it for me...... Boak.

(I used it as a hairband when I took my make up off )

Thong, not thing!

My office includes the chief exec and directors so gifts were all really nice except one of the directors who received an apron with cock and balls. In the scheme of things it's not that rude but compared to all the other gifts it was really inappropriate. It's still mentioned 3 years on and the person who bought it ended up being revealed (not sure if he knows we know). It was another director who isn't very popular. I make sure I buy gifts that I would be happy if people knew they were from me!

We went through a ridiculous time with secret santas. All getting embarrassingly rude. Fortunately thise staff have left now. We now have a much better time. I had to buy a gift for one of our nurses last year. I knew she was a really keen cyclist and managed to get what I hoped was a great book on European cycle routes. I was thrilled when she said how much she loved the present and I had to keep quiet that it was me. Ours is tomorrow lunch time and I still need to get something. Help! (I'm off in the morning though)

Inoffensive to the recipient

I think it's fairly offensive if you spent time choosing a gift for someone and what you get given is a certificate for a goat.

I got a turkey baster once in an office SS

A certificate for a goat - are you joking?

Presumably you donate the gift you receive to charity, given that you're so worthy.

She'd probably forgotten and just happened to have a bottle of shampoo and a bar of chocolate in her bag!

Instead of secret santa this year, staff at my local Lidl have donated toys to the Salvation Army's Christmas gift collection - given to families who've had need of their foodbank. I thought that was a lovely idea. Secret Sandra seems to cause nothing but trouble.

We did Secret Santa, at my suggestion, in our office. It lasted a grand total of 2 years before being scrapped after 2 of the women complained pretty much for the whole of January about how crap their presents were.

Our budget was £5, and both times the Secret Santa who had bought the 'crap' gifts was me!

I didn't deliberately buy rubbish presents, I had actually put quite a bit of thought into both and thought I had done well... Never again!!

Secret Sandra..

Our school wit (actually funny and kind guy) got a borat mankini two years on the trot. The third year he got a book of poetry and he was so happy.

Pretty I agree, that secret Sandra is a right cow, causes nothing but trouble!

A certificate for a goat - are you joking?

Presumably you donate the gift you receive to charity, given that you're so worthy.

the last dept where we did this, there were about 18/20 people & generally most people knew each other fairly well. We did the "pick a name at random" version. Generally we never got anything wholly inappropriate (though some were decidedly odd) because people could generally work out who bought what (especially if you were buying for one of your friends)

One year we had a guy over on secondment from the US and he'd never come across this sort of custom. He bought a large Christmas pudding - nothing special, just a family-sized supermarket one. I was the lucky recipient of that!

Another year I got a battery-operated toy (looked something like a large mouse) that had a sensor in it so it changed direction when it bumped into something (can't remember what it was called now). My cats were still playing with it 5 years later! The guy who bought that didn't know I had cats, he just thought it was a cute gadget!