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Original poster

To ask for either your best or worst Secret Santa presents?

130 replies

tearsbeingwashedaway · 13/12/2022 17:59

Not mine but ones I’ve been involved in

Someone gave a box of free chocolates they’d got at a hotel.

Someone bought a baby book and toy for someone who was maybe 4 or 5 months pregnant, she promptly threw it in the bin because she didn’t want to jinx anything by buying so early. I get it but it didn’t need the dramatics and she could have just donated it.

A sex toy. There was an HR meeting.

OP posts:
Wibbly1008 · 13/12/2022 18:01

I got a stress ball with Clare on it. That is not my name.

Vinvertebrate · 13/12/2022 18:03

Odour Eaters. Not even my size.

PinkParfait · 13/12/2022 18:03

Someone at work got someone a bag of jelly babies - and it was from their kids treat cupboard.

Mandate · 13/12/2022 18:04

Mine was in an online group, I said I hated gardening and they got me a magic garden which you add water and then it grows to be a little pretend garden, it looked like it was from the bargain bin in the pound shop. Other people got hand made gifts or lovely books that were picked just for them. This was over 10 years ago and I am still bitter...!

Vinvertebrate · 13/12/2022 18:08

A kind of best and worst was the time when I got given my favourite Clarins product - ignoring the 10 quid limit. Made my cheapo gift look just that, and a bit mean. (We’d picked each other unfortunately). Sticking to the limit is part of the fun!

SinnerBoy · 13/12/2022 18:10

I've only ever done it once, in 2003. It was a fiver a go. I got a can of Lynx. I suppose I should have been grateful it wasn't Impulse.

OrigamiOwls · 13/12/2022 18:13

A mug with "I did secret Santa and all I got was this stupid mug".

HarrietSchulenberg · 13/12/2022 18:36

Best present: a woolly scarf and a Christmas cookery book the year we did a charity-shops-only SS.
Worst present(s): all the other ones from other years that were smelly things.
I haven't counted the year when I pulled my own name so got a super pressie that was under budget.

LydiaBennetsUglyBonnet · 13/12/2022 18:38

Best - when I was pregnant a colleague bought me a box of everything I’d been craving.

Worst - Coca Cola lip balm. She said “To be honest I didn’t really understand the brief” 🙄

Oysterbabe · 13/12/2022 18:40

I got some plastic jewelry from poundland from a colleague who hated me. I threw it straight into the bin.

angelpoise · 13/12/2022 18:45

I gave my newish boss, who I got on with but didn't know that well, a book on 'Finding your aura' from a hippie crystal shop. Turned out he had no sense of humour whatsoever and the entire office thought I was weird. I got given a soap and hand cream set.

DebussytoaDiscoBeat · 13/12/2022 18:47

Best - Maggie Thatcher nutcrackers, you cracked the nuts between her legs 😂

Worst - a small box of Lindor, the budget was £10. Having said that I'm certain they came from the WH Smith at the bottom of our office block so actually they probably were a tenner!

moggerhanger · 13/12/2022 18:50

I ended up with these at a Stealing Santa last night. (Budget for presents was a tenner.) Oddly, nobody wanted to steal them from me.

Apparently they're fidget toys.

To ask for either your best or worst Secret Santa presents?
shoofly · 13/12/2022 18:53

Best was a beautiful scarf from the v ancient and exacting accountant in our company. I was in my early 20s and he'd been concerned it was too old for me, I was so absolutely delighted that he said I'd made his night. He said his wife had picked it, I met her a few months after he'd retired and she was so delighted I'd loved it as well.
Same company, one of my colleagues got 10 scratchcards and won £100.
Worst was one of the lovely sales guys got a diet book and an iceberg lettuce. Just seemed mean, he tried to laugh it off but was obviously hurt.

Eaumyword · 13/12/2022 18:57

All worst!😂
A My Little Pony (I'm horsey, but I'm also a grown woman.)
An edible thong 😱 Didn't know where to look so just slunk off. Actually I think I ate it! This was when I was in corporate law and trying to be taken seriously.
A biro and basic notepad. I now work in a school where they are provided free 🙄
I don't bother now!

TheLovleyChebbyMcGee · 13/12/2022 18:57

A child's nightlight, I was mid 20's and child free. Or maybe a mug, it was a lovley mug, but I dont drink hot drinks, but it gitvregifted and the recipient loved it so I guess that doesn't count!

FearofQueefing · 13/12/2022 18:59

A box of shot glasses with boozy drink residue at the bottom of one glass.

I was totally fine with someone giving me a second-hand gift. But it's downright manky to not even wash it. Some people are disgusting..

NameChange784 · 13/12/2022 19:04

Budget was £10. I gave a little Molton Brown baubles gift set. I was given a bar of Dairy Milk. I'd had a bit to drink and was so pissed off I could barely hide my annoyance.

Can't remember ever getting a particularly nice gift.

itssquidstella · 13/12/2022 19:06

First term in a new teaching job; I got what on the face of it seemed like a lovely present: a Neal's Yard gift set with various moisturisers etc.

That is, until I realised the use by date was two years previously so it was clearly a regift that someone had dug out of their bathroom cupboard.

HollyDollyChristmas · 13/12/2022 19:09

A box of kinnerton mini postman Pat chocolates with a teddy key ring. I was 35, not 5.

AnyRandomName · 13/12/2022 19:10

Worst: a Union Jack thong from a distant male colleague

PlaitBilledDuckyPuss · 13/12/2022 19:11

Best was a lovely pair of black suede gloves.

I haven't had anything really terrible but the worst was probably an after-dinner game with a mildly risqué theme. DH and I are strictly Scrabble types!

I sold it still in its cellophane for £1 at a car boot sale later that year, so it wasn't totally wasted.

PumpkinDart · 13/12/2022 19:12

Salt and Pepper shakers from Ann Summers (basically shaped like 2 rabbits rogering each other!) 🙈

gublercullen · 13/12/2022 19:22

I nearly got sacked one year for purchasing an adult themed colouring book for a colleague. In my defence, the person I was buying for had a filthy sense of humour and we got on quite well. I'd mentioned it to a different colleague in passing (I know, breaks the rules of secret Santa but hey ho) and they'd informed the managers. I was swiftly told it was inappropriate and that I'd have to come up with a different gift. I've literally never been so embarrassed. Found it odd that when we all opened our gifts are the Christmas party there were actually A LOT of dirty gifts handed out, all in good humour. Obviously I'm not over it and still get embarrassed every time I think about that conversation with my manager.

Herejustforthisone · 13/12/2022 19:22

It wasn’t me but I had a friend who received knitted white rectangle. Badly knitted. Nowhere near big enough for a scarf. No idea what it was or what it was for. We’ve discussed at length. And it was delivered late as they had forgotten it so on the actual Secret Santa day she’d missed out. She’s dined out on the story since. The young woman who gave it to her was what made the story really interesting…