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Original poster

Mumsnet Secret Santa

27 replies

Sixmonthson · 10/12/2021 06:25

Does anyone else remember when Mumsnet was small enough to have our own Secret Santa?
Anyone who wanted to participate sent details to someone who told us who to send a present to - I don’t recall being given any details other than the name and address. I think there was a 5 or 10 pound budget
I loved it , did it for a couple of years and was sent some nice treats. I can’t imagine it working now - apart from anything else ( huge logistics!) I guess most wouldn’t feel happy giving out names and addresses to people we’d never met.

OP posts:
CaroleFuckingBaskin · 10/12/2021 06:32

Yup I remember this!
Along with the usual fraudsters who started their threads with not being able to buy presents for their dc as they were domestic violence victims, and alot of kind hearted mners invested a lot of time and money into them, before it was revealed they were con artists. V sad. That's a few years back now

mafted · 10/12/2021 07:29

I remember the one where posters could nominate someone to receive a gift. I don't remember one where anyone could join.
I sent one once and it was never collected from the post office.

Skyll · 10/12/2021 07:31

This would be such a bad idea. We teach our children about internet safety and I don’t think this would be safe or at least it could be unsafe.

I’m not sure that it would ever have been a good idea to be honest.

User2638483 · 10/12/2021 13:06

I joined once but yes don’t think it was reciprocal secret Santa but a list of posters that were nominated for it. You were given a sort of ID like Xmas26484 so they could thank you without you sharing your details. Or something. I think gift cards were encouraged? I sent one of those not sure if it ever arrived or not but I hope so

MedusasBadHairDay · 10/12/2021 13:09

@User2638483

I joined once but yes don’t think it was reciprocal secret Santa but a list of posters that were nominated for it. You were given a sort of ID like Xmas26484 so they could thank you without you sharing your details. Or something. I think gift cards were encouraged? I sent one of those not sure if it ever arrived or not but I hope so
I remember that, seems like a very long time ago now
Original poster
Sixmonthson · 10/12/2021 14:16

The ones I did were definitely ‘swaps’. Must have been about 20 years ago I think - it was a fellow member that arranged it all. Mumsnet was a very different place in those days.

OP posts:
Noeuf · 10/12/2021 14:18

I did one once offered to buy for an older single person and got matched with a family who sent a grabby message about every single member including the dh. Spent a bloody fortune.

heelforheelandtoefortoe · 11/12/2021 07:27

I was a recipient twice of the MN nomination christmas present thingie

Neither time did I need anything nor was I suffering in any way. Maybe I helped someone and it was a thank you, which is nice but...

The first gift I got was a massive box of tinned food, biscuits etc. We are not starving. We are not homeless. The person obviously put a lot of time and effort into it. I gave it to a food bank.

The second gift was chocolate. I scoffed those Grin

IncompleteSenten · 11/12/2021 07:37

Yes. At the very start it was anyone who wants to and it was organised by a mumsnetter. Then I think a different mner took over
After that Mumsnet took over and it became nominate someone (and people could nominate themselves).

Then came the begging threads and the scammers. Flocking like crows to roadkill. The secret Santa is gone but the begging remains.

I only really start to feel festive when the first I can't get my children any gifts this year cos extremely tragic set of circumstances, I'm a failure, maybe I can wrap up a rock or something, please give me advice oh can't do that cos of X, nope, can't do that cos of y, oh dear can't do that cos of z. Only cash will help. Oh it's ok, my children my poor poor children.

I used to do secret Santa. I used to help out back when MN was really small. Wouldn't do it now. I've seen too many piss takers. Which is sad because genuine people sometimes do just need a bit of help but you can't tell who's who and any time someone gets help the scammers are straight there afterwards.

LineRunner · 11/12/2021 07:50

I remember them both! I was nominated one year for the MN Xmas appeal present, after I'd had my infamous pulmonary-embolism-as-diagnosed-by-Mumsnet. An incredibly generous MNer sent me and my DC a voucher and other gifts. It was such a wonderful gesture to receive at the end of a tough year for my DC and me.

