To ask what Secret Santa tat you've been given/seen someone get?

[keepingmypeaches]

Best yet... My MIL received a bright pink beanie hat (100% Polyester), that says 'Babe' across the front

My own Secret Santa gift was fairly mild and nice - A mug with my initial on and a pair of Christmas socks. My husband received a beer glass and a pint to go with it last year. That went down well. This year, he got a crappy 'Santa lol jokes' booklet and a party popper. He was most displeased after forking out for a nice chutney range set and international tea assortment set.

What horrors have you received/seen someone receive?

Bloody Baylis and Harding gift sets. I hate them. They’re not products I use, I seem to attract them though. I regift to school tombolas.

A diary - for the year that was just drawing to a close!

I was off sick following surgery so couldn't get into work to deliver a SS present and I lived over 30 miles away so no colleagues close by to collect. So being the resourceful person I am I ordered a gift experience for an interest I was told the person was very keen on. It was a very surprising interest given the person it was but went with it anyway. I emailed the ticket to a colleague and never heard a single thing about it ever again.... I have no idea if the person used the ticket, if it really was their unusual interest or if they were hugely insulted! My name was on the receipt so they will have known who their SS was. Still bothers me now and I wonder if I will turn up on one of these threads at some point!

"This year we bought a present for a child in care instead, a much better use of £10"

If it's for a child in the UK, I've never understood that, tbh. They are well funded.

I hope my DD gets something nice, she's got the person a nice Hotel Chocolate set, they are chocolate lovers, but have never been to HC.

I got M&S slippers, with the receipt inside. I swapped them for food. They were lovely and washable, but I wouldn't spend that much on slippers.

I think joke presents should be banned, they are used to insult people and its just contributing to landfill.

I got a brilliant gift this year, it was personalised and exactly the sort of thing that I would say 'I'd love one of those' but never buy.

One year I got a mug with a man in shorts picture that turned into naked man with an erection when hot water was poured into it . I had a 10 year old at home and had just started a new job in a school - when on earth would I have used it? It went into the bin in the car park before I drove home.

Last year I received face wash. I have acne which I'm very self-conscious of and on medication for. This year, I refused to participate.

I got cat food one year. The cat enjoyed it but it wasn't really a gift for me!

I spent time finding out what the person would like and picking a gift i thought they’d love.

I got in return a crappy candle that had clearly been sitting around someone’s cupboard for years - it did not look new and did not smell fresh.

I won’t get involved in SS next year.

When I started my first job I was told secret Santa was all about finding something a bit rude. I was a bit but went along with it. The budget was a fiver. I bought the heat reactive mug mentioned upthread....where the man's pants disappear when you pour in hot liquid. Imagine my horror to find everyone else open up thoughtful sensible presents. Meanwhile old joker 'Bob' was smirking all the time at me. Thankfully my recipient was one who was off as was part time. I managed to sneak the gift away and replaced it on the Monday. Bob and I never really got on.

Once in another job I opened my present to find a vibrator. I was so embarrassed. Not as embarrassed as the person who had given it to me who had been told rude presents were fine. Some people are just horrible.

Now I just buy somethibg dead sensible.

I always try and choose a nice, personal gift and end up receiving something generic, or cheap, or jokey/tasteless or combination of those.

The last few I can remember:
Got a book on wedding speeches for a chap who was getting married. I got 2 x Terrys chocolate oranges.

Got a lego policeman on a motorbike for chap who did community policing at weekends (he loved it and kept it on his desk until he left). I got a room spray - it was actually quite nice and when it ran out I tried to get some more but found it was only sold in the gift shop in Kew Gardens so obviously a regift.

Got a make your own margaritas set for a trainee who loved cocktail making. I got edible nipple tassles (gave them to my friend who is a burlesque artist, she actually ended up using them in her act!)

Christmas table decoration with fake snow (nicer than it sounds) for someone who does a very"Good Housekeeping" type of Christmas. I got a giant wine glass with zebra stripes. I actually quite liked that one.

Schotts miscellany for someone who loves obscure trivia. I got some quite nice earrings ... but don't have pierced ears.

Got a lovely bracelet last year. Received a generic mini Prosecco and chocolates gift set.

This year I've bought a scarf for my SS. She wears bright colours including yellow a lot and its yellow with tiny robins on so sort of festive too (much nicer than it sounds, honest!) I expect I'll get something generic again!

Husband who is ginger got brown hairdye one year. He wasn't impressed.

Someone in my team this year got a notebook that we all got given for free at work. Really mean. £10 limit and they had made real effort buying for their SS so it was such a shame.

A crappy clip on Santa beard

One year I got a load of Anne Summers tat like willy-shaped chocolates, small whip thing etc. It was well known at work that I was a member (at the time, not now!!) of quite a strict Christian religious sect. I threw them in the bin (yes, whoever gave it to me will have seen!) and sobbed my heart out when I got home.

I can see now it was meant to be a joke but I had put a lot of thought into my present and was quite a sensitive soul at the time. I would never do that to someone.

Secret Santa ..... great if you're all on the same page / same mentality!

I had a lunch yesterday where we had a generic SS with £10 (I.e. pick from Santa's sack!). I put in a mini-candle selection ..... and got back a Ridley shopping bag. Lots of lovely umbrellas, candles etc All perfectly acceptable, if impersonal. The "worst" gift I saw was a oven glove & tea-towel set with sheep on them. Actually nice enough, but not really a gift, more household accessory. Would have been better with Christmas characters on!

Worst SS wasn't the actual gift but the process. We each took a £10 gift, put it in the bag .... 1st person picks a gift, 2nd person either picks gift from the bag or "steals" person 1's gift .... and so it goes on. Quite entertaining in that you never know if you'll get to keep what you've got - not that you know what it is. But ...... two of us put in brilliant if I say so myself gifts, two put in generic toiletry gift sets, one put in a piece of her own very religious artwork and the 6th put in a very worthy "we've bought you a goat in Africa" voucher topped up with a small box of Black Magic chocolates.
It would have been a great game had all the gifts been equal ..... either all worthy or all alcohol etc
So I felt rather guilty that I ended up with a fantastic bottle of gin ..... my other good-gift-giver got the goat 😂

DH bought a lovely woollen bobble hat for the person he was buying for last year, for about a tenner. He received a cheat Poundland Santa hat!! He’s bought Lush bath bombs this year but I can’t imagine he’ll receive anything as nice!

We also do the 'choose a random wrapped gift from a sack or steal from a previous person' game and its HILARIOUS. It's really not about the gifts, it's about the laugh. Popular steals this year were a coffee shop gift card, alcohol of various kinds and a 'crap taxidermy' book. Previous years there was a scrum over a fabric doorstop in the shape of a fox. You never know which items will turn out to be popular! And you don't expect to come away with something nice. Some of the gifts have to crap to encourage people to steal.

I got one this year with someone else’s name scribbled out on the parcel. It was a football scarf. I loathe football

So whoever got my name just didn’t bother, the miserable sod, and whoever bought the football scarf wasted their time and money. Still, pretending not to be baffled and hurt by being forgotten or getting a wildly inappropriate gift is a good preparation for actual Christmas!

'Advent Angel' - what fresh hell is this?

I once left a much loved job on 26 november. I left them an advent tree, a little Christmas tree with 24 little presents on it to open during the month. Apparently it became a burdensome tradition there for at least another 2 years as stopping work to open the present was a great way of getting a mid morning break Be careful what you start.

Once I got a dove set with bag I was so disappointed I made a point of not doing secret Santa at that workplace again or my previous one. However new workplace and budget is a fiver.

A long time ago a colleague got a ham and pineapple pizza... he was vegetarian. Not impressed at all.