Ridiculous £5 secret Santa

[Baileysoncereal]

I’m new at work and they’re doing a secret Santa. I didn’t want to do it but everyone else was very excited and I wasn’t going to be a big Scrooge and refuse to join in, especially when I’m so new. It’s £5 limit which is ridiculous too and we are telling people after they open the gift who got what (again, not my idea) so I don’t want to buy something shit and then have to confess

i honestly don’t have the time to be going to the shops hunting around so it needs to be something I can buy online.
any ideas?

ive never even met the person I’ve got, it’s a woman in her 20s-30s, no idea if she has dietary restrictions, allergies etc. So I’m worried about just buying food gifts.

Please help me!

Amazon

Nice soap.

Votive candle.
Nice Christmas decoration.
Pretty notepad.

I would buy something small, but lovely rather than something more substantual and cheap.

costa voucher

I've been in my job for 5 years and still ask the person who knows the recipient best for ideas. Our team is divided into 3 offices so we know some people better than others

Safety gifts are things like a personalised pen (everyone needs a pen at some point so useful but small) or maybe a nice little purse/card wallet (once again useful and small) or possibly a date diary.

I would AVOID anything that can be taken badly (toiletries may make them think they smell, joke gifts might not be found funny etc...), anything that could set of medical issues (food, toiletries etc...), anything that could cross religous/moral lines (leather, alcohol etc...) or anything personal taste based (heavy patterns/colours, scents etc...).

Stick to safe stuff most people uses/needs.

A very small chocolate thing from hotel chocolat, a bath bomb or similar from lush or Bomb Cosmetics, nice biscuits, coffee, tea, pen, notebook, christmas pudding, decoration, mug.

It won't be anything ground breaking at that price point

You didn't! It wasn't one of these you bought, was it?

Well you can, I get migranes so any strong spiced candels are terrible and I dont wear socks and I have allergies so food can be hit and miss.

They are standard 'I don't know you gifts' but then can 'go wrong' and be useless.

Lush bath bomb
Candle
Fluffy socks

Some pens
a notebook
a Christmas decoration
chocolates
a photo frame
some nice socks

very passive agressive and defetes the point... just bunging £5 in the card is about as offensive as you can get in secret santa and will leave people thinking 'why did she bother to join just to not actually bother to take part'.

At £5 it’s just a little token, easy to enjoy or easy to regift

@IncessantNameChanger and @Iamblossom your comments to so well together 🤣🤣

I also don't get people being confused by finding out afterward who bought what, I have never heard of a secret santa that stays forever secret... usually you give the gift to the person you got so they find out then (been that way in every secret santa I have ever been in and the ones at DH work).

When we used to do Secret Santa at work it was on an email system which would pick people at random and would bring up an Amazon wish list of what they wanted (£5 and under).

I bought one guy a self stirring mug one year (he didn't know it was me) that he asked for. I got another guy a stress ball key ring in the shape of testicles 😂 he had requested it and loved it! He still doesn't know that I bought them though. He'd probably think it hilarious if he knew it was me who got them. It's a male dominated industry so probably thought a bloke would be buying for him.

I got a beautiful scarf one year and a box of nice chocolates the next.

Chocolates or wine will do! If they don't like it they can regift it. At least you're getting involved.

I just got a woollen bobble hat and gloves from Primark for £4.50 for secret santa

£5 gift voucher for the closest coffee shop to your office

Notebook

Christmas mug as suggested. I did this about 10 years ago, it was a random SS at a friends Christmas get together so stick your hand in the sack, and the person who got the mugs uses it every year

Hand cream

Try somewhere like home bargains and there's loads of useful cheap things there like hot water bottles, make up bag, etc with their initial on it

Ooo I want one

I love the “You can’t go wrong with [horrible thing]” posts! There’s so much you can go wrong with.

OP, you need to do some recon. Does this woman wear nail varnish? Have fluffy gonks stuck to her work station? Drink a lot of coffee? Always losing her biros? Have a Pret sandwich addiction?

Vouchers are rubbish. It won’t matter if it’s the wrong scented candle/ they don’t like chocolates etc. it’s a bit of fun. Something to open etc. they can always regift it or send it to charity if it’s not the right thing, but nice to have a present-shaped thing to open than just a voucher which really says that the gifter couldn’t give a shit.

I love the “You can’t go wrong with [horrible thing]” posts! There’s so much you can go wrong with.

Only if it's received in a mean spirited way. I have sensitive skin and can't used most toiletries - if DH or my mum or best friend bought me something I couldn't use I'd be hurt. The new colleague in secret santa for a fiver? Not so much, I'd think that they didn't know me and so bought something that they thought was nice and within budget.

It's the thought that counts and all that.

Really? I’d happily get a fiver! I don’t want a Christmas mug or someone else’s idea of a nice bauble or socks or cheap chocolate or a stinky candle or a shonky travel mug. £5 is the perfect “maybe you want to buy yourself Percy Pigs, maybe you want to put it in an ISA, maybe it’s a hangover Pret bacon and egg roll after the Christmas party” gift.

Just like pretty much everything else on this thread then.

I'd rather have a scratchcard than a candle, novelty toilet paper, pen, umbrella, scarf, Primark bobble hat etc etc.

Ask what people did last year... personal, jokes, food, other..

Assume that any unwanted gifts will end up in the supermarket christmas donation box rarher than they will be offensive. Equally, if you get a rubbish present, don't be offended.

Thanks for these, she seems very posh and quite formal, I should mention she’s one of the managers too, so sadly though I love the loo roll idea I think she’d find that offensive and vulgar.. so I need to tread carefully.

there was space for notes about likes and dislikes, she just said it’s the thought that counts, so I presume that means no allergies but I don’t know. Also…way to add pressure.