MNHQ ended up bringing the scheme to a halt as it became too cumbersome and time-consuming to manage, with some rather fraught incidents occurring around allegations of nomination scams, unfair practices, lack of effusive enough thank yous and complaints about crap gifts. As KofiAnnanMN wasn't available to mediate, it was bye bye to all that.

A kind and optimistic MNer then set up a Secret Santa which was great for a couple of years, but faded out because of understandable security concerns, I think.

I've also exchanged Christmas cards with MNers who wanted to send and receive one; but again, that's a thing of the past because of the security concerns around giving out one's address via PM.

LineRunner · 11/12/2021 07:51

I've remembered it in a different order from you, @IncompleteSenten!

Love your user name btw Grin

starrynight19 · 11/12/2021 08:25

Aww I remember this and I received some lovely gifts for my dc and also sent them. It was lovely and really genuine when it first started.
I agree mumsnet was very different then.
I also had some lovely competition prizes before they became taken over by professional compers.
I’m glad it was like it was when mine were small it felt like a little community and I keep in touch with a few people I met on here.

YellowDots · 11/12/2021 08:30

@Skyll

This would be such a bad idea. We teach our children about internet safety and I don’t think this would be safe or at least it could be unsafe.

I’m not sure that it would ever have been a good idea to be honest.

And yet it was completely fine and it all worked out.

That's the point of the thread. Mumsnet was a different place. Obviously it wouldn't work now and it stopped working long before now. But it wasn't a 'bad idea' at the time.

Ragwort · 11/12/2021 08:42

Yes I remember- must have been about 18/19 years ago.

IncompleteSenten · 11/12/2021 08:45

@LineRunner

I've remembered it in a different order from you, *@IncompleteSenten*!

Love your user name btw Grin

Thanks 😁

We should ask mnhq to tell us which of us remembers correctly. 😁

starrynight19 · 11/12/2021 08:54

It was definitely run by mners first and then got taken over by mnhq when the site started to grow.

Original poster
Sixmonthson · 11/12/2021 10:59

Yes, I think it was individual swapping first then the nominations after that stopped. It never felt unsafe, just seemed like a nice fun thing to do. It’s a shame that we now have to remember that not everyone is as they appear - I don’t recall many disgruntled ’swappers’ complaining that they’d sent gifts but got nothing in return - I doubt it would be the same today

OP posts:
ShowerOfShite · 11/12/2021 11:17

I was nominated once and my DC were sent the most beautiful books from a lovely MNer who owned a bookshop.
One was a pop-up version of Sleeping Beauty which has now been passed on to my great-niece.

TheSmallAssassin · 11/12/2021 11:21

New, Zealand managed to do a nationwide Secret Santa until pretty recently, so if someone really wanted it to make it work it still could.

PoinsettaPrincess · 11/12/2021 11:23

I remember the original secret Santa and then the nominate a MNetter for a gift. I stopped doing it after I realised some of the nominated Mnetters were getting sent more than one gift. I now donate to a local children’s gift appeal.

TheSmallAssassin · 11/12/2021 11:24

I think the post office was involved in New Zealand though, so you'd have to think big.

pinkfondu · 12/12/2021 10:14

Ah yes was lovely getting a surprise under the tree

TooWicked · 12/12/2021 10:19

I do remember those days. I took part in a post-Christmas unwanted gifts swap. I sent a gift off to someone then received a scorching message raging at me, calling me a fraudster, etc, as she hadn’t received it.

I got a half hearted apology a week or so later as delivery had been delayed by Royal Mail being short staffed or something.

That was the first and last time I took part.

colouringindoors · 12/12/2021 10:23

I remember. I was nominated one year as a result of hideous family mental health stuff, and sent a lovely present. I was so, so touched, it had a really big positive impact Xmas Grin

Fantail · 12/12/2021 22:38

NZ Secret Santa was originally eventually sponsored by NZ Post.

There’s a NZ Twitter secret Santa now that’s just organised by a few good people. It’s great - lovely!