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Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Secret santa

25 replies

Mk1234 · 07/12/2018 11:43

Didnt want to do it tbh but said id for it as i didn't want to seem like a spoitsport. Anyway i ended up with a person i kind of know. Was telling husband about it and said i dont really know what to get he said get a joke item and something else. So i got this random handcuff and i.o.u adult game box. But now its got me thinking all sorts,will that come across as sleezy... and most of all will i get called in to HR office.. its obviously a joke and i will get her a good present too. Last year someone was brought a mankini ...got a lot of laughs

OP posts:
Avrannakern · 07/12/2018 11:45

There's a different between a mankini and a sex box.

Unless you know her really well and there's some sort of inside joke going on... get her something else.

Fashionista101 · 07/12/2018 11:48

Hahahahha I once got this old seedy man in our office. I hated him, so so got him a porn dvd (a bbw special) and a pack of baby wipes. HR lost it but luckily I didn't tell a soul and didn't get found out. I was handing my notice the following jan so wasn't too worried but I'd be careful if the recipient doesn't find the funny side!

ShartGoblin · 07/12/2018 11:51

This kind of thing is to be expected for Secret Santa really isn't it? I wouldn't worry about it too much. Will anyone even know it was you?

scoobydoobydoooooh · 07/12/2018 11:54

I think it's a bit inappropriate. Most people I know like jokey secret santa presents but not sleazy or sexy ones. Go for something a bit witty, but leave the school boy humour out of it, would be my advice.

Biancadelriosback · 07/12/2018 11:55

Christ I got a vibrator two years running in secret santa!

Chocolatecoffeeaddict · 07/12/2018 11:59

Inappropriate for work unless they are also a good friend in your own time.

Stompythedinosaur · 07/12/2018 12:23

I think that's probably not a good idea for work. It might make someone feel quite uncomfortable.

TheDustbunny · 07/12/2018 12:29

Why would you do that? That's incredibly inappropriate. I knew someone who did similar to a colleague last year , even worse than that though,for Secret Santa and everyone was disgusted with her. The person had been looking forward to something small but nice, even a bar of chocolate and more importantly they found it offensive and they're far from a prude. Their wife didn't think much of it either.

coolestmum · 07/12/2018 12:32

I don't think it's appropriate unless you know them really well and know they'd take it as a joke.
I'd get something else if I were you.

OnlyFoolsnMothers · 07/12/2018 12:34

In any place I have worked- hell no. Way too inappropriate.

WeeDangerousSpike · 07/12/2018 12:38

Woah! Why would your mind even go there when a joke was suggested?!

Someone where I work got a really really mean and offensive present for secret santa - HR got involved, SS was banned as a result and the perpetrator was worked out by everyone else truthfully telling HR who they got so the liar/giver was easily identified. (yes it really was that serious and no it wasn't an over reaction. Can't say what the 'gift' was as completely outing if I'm not already!)

Get her an actual joke Ffs! Something related to her as a person - a work mug with something daft written on or a desk game or a demotivational calendar or something... It's really not that hard!

MrsJonSno · 07/12/2018 12:38

Totally inappropriate at work. Even if they are a good friend they won’t know it’s you and it may really make them feel uncomfortable/awkward. Just get chocolate or a silly occupation related mug for work or something.

GemmeFatale · 07/12/2018 12:56

Its the sort of thing that would be brought up if anyone ever accused the organisation of sexism or a hostile environment. If I was your boss or HR I would be looking to get rid of someone who thought this appropriate.

I also note you don’t care that this person might be hurt, embarrassed, or offended. You care someone would find out it was you. You know it’s wrong and you wonder if you’ll get caught.

notacooldad · 07/12/2018 13:01

That would go down a treat at my work!!
The more outrageous the better.
We all have to guess who got the present and then say why.
Our team have known each other for years ( most grew up together) and nearly everyone is related in someway so we are probably a lot cheekier and in PC than a lot if MN would approve of.
I have to say it was a culture shock when i started there but there is no malice or humiliation involved.

I guess what I'm saying is you need to know your audience!!

NoIsACompleteAnswerSometimes · 07/12/2018 15:24

We had an explicit notice that SS presents had to be appropriate, clean, (?) and not offensive. Must be because of the sex toy last year!

Bellabutterfly2016 · 07/12/2018 16:17

We do "Santa's been to Poundland" at my work - I got this very straight laced woman so bought her a reindeer vajazzle all in sequins! She thought it was a body tattoo and asked the woman sitting next to her to stick it on her arm.

It was very funny and the woman sitting next to her could barely contain herself!!!!

Wearywithteens · 07/12/2018 16:31

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn at the poster's request.

JustHereForThePooStories · 07/12/2018 16:35

Not appropriate.

Just get her a bottle of wine and a box of Ferrero Rocher and be done with it.

Dairyqueen2 · 07/12/2018 17:05

Haven't worked in an office since 1996 -
Is this what it's like now?? What an unholy waste of everyone's money.

Oysterbabe · 07/12/2018 17:09

You can't give her that. I'd be mortified and worried some perv had given it to me.

Oysterbabe · 07/12/2018 17:11

Last time I did it someone got me some plastic jewellery from Poundland. I threw it straight in the bin and carried on working. I don't take part anymore.

ToffeePennie · 07/12/2018 17:45

Last year my husband got an rc lamourghini car m from his office. He gave the guy he got a “how to cook Italian food” (the dude is from a remote part of Italy) and a gorgeous home made pasta set. Apparently both were well received as jokey gifts.
That year I got a container of pro plus, Lucozade, a candy thong and some fluffy handcuffs from my office. I gave the lady I had a beautiful tea pot (she had been lamenting hers had been broken) and box of homemade shortbread. I was the youngest person who worked there and it was wildly embarrassing for me - but - I didn’t call hr as other people had been bought worse!
So there are some huge discrepancies with offices as to what is “appropriate” and what isn’t.

EnidButton · 07/12/2018 18:27

Fluffy socks
Mug
Chocolates
Candle
Christmas ornament/bauble
Fancy notebook/diary and pen

Those are the kind of things you get for work colleagues you don't know very well. Generic, inoffensive and liked, or at least used, by most people. Back away from the sex jokes, it's not the 70's.

TheLazyDuchess · 07/12/2018 18:42

We did ours early, small place, we all have quite smutty senses of humour and swear etc. My secret santa was a guy whose wife my mum knows, so she ran his present past her first. He has a crude sense of humour and likes to cook, so I got him one of those saucy aprons with the cartoon buff body on, and that felt risque enough (and a bottle of booze too, to make up the limit, long gone already). I rarely wear a bra (fairly obvious at times), so wondered if I'd get one as a joke, and I'd have seen the funny side of that, but I'd have been mortified to get a vibrator or similar Blush

Feefeetrixabelle · 07/12/2018 18:44

Do you even know the person? Lots of shops do a generic secret Santa box set just get one of those.

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