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!

There’s some really good suggestions. I’m sure she would be happy with a lot of these options for £5. I wouldn’t get a gift card, as much as I love a gift card she might think you couldn’t be bothered choosing something.

@PawANDmarshmallow no need to get all serious about it. Honestly is it completely impossible to be lightheartedly grumpy on here now?

As it happens I’m perfectly fine with buying/receiving a little gift even if it isn’t secret. But as op has already said here, one of the things that’s stressing her out is that the giver will be announced. The whole point of a Secret Santa is that it’s supposed to be secret. Otherwise it could just be called the work gift exchange.

How about a tiny photo frame.

it can’t trigger allergies or cause offence (unless you put an offensive photo in it)

www.marksandspencer.com/skinny-easel-photo-frame-3-x-3-inch-8-x-8cm-/p/hbp60211788?extid=ps_ps-gpla_ggl_hw_ch__-UK-_-_baussc&gbraid=0AAAAAD7g6bQsg0WrEV83yFajq8LnF5uVH&gbraid=0AAAAAD7g6bQsg0WrEV83yFajq8LnF5uVH&gclid=Cj0KCQiA-JacBhC0ARIsAIxybyOAtSJ2yCXQdfzTSmt1RulKcYBPBvmZY0ldmZh9PJXXmxR_PgsMlhoaArULEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Maybe something brand name then like something by Cath Kidston (I dont really know many posh brands as Im not posh... is that one of them lol).

I would be happy with an umbrella. Mind you I did give someone a very nice per Una umbrella it was pretty with a frill around. I would have loved it but I could see by the expression on her face and the raised eyebrows that she wasn’t happy surely everyone uses an umbrella.

Mini pocket vibrator. Can’t go wrong.

I don't, I have a nurological disorder that effects my spacial awareness and motor coordination, give me an umbrella and someones gonna lose an eye (could be you could be me) its basically the gift of russian roulette lol.

They might if they walk a lot when it's not windy and they have their hands free to carry one.

However, not 'everyone' fits into this category.

Some people don't go out walking
Some people choose to wear a decent coat instead.
Some people don't have free hands due to pram or dog
It's often windy so an umbrella would just get broken

I have two umbrellas that I hardly use. They were probably gifts from people who refuse to take my pleas of 'oh you shouldn't have' at face value. I certainly don't want or need any more.

A lot of this gifting stuff is just giving people a job to do as in to store or donate something that they have no use or wish for.

Give her something that she can then donate to a food bank or charity shop.

This thread totally sums up why I loathe secret Santa.
such a complete waste of money.
please could we all just stick the money in a charity box or food bank. So much better to give to a good cause than all this waste and worry and embarrassment! And what a waste to the planet.

I'd hate to receive a candle!

Plantable pencil? I'd be looking at stocking filler bits I think, or watching small businesses for fiver Friday deals (follow the hashtag #fiverfriday) for bits there.

www.etsy.com/uk/shop/MindYourOwnBizz

I wouldn't mind an umbrella per se, but it would be hard to go "yippee, oh THANK YOU" on opening a black brolly from Home Bargains.

You don't wear socks??? (Misses point)

This is ott, it's a secret santa from a colleague for a fiver not your dh buying an anniversary gift. If you can't use the candle/chocoate etc you can always regift it, at the end of the day it's five pounds if it's shit who cares? I'd still go with something that the vast majority of people will find some use for rather than "jokey" plastic tat.

Personally I'd go with costa/starbucks gift card - even if they don't drink coffee there's cake, sandwiches, cold drinks etc. Or yeah just a nice candle or chocolates from the supermarket. Job done. If people don't like their presents perhaps everyone will agree to not do secret santa next year, sorted!

Our book club do one. We are 6 friends, with a £10 budget and it's always a great success.
I don't have a partner and we only do token gifts for adults in the family and it's actually really nice to have a surprise chosen for me.

I would def go for some festive socks or a mug if it's in budget - maybe a tree decoration. It's a really low budget and I wouldn't go down the what a hoot comedy angle in my first year

Just looked on ASDA’s website. For £5 you can do a mini bottle of Prosecco, an A4 notebook and a pack of 10 ballpoint pens.

I’d love a gift like that. Nice to have things that will actually be used, even if they’re lower quality than someone would necessarily buy for themselves.

I’d do nice bauble, small nice box of chocolates or a little poinsettia in a cute pot

A nice notepad and a pen maybe
A candle and a face mask/ bath bomb
Gloves
A scarf (one of the thin ones that are cheaper)
Desk calendar

With what you said I don't think she would want any clutter, so best to get her something she can use.

Glad you cleared that up👌you seem to be taking all this rather seriously, which kind of proves the point.

No...I answered the question for OP’s benefit, and lightheartedly added my frustration about the obvious misnomer of a Secret Santa that isn’t secret. No more to it than that. <shrug>

Not sure why you’re intent on making a drama out of it but I’ve no interest in being drawn into some protracted passive-aggressive game.

The whataboutery on this thread is ridiculous. No matter what someone suggests, someone else will come along and tell you their reasons for the suggestion being completely unsuitable… but I don’t drink, but I don’t like candles, but I don’t like coffee, but I have sensitive skin, but I have allergies…

As others have said, no one will expect much from a random colleague for a fiver. TK Maxx have tons of candles. Don’t overthink it.

M and s light up tin ,5 pounds. Tbags or biscuit inside

Nobody expects anything brilliant from a £5 gift. Just get any of the bogstandard secret santa gifts mentioned above and don't overthink it.

What about this with a Terry's chocolate orange....

www.homebargains.co.uk/products/34184-skin-treats-seven-days-of-masking.aspx