bah humbug; bran tub time again!!

sunnyflower

I love Christmas, but there is one thing that really irritates me;

bran-tub / secret santa

whatever you wish to call it.

Every year I say I'm not joining in; I'd rather spend my hard-earned money
£10 last year

on my nearest and dearest, instead of struggling to find somthing for a colleague, knowing that what I get back will inevitably end up in a charity shop / car boot sale.
Last year we swapped them over a christmas lunch, (for which we had to pay £20 for).
However, I always back down after putting up with mutterings that I'm mean / boring / spoilsportetc etc.

What does everyone else think? Am I mean? Am I the only person who thinks that if you really wanted to buy someone a present you'd buy them one anyway??

Comments please! I can take the truth!

annie123

I'm with you.

Never done 'til last year when the new person in our office suggested it, great idea said my small office of 7.
I'm thinking £2 now the rest of them £10.

So off I go making a nice hamper cost£11.and what do I get?
a battery operated hamster :eek:

I am not doing it again this year,,,

jamtart6

I'm half and half. some of them are great fun, but hard when its someone you have no idea what to buy for ie. 70 year old office bloke!

i think if it IS supposed to be jokey then fine, I'm all for a laugh and the year we did one, we all had the same hobby at work so bought something round that and loved it. the next year however, i got bought a singing rock!

celyn90

We have a secret satan - deliberately evil/tacky pressies, max spend £5 less if you want. People are always nice to me though for some reason, I've had chocolates, a mug and a cook book -trust me, that's getting of lightly where I work!

A singing rock? What does it sing? (please don't say rock music...)

fesdufun

One year I worked with an american who suggested something different to the bran tub. Everyone who wants to play takes in something unwanted (new or second-hand) from home. It is wrapped and placed (anon) in a box). The first person (names picked from a hat) takes a present from the box and unwraps it. The next person gets to chose a present from the box or "steal" the other person's present. If you have your present stolen you can either take from the box or "steal" someone elses (but not the one that has just been taken from you). The game ends when everyone hasa present.

It was a great laugh. The presents included a tea set, a framed map of the world, a yoghurt making machine, a electronic muscle tightening machine, a book, some chocolates and a box of smellies.

It was a great laugh. We nearly had a punch up over the yoghurt making machine.:eek:

It doesn't have to cost much (some people brought sometimes from the charity shop, max £5, if they didn't have anything at home, you can get rid of something unwanted from house and if you don't like what you get left with you can give it to charity.

jamtart6

celyn90 wrote: »

We have a secret satan - deliberately evil/tacky pressies, max spend £5 less if you want. People are always nice to me though for some reason, I've had chocolates, a mug and a cook book -trust me, that's getting of lightly where I work!

A singing rock? What does it sing? (please don't say rock music...)

Christmas jingles and says "SANTA ROCKS" on the front. horrendous! almost as bad as the singing fish "Billy Bass"

celyn90

fesdufun wrote: »

One year I worked with an american who suggested something different to the bran tub. Everyone who wants to play takes in something unwanted (new or second-hand) from home. It is wrapped and placed (anon) in a box). The first person (names picked from a hat) takes a present from the box and unwraps it. The next person gets to chose a present from the box or "steal" the other person's present. If you have your present stolen you can either take from the box or "steal" someone elses (but not the one that has just been taken from you). The game ends when everyone hasa present.

It was a great laugh. The presents included a tea set, a framed map of the world, a yoghurt making machine, a electronic muscle tightening machine, a book, some chocolates and a box of smellies.

It was a great laugh. We nearly had a punch up over the yoghurt making machine.:eek:

It doesn't have to cost much (some people brought sometimes from the charity shop, max £5, if they didn't have anything at home, you can get rid of something unwanted from house and if you don't like what you get left with you can give it to charity.

One of my ex-colleagues said that this was the common way to do a bran-tub in his native Holland - as it eliminates the need for searching for a pressie, spending cash you don't have, embarassing those that can't or don't want to participate. He said it also stops people buying nasty things to have a go at people too, so the atmosphere is nicer. LOL at the yoghurt machine though - I'd have loved that if it had been my gift! I think it's a great idea.

Santa rocks, that's truely awful! :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

I got into trouble one year (well, not really personally as they never worked out it was me!) for my gift in a serious secret santa at the place I worked before. I gave my £5 to charity and sent a card with a typed message in it saying what I had done. Funny thing was is that the girl that got my gift (and subsquently got annoyed as it wasn't in the spirit of the thing and should have been for her) was one of these people that was always going on about the good she did for others, so I honestly thought she'd approve of what I'd done. I would be so touched if someone did that for me, and to me it's more in the spirit of christmas than a junk toy.

MrsTinks

Where I used to work we had a £5 secret santa that you could take part in if you wished... I lost interest after the first year when I bought something that should have been £8 for just under my £5 (really nice bottle of wine for therecipient who I knew liked that wine) and I got... A purple floating hippo connected by chain to a cheap plastic bath plug... I was not amused (fairly sure I know who my secret santa was and she was looking for a way to get back at me... the peril of being the boss and taking part in secret santa...) - last year I took part "to help the team spirit" and again made a little gift set up and was quite chuffed with the result. And I got? A ludo set from Morrissons... I never play board games, i hate them! It was "donated" to a charity shop soon as they opened after christmas...

Where-ever I end up working next I'll do my damndest to outlaw secret santa. If there HAS to be anything then