To think this is a strange way to do Secret Santa?

[Fancylike]

My office has announced a Secret Santa but has set a minimum price of £40. There’s no maximum but you have to spend over £40 on a single gift. I’m new to the company but every SS I’ve done previously had a maximum spend, not a minimum and it’s always been £5-10.

This just seems like a lot of money to spend on coworkers you may not know well (I work in a different department to the name I pulled so have to research them) and also having a minimum doesn’t sit well with me given the disparity in salaries across the office. I’m new so I don’t want to rock the boat by asking if the organiser got mixed up but it’s also been made clear we all need to participate.

£40?! Ridiculous at any time, but especially with cost of living crisis!!!!!

Few people get something they really want with Secret Santa (how could they?) but it's one thing throwing £5 down the drain, £40 is quite another!

Wow that's bizarre it's normally max £20

That is completely bonkers. Like you say it should be £5-10, and people should not feel compelled to take part. We also did by department in larger companies, so you knew the person somewhat.

That seems a massive sum of money for Secret Santa? Secret Santa is such a fanny ache anyway. Buying a gift for someone you don’t know particularly well. Who can be arsed!

We do a foodbank collection instead, and people can spend as much or as little as they want. It’s not monitored.

Thats wierd.

Best Secret Santa I took part in involved buying Christmas decorations then having to steal or keep wrapped parcels for several rounds then they were all opened at the end... some were nice some were hideous. (A particularly hideous one reappeared each year)

So glad I work at home and did years before COVID.

Sorry, that doesn't help you. I bet you are not the only one not happy about this. It's a pity you don't know anyone else well enough to broach the subject. I am betting there are several of you in that office feeling exactly the same, but no-one wants to say it first.

Do you know who started the £40 spend?

£40!! Unless you're lawyers in Central London or similar, that's ridiculous!

Fuck that, not a chance I'd be spending that much. I've spent £42 on my bloody dad!!

Tell them no. Rock the boat.

Why the office Secret Santa is the worst Christmas tradition | Christmas | The Guardian

Brits throw away £32 million worth of Secret Santa gifts every Christmas

Office grinches: Brits throw away £32 million worth of Secret Santa gifts every Christmas | The Motley Fool UK

Completely agree. I haven't even spent £20 on my dad🤣

FORTY QUID?!

Yeah, that's outrageous. Especially if it's compulsory.

No way I’d be doing that. Ten quid tops.

Did they not tell you how much before you opted in?

It does sound ridiculous tho, it's a lot to spend on a work friend let alone some randomer in a different department.

I'd channel "£40 full price" and go sale shopping.

That's insane. Can you book the day off when they're to be exchanged?

That's a good idea.

Yeah, I'd spend no more than £10. It's secret, so who will know?? You might start a new tradition which ends up with everyone spending less.

I would not be spending £40 on a work colleague. I would be declining to take part.

£40 is really excessive. I organise ours at work and it's no more than £10 and has been that for over 10 years! It's just meant to be token/fun.

I think you have misunderstood.

There’s no way it would be £40

£40 is madness, our limit was £15 this year and I thought that was a lot!

Take part, or don't take part- you're an adult and can decline.

Personally, I think £40 minimum is absolutely batshit crazy - but if that's what they do, just say no thanks.

The most expensive gift I’ve bought this year was £30, on my bestie who gives me masses of support. No way would I do this.

I love Christmas and the whole gift giving but nothing makes me more anxious than the office secret santa, what on earth do you buy people you don't really know. Anyone who doesn't know me well enough would struggle to buy anything for me too due to allergies.

I used to participate and it was a great sense of relief when I put a stop to it. However it is always around a tenner but forty quid, absolutely not, they could expect participation all they want but they would not be getting it from me.

If you are not comfortable with it, I would put your foot down no and tell them a firm no!

You don’t have to meekly accept this (it’s hardly a sackable offence). I’d speak to someone and say it’s not realistic, find out who set this rule and speak to them maybe? Unless it’s investment banking I can’t understand why ordinary workers would be ok with this? If they insist then I’d request my name be taken off it. It’s bonkers.

The only people who get more than £40 spent on them are my kids, no one else not even my mother.