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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to be a littled peeved that all I got from my secret santa was...

112 replies

PurpleCrazyHorse · 16/12/2009 23:19

... a bottle of M&S shower gel? The limit was £5, but surely even M&S shower gel doesn't cost that much. We all opened them over dinner tonight and I was a bit embarrassed just unwrapping that and my first thought was where's the other half?

I nearly cried on the way home (I am post pregnancy though and had a really bad day anyway).

Eek... now I sound really ungrateful.

OP posts:
watfordmummy · 17/12/2009 14:45

We have just opened ours, I'm really happy, smelly candle etc, but my colleague got a christmas stokcing for her cat, and two sachets of cat food!! She has no kids, and was vey peeved. I'm going to get her something ot unwrap on Christmas day now!

FishInMyHair · 17/12/2009 14:48

I got given some light up fake flowers in a secret santa. They were ok but more mil's taste. Later, another member of staff told me they had been an unwanted present that she had been given so she put it in the secret santa.
I always think carefully about the person I have been given. I suppose I was a bit put out.
Maybe, if you are the kind of person who thinks more about what to get, you can be disappointed if it seems like your giver has not given any thought to yours?

VivClicquot · 17/12/2009 14:48

If it makes you feel any better OP, I was once given a calorie counter in my office secret santa.

GYAC - I'm a size 10/12.

LuvLee · 17/12/2009 15:35

LOL - the budget was a fiver - surely you've couldn't have expected much more!!!!

Buddleja · 17/12/2009 15:46

If it make you feel any better in my office a few years ago there were two notoriously tightfisted people who opted to be involved in the secret Santa.

The min was ?15 and max was ?20 and one of them bought a plastic angel from the ?2 shop and the other bought a Guide Dogs for the Blind Calendar, that has been sold in the office, by the person that he gave it too (and she is blind so frankly doesn't have much use for a calender). The rest of the presents were amazing!!

It is crap to get a no thought gift from someone when you've put thought into the one you got

worldgonemad72 · 17/12/2009 17:07

YANBU

We do secret santa every year at work, we spend £20, i always put a lot of thought in my gifts (this year i have done a 'cosy evening' gift set with hot chocolate, mug, book, chocolates, bubble bath set and slipper socks)
Last year i got a cheap watch, it was nice but i never wear one i wish they had put more thought into it.

ginormoboobs · 17/12/2009 17:14

Two sachets of cat food and a stocking for her cat!
That is nasty. Like saying she is crazy cat lady. That gift says to me ; " All you talk about is your fucking cat , we do not want to hear about your cat , get the hint now , crazy cat lady."
Either that or some warped person actually though that she would appreciate a present for her cat.

WobblyWench · 17/12/2009 17:47

I won't be getting any presents this year, from anybody, getting divorced and no family around. I would love a bottle of M&S shower gel .

FabIsGettingReadyForXmas · 17/12/2009 18:26

Watfordmummy - what does getting cat stuff have to do with having no kids?? Do you mean she has no cats? She could always donate it to the local animal rescue place.

fernie3 · 17/12/2009 18:28

my sisters boyfriend had a bar of choclate and a mini bottle of hand sanitizer!. I would foret about it and hope father christmas brings you something better

cat64 · 17/12/2009 18:31

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grumpypants · 17/12/2009 18:41

actually, I was really upset by a work secret santa once - its the idea that somebody has chosen it for you specifically, and either hates you (my case!) or can't be arsed (sounds like your case!) As you work with these people, it is a bit easy to take it personally. Mine was a 'joke' book full of cartoons called past It or something - old people shagging, or showing off saggy tits. Made me feel great.

Oblomov · 17/12/2009 19:21

is anyone ever happy with their ss present ? rarely. I know I am, but then I am easily pleased. give me a bar of chocolate and I am happy.
I am not sure what Op expected. it is kind of set up for failure, isn't it, kind of doomed.

RubysReturn · 17/12/2009 19:27

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

StarExpat · 17/12/2009 19:43

So you would have been happy with a package of shower gels, just not the one, you said? So it's about the amount? Or amount of money spent?
In that case, YABU. It's a gift. I was always taught to be appreciative of anything given to me no matter what it was. Someone went and got the shower gel and packaged it up. Probably thinking it smelled nice and went with the 5 pound spend.

Antdamm · 17/12/2009 20:02

DP is currently wrapping his secret santa gift for works night out at the weekend. The limit was 10Euro.

He has bought a USB Henry Hoover thing for one of his colleagues.

Unfortunately, he is currently wrapping said present and then wrapping it in sellotape and is pritt sticking another layer of xmas paper on top.

Apparently, this is the sort of behaviour they have come to expect from Secret Santa gifts.

They usually do funny gifts - so no one has to put a lot of thought into them, which takes the pressure off.

Op, I think YANBU. It does sound as if your secret santa didn't put any thought into the gift or was possibly rushed for time.

I can understand your pregnancy related tearfulness.

Hope your present from your DH is nice.

natsmum100 · 17/12/2009 22:19

Better than the pressie I got from SS one year - a packet of condoms! This was 13 years ago and I still think, "What the..?"

tyres · 17/12/2009 22:30

If it makes you feel any better OP, I received a chocolate knob one year. I also know of someone who received novelty wing mirrors for his pc so he could see people coming - only problem was, he sat with his back to the wall...

PetrusPoo · 17/12/2009 22:33

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poorbuthappy · 17/12/2009 22:45

Only ever done SS once...person I picked made it known that she wanted the scissors sisters cd. So I bought it...but also wrapped up a leather care kit for her and made sure it was given out before the cd...'

You should have seen her face......it was absolutely bloody hilarious...

ChasingSquirrels · 17/12/2009 22:54

The year I got a black lacy thong with "make my pussy purrrrrrrr" on it. Oh HOW I laughed

5inthesleighbed · 17/12/2009 22:59

I'm glad I don't work in an office anymore where we used to do SS. WWhile heavily pg with DS1, I picked out one of those novelty black mammoth sized vibrators .

I am doing SS with a group of mums from school, and we put a £10 limit on it, but the person I got has had such a hard time this year, I've bought her something a bit more expensive, and some books for her kiddies. I on the other hand seem to have received a calendar and a keyring (from feeling them). Not bothered either way, as I feel better from what I've given than received.

marmitetoastie · 17/12/2009 23:19

Maybe they didnt want to play. Maybe their husband just left them, or their mum has got cancer and SS was another horrible xmas hassle for them to sort out. Maybe they just had much bigger problems right now in their life and didn't have time to naval gaze about your secret santa.

And just maybe you should go buy yourself a treat and forget this. You need one, so get one you really want.

Pass this one on to someone else for christmas.

dopeydoot · 18/12/2009 11:25

I must admit, if it was me, I'd think if you've come all the way to M&S to get some shower cream, why didn't you buy a £5 thing from their gift stuff (don't care if it's a 3 for 2 thing), just seems a bit mean to pick out something that's not a £5 thing if that's what everybody had agreed to. If you don't want to spend that much then don't join in the secret santa!

TeamEdward · 18/12/2009 11:40

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

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