Secret Santa Hell

sapphireeye

I did a secret santa once, I bought a girl I barely knew some sparkly Soap and Glory stuff and some cupcake lipbalms which she seemed happy enough with!! However, the person that got me had bought me a DVD of Westlife on tour. Bearing in mind that my favourite radio station was Xfm and I loved Rock and Indie bands, Westlife were possibly my most hated band! I had a hard time trying to pretend that I liked them! It also then turned out that it was someone who I considered one of my good friends that had bought it for me!!

I'm normally the sort of person that's happy to receive anything but I was a bit miffed about that one! Almost topped the time my aunt bought me a Barbie diary when I was 16!

motherhen2234

abatha wrote: »

My boss had to buy for me and she got me 2 tacky moneyboxes that obviously didn't cost £10, I doubt they cost her £5! I know it sounds so ungrateful but I was so annoyed, I always feel that I end up on the bad end of secret santa!

I know how you feel! We've done secret santa twice at our work (but not this year). The first year was a kids board game which wasn't me but hey it happens. But last year took the biscuit (literally). It was a £10 spend and I got some M&S retro biscuits that sell for £4. Luckily they went back to the office to be enjoyed (as they weren't even a type of biscuit I like).

mandragora_2

I've done numerous Secret Santas over the years, spent a lot of time and care on them, because I (used to) think it was a nice thing to do - to find out about a colleague, and take some care thinking about buying, or possibly making, something for them. I just used to like watching their faces as they opened the pressie. I'd never minded too much that what I got in return was often just bland, generic, though I've never been a fan of crude or offensive gifts, I've been lucky enough to avoid them until I moved to my new workplace. I thought I'd been very lucky to pick out a close colleague, who talks a lot about children in less well-off countries, and how we should help them. I did her a package which consisted of a 'gift aid' of £15 worth of porridge for starving children, and bought her a lovely 'aboriginal art' silk scarf for herself from eBay for a couple of quid, as she was about to travel to Australia. I wrapped a little packet of porridge in the scarf and included a card from the charity explaining about the gift aid. With great excitement, I watched her open it. She glanced at it casually and then put it to one side. The 'gift' I got that year was a sarky book about being old (I was all of 49 at the time). From that day on, I simply haven't bothered, and instead buy or make something a bit special for a family member or friend. Miserable, I know, but I just decided not to waste any more time and effort on it.