AIBU to hate work secret santa?

[KitKat1985]

So yesterday the subject of secret santa came up at work. I actually love Christmas but work secret santa just does my head in, probably not helped by the fact that we're a large team so the organisational logistics are tricky (although am happy to do it with friends and family). My reasons are thus:

1. We're a big team (30+) and inevitably I don't know quite a few of the staff that well, and if you get picked to buy for someone you hardly know it's really difficult.

2. Whilst you can get some lovely gifts for a tenner, most times usually in secret santa, I end up being bought a generic gift of toiletries or something else with zero thought gone into it (probably because the person buying also doesn't know me very well), that ends up sat in the bathroom for months before being re-gifted.

3. Every work secret santa I've ever done someone ends up getting upset or offended by an ill-judged joke present (you know the type - a mug with 'office gossip' or something printed on it), or even worse, buys a passive aggressive present or something that they blatantly bought from the pound shop or the like because they don't like the recipient.

4. Someone will inevitably forget to bring in their gift on the day or forget about the work secret santa completely, meaning one person in the team gets left without a present during the present opening session and either gets miffed, or worse, worried that no-one in the team likes them.

5. The discussions for days afterwards about trying to work out who bought what.

So Mumsnet jury, I've laid out my reasons. AIBU to dislike work secret santas (or at least just a giant grinch)?

Oh I only ever did ss once. No one let me know that in actual fact they all spent 30 quid or more on the five pounds gift limit. So my present was frankly awful in comparison.
I felt humiliated and never bothered again.

Oh and at a different job (slightly related) the birthday thing, I gave a tenner for 8 birthdays and when mine finally rolled around I got "oh we stopped doing that it was costing so much"
Sorry feeling very grinchified

We have it so you have to buy the present (£5 budget) from a charity shop, and that you don’t know who you are buying for (no-one gets offended). If you want to take part you bring in a gift on the day, they all get numbered and then we draw lots to pick the presents. A bit of fun and the money goes to charity.

I really enjoy it at my current office and have had some great gifts in the past but we do all know each other really well.

Watch me get some utter shit now :p

Ive never been a fan since I have enough to buy and sort but went along with the consensus just to keep the peace.
I always personalised my gifts and was often rewarded by smiles and pleased looks. Invariably I got back some rammel from the back of someones cupboard. The last time I did it I got a set of wine glass markers ,the cheapest kind you can buy, and I was well renowned for not drinking wine . I made my displeasure very vocally so the gifter would have been under no illusion that they had done the right thing.
I will never take part in another one .
This year our office is collecting things for the homeless so I will buy some socks with my fiver.

We scrapped it and instead buy a gift each to send to the children’s hospital. Much better use of time and money!

We do £5 maximum, must be from a charity shop, and a big pile of presents. Pick one from the pile OR take something someone else hs picked and then they pick from the pile.

Some sort of game beforehand to decide who gets to go in which order (winners go last).

YADNBU. I've got sick of putting lots of thought into the presents I buy and then I get some rank "smellies" gift set from people who are meant to know me better. I've opted out this year

Early in my current job i gave what I thought was a lovely box of Christmas biscuits to a woman who everyone but me knows has an eating disorder. Cue dead silence and lack of eye contact. The year after that I fixed with my closest friend on the team to 'get' each other. The year after that I declined and never again.

I stopped participating when I got a calendar for the other football team in my city that I don't support. I had organised everything, the meal, the transport and the flaming Secret bloody Santa. Everyone but me got something that wasn't a 'joke present' It's well known which football team I support so it was quite obviously a joke which backfired. I gave my 'present' away to a friend of mine who appreciated it and offered to pay me for it, I declined. I'm still bitter about it and it's been over 10 years now.

I personally enjoy it - but then again, I usually always get something good out of it as I’m a collector (I won’t say what if as it’s identifying!) so even someone who doesn’t know me well will have an idea of what to get.

I’ve only had one occasion when it’s been a negative experience. I found this purse in Accessorize that should have been £22, but was half price. I thought I’d found a lovely gift within a tight budget. The recipient looked at it, opened it and actually shook it; as if she couldn’t quite believe that was it and there must be something else inside. I was gutted it was such a flop!

Opted out this year for the first time, very freeing!

CoughLaughFart some people think it unlucky to give an empty purse - you are supposed to put a penny or something in. Maybe that's what your recipient was looking for.

I hate it so I've organised it and made sure I picked myself.
I've got some lovely soaps and hand cream for myself 😀

CoughLaughFart some people think it unlucky to give an empty purse - you are supposed to put a penny or something in.

Ooh, that’s interesting - never heard that before!

Scarf is always a good one

I wouldn’t blame you for not joining in.

My old job I opted in the first year. Lady I had was someone I worked closely with and had been a massive help over the year. I went over the budget for her gift - put together a bit of a pamper hamper with things I knew/guessed she liked, plus a bottle of Prosecco. She loved it. From my secret Santa I got a costa hot chocolate mug set, one you can get from Boots. No thought put into it at all.

Second year I thought I’d try one more time. I got a colleague who was a good friend, so kind of knew what to get her. I didn’t get a gift from mine as she was off sick. Problem was, no one had thought to check and I sat there on the day of exchange like a lemon. Person I’d bought for mentioned it to the organiser and I got a half hearted apology. My not so secret Santa did eventually give me my gift weeks later, but it was a bit random. A bar of soap and a mini scissors/nail clipper/nail file set. Kind of thrown together and I don’t mean it to sound ungrateful, but I’d have rather she not given me anything.

I wouldn’t be in a hurry to take part in one ever again.