Secret Santa CF

[Saltdoughmuncher]

Our budget for the office SS is £10. Some people have put a wish list up on the office wall (grabby enough I think) but the person I am buying for has put 3 suggestions of quite specific things, all of which are priced at £15-£20!

AIBU to ignore her request list and just guess at something else to buy that is within budget?

I thought the thing about secret Santa is that the gift was meant to be funny?

Reading this thread I wonder why people take part in SS when they get so precious about it. Original idea is it’s a bit of fun, tacky style joke gift. A colleague once ruined our office Christmas meal crying because she got a torch as a gift. Someone had to swap with her to appease her. Get a grip. Don’t join in if you’re expecting a thoughtful gift.

I wouldn’t spend extra if people have asked for something double the budget. I’d write on a post it note sorry your requested gift was double the budget. What doesn’t help is some people do spend over budget to presumably make life easier but that then adds to people getting upset by their cheap gift. Secret Santa should be cheap fun.

Get her a £10 voucher for the coffee shop nearest to your office. No one could be put out by that.

It’s strange we have all these latest Christmas is for giving posts, it’s meant to be tacky —And head straight for landfill— yet 99% of the vote is YANBU so just 1% of 1233 votes think op is YABU

certainly don't go over budget.

I have a relative who has an unfailing instinct to find the crap cheap & shoddy version of anything someone wants. look in poundland, lidl, bargain markets, find a £5 shitty knockoff of one of the things she wants.

I like the idea of secret santa in theory.

Usually though, it means stressing out and spending a tenner on someone probably you don't know very well, and receiving £10 worth of penis shaped pasta something you don't really want in return.

This year I am going to opt out and spend a tenner on a present to myself.

Sorry op, that was no help to you.

Give them a £10 gift voucher for the relevant shop, to "put towards the £20 item you asked for".

I've only ever gotten lovely thing's in secret Santa's, my best friend however, always seemed to get a rubbery nob sellotaped to a bottle of wine. Twice in one year I remember (2 seperate secret Santa's). She was devastated. If you like the person you pulled out the hat, get them something nice, unless it's prearranged that you get them something from Anne summers.. scuse me, bit pissed.

CFs like that deserve a charity goat - especially if it cost more than their over budget gifts....

Buy her a calculator.

I’d secretly write on the list, next to the requests “you know these are all over £10 right??....bit grabby....just sayin’”
Then I’d buy something completely different for £10.....just as secret Santa is supposed to be.

Ignoring the price misses the point of the thread isn’t the hole fun of secret Santa to guess who your Santa is based on what you get them?

So not only is she a CF but also a killjoy. Bah Humbug.

*whole

Thank you Inebriati.

I am shocked to think how often I must have narrowly escaped from choking on a tea-bag - I must lead a charmed life.

I was going to make the same suggestion as @MrsNoMopp - voucher towards preferred gift with a pointed but sweet note about the budget.

I've had a bayliss & harding mini set before. Not my fave toiletries but I save them for the gym bag if possible. One previous work place did themed Secret Santa which was nice. We all enjoyed that and it was mostly fair, although I did rig it one year so that someone on mat leave got chosen by someone who knew her & got someone she knew in return- retail so lots of temps & new starters since she'd gone off and the people who drew her name & didn't know her quite understandably kept putting her back! I asked a particular colleague to take mat-leave colleagues name, which she was happy to do as she knew her quite well, and kept picking my own name out of jar on behalf of mat league colleague- who was happy to take me as she knew me and I was still surprised by the gift. We just didn't tell anyone!

I had the exact same situation last year, I also overheard the person before moaning she hopes she does not get some 'cheap crap', but with the budget being £10, and her item being £20, I was like, whatever. Got her something I thought was nice, but I know she was disappointed as she likes describing herself as 'picky', but oh well. She also added her item to the 'wishlist' a couple of days before the SS taking place, when I had already purchased her item as didn't want to wait until last minute.

We have a £5 limit and it has to be from a charity shop.

You can either pick a present from the pile, or steal another unwrapped one. Presents can be stolen a maximum of 3 times.

I have a colleague like this.

Last year she basically told me what to buy her if I picked her name out. I bought her what she wanted and she barely glanced, never mind made a positive comment. But then, this is the same person who complained about her birthday present (we do birthday club).

This year I have decreed the budget is 1-2 quid and you have to buy the funniest/cheapest/rudest present from Poundland you can find.

She is NOT amused. Haha!