To ask for your worst secret Santa gifts (nicked from daily fail)

[tinyme77]

I've always been lucky but it sounds like that is not always the case.

A white china Dove ornament - the ones used on graves to hold a flower display in place

I got a t-shirt that says BITCH on it. From a male colleague about 7 years ago.

A pack of yellow post it's from the stationery cupboard.

I received a small, garish pink, slightly padded box (I'm not really a pink person tbh but hey), I opened it, intrigued....

... just some silica gel. Yep, the box was the present

Year 1: A half used tin of colouring pencils and a colouring book

Year 2: Obligatory Bayliss & Harding hand wash set. From my boss. Who had to buy hand washing products for my skin condition.

Year 3: Prosecco and truffles. I hate Prosecco!

Year 4: A small man with interchangeable screwdriver dicks :o

Well I think I won the secret Santa this year. I got 4 lovely scented bath bombs, a scented candle and a bar of toblerone. Thank heaven for friends! (Better than my “office” party where I once got edible knickers. To fit a size 6 model. I am a size 20....)

We play stealing secret santa instead at the Christmas meal. It is lots of fun and people can swap presents around so it is a better fit. One year the most popular present was a huge packet of AA batteries which was fought over by about 5 people.

i regifted last year's secret santa, can't even remember what it was, something wooden.
one year when we pulled names out of a hat, i got pot pouri which i hated with a vengeance. and i had spent ages and extra cash, on a different person.
will update later

A book about football and a can of lager. Seems someone was trying to tell me they thought I was a lager swilling "ladette". I didn't see the funny side. I've had some lovely, thoughtful gifts too though.

These threads are interesting. I wonder how many of the recipients of the 'carefully chosen' and 'lovely' gifts people say they have given actually think they're a bit meh. You could give me the most expensive candles, lotions, bath bombs etc and still I'd end up binning them in a few years when I find them a bit manky in the back of a cupboard. But I'd love Prosecco that someone else just said they hated...

Secret Santa is for a bit of a laugh in my opinion. However it is mean to spend a fraction of the budget on something actually crap, and obviously the offensive ones are not cool.

One year I got nothing. I'd gifted a hot chocolate set I'd made up.
Another year with the budget being £10. Can't remember what I gave. But the person that had me clearly forgot and went round Tesco that morning. It was wrapped in the bag. The positive was they remembered I liked baking...
But got a frozen themed cookie mix, cake mix and frosting. I don't think it occurred that someone who brings you delicious home made cakes does not use a child's box mix...

On a more positive note, my last secret Santa really did think, and I got a lush foldable soap and a Costa mug with accessories thing.
My secret Santa got a heavily reduced (but brand new and decent) sainsburys roasting dish, with nandos sauces (And a rubber chicken so they had everything they needed).
I'm quite good at sticking to the budget but always seem to find something that should be more bit isn't. The roasting dish was supposed to be £10 on it's own but was on clearance for £2 (and not Xmas themed).
This year I got 3 decent books for 2.50 leaving a massive 2.50 more to spend.

Our budget is £5 which i think is far more reasonable for a secret santa.

but otoh we dont know who we are buying for

I have never participated in work Secret Santa for this reason. Total waste of money. I just say no thanks.

One year I got nothing but Secret Santa had been redrawn 4 times and I wasn't the only one to get nothing.

A colleague last year did get a regifted item of gone off chocolate. We knew it was register because the gift tag was still on it and the colleague open it and just passed it back to her secret santa saying "I think you gave this by mistake"... The person who gave the gift was the director too

I got a radio in the shape of a duck for use in the bath.

I got a book containing 200 paper aeroplanes to make... I do get quite bored at work, but I suspect it would be frowned upon to make them in the office and fling them about.

Tempted to bung it back in the Secret Santa next year!

Trouble is things like home made hot chocolate are thought of as kind and caring and thoughtful but the recipient might hate it.
One year my recipient (had no clue who she was in a massive company) was visibly pissed off.
I'd got something like a little wind up reindeer, hand cream and chocolates to kind of go festive and generic.
Others were raving other there Baylis and Harding sets.

About five years ago I got a very good present (an item I collect); however, the person who bought it had sent for it and was expecting it to come in a gift box. It came loose in a padded envelope... so he wrapped it up in kitchen foil

I got a blow up globe, as I covered such a large area in the Uk. I actually loved it, it was spot on, and so did the kids kicking it around the living room! My team really knew me lol

Always fun to share my story...

I had recently joined a new team at work. I work in quite a serious corporate environment.

The guy whose name I picked was not someone I knew. He was out of the office between the day I picked his name and the day we exchanged gifts.

I knew nothing about this guy at all so I needed something ‘safe’ and neutral.

I found an awesome donut making machine in a gadget shop, so I bought that.

Wrapped the gift, put it in the pile, including, as instructed, a card with my name on it....

Down the stairs comes the guy in question and he’s HUGE. Like noticeably the most overweight person in the office by far.

Too late to take my gift out of the pile.

Never participated in a secret Santa since!

I found people could be quite cruel with secret Santa gifts or misjudge “jokey” gifts. We had a few like that, some taken well and laughed about, some not wel received. eg a comb for a bald man, first aid kit for accident prone/sickie taker, etc.

I’ve received decent things over the years including Lego and a jigsaw but the worst was a ladybird shaped egg timer that you stuck to the fridge

I once organised it and got nothing! So I knew who hadn't but it was a bit of a kick in the teeth.
Then someone else organised it and I still got nothing! Manager at the time went and got me a gift but the present wasn't the point, it was the fact I'd been forgotten again. I never joined it again at that workplace.
Last year, my Secret Santa brought the present in two days late so I was starting to feel a bit awful but my SS was the kindest person but very disorganised so I didn't mind in the end.
This year, I haven't got my present because of circumstances but hoping it will be there when I go back to work in the New Year!!

My worst are probably bottles of white wine two years running. I rarely drink at all, don't see alcohol as a treat and never touch white wine due to a very embarrassing incident a few years ago which all the staff know about.

i got a dildo and a whip when i was 17 working in a pub off the perv who used to wash the dishes, that was a few years ago now