Valentines secret Santa/pay it forward

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On my way home from work today I was thinking about how I’m lucky to work for a charity with so many great colleagues and volunteers. A random thought popped into my head about doing some kind of secret valentines themed pay it forward- hiding little gifts around the offices/building with a valentines theme- has anyone done anything similar before? What should I bear in mind? What gifts could I get to appeal to different genders and ages? I have some money I’ve saved up for charity so would probably have a reasonable budget.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

It’s a lovely gesture OP but a bit weird and twee....

Where I work if you left a lot of unidentified packages about we’d probably get the bomb squad in...

I quite often put chocolate in peoples pigeon holes and leave biscuits in the staff room but wouldn’t do this with gifts.

Where I work if you left a lot of unidentified packages about we’d probably get the bomb squad in...

(same here actually)

Valentine’s Day is for couples - that’s it.

If we start expanding it to coworkers, before long we’ll be in the American nightmare of five year olds writing Valentine’s cards to their classmates...

Someone started this in our office. Its called being 'mugged'. A mug filled with treats is left on the person's desk with a little note saying they are great, and to take the treats but use the mug again to pay it forward.

It is twee, and cheesy, but makes most people smile.

I think people would appreciate it more if you told them you think they are great

Be prepared for people to think ‘Oh bloody hell, another one?! We’ve only just had Secret Santa!’

And I say that as someone who likes Secret Santa.

OP, nice thoughts but no. Bringing something for everybody to share sounds a lot better

I had an idea the other day about a compliments thing for our team for Valentines. We're a big team in a really busy environment where we're always under pressure to be better, and never get any compliments. We're going to have a postbox thing and some little slips to leave anonymous compliments to each other (and I'll make sure everyone gets at least one) and then I'll give them out to everyone at our team meeting later that day.

That’s a lovely thought! I don’t think you need gifts though, you would achieve exactly the same by leaving post it notes around the place with nice messages on.

Or maybe get a piece of paper for each person and get everyone to writ a personalised message of what they like/appreciate about that person, and give them out on Valentine’s Day.

Buy some heart shaped chocolates to share if you really want, but the sentiment it sounds like you’re going for doesn’t need money spent on it.

I'd think it was better to bring in cakes/nice biscuits for everyone to share.

Great idea, just do it anyway without the valentines theme.

You mean well but bomb squad comments aren't that odd and you never know if you could give someone a total panic with something left for them that they don't know who from. Would you be able to do a lunch/load of cakes or something as a thank you for all their work instead? It doesn't need to be a theme.

No, I don't think it's a good idea. I get fed up of all the Christmas stuff, then there's Easter Eggs... having Valentines Days stuff in the middle would definitely be a no. People go to work to actually work not discover hidden presents/chocs/whatever.

Sounds a bit creepy, TBH.
Your heart's in the right place, but this is not the way.

I would buy something communal. If you start with gifts and notes and so on, you risk some people got getting anything, feelings getting hurt etc. Also some people hate VD and it is a painful reminder of being alone. I think it is best left to the individual to decide what they want to do.

My office does this at Easter with little mini eggs hidden all over the place and it's always well received. Perhaps you could hide tiny chocolate hearts if you wanted to do something similar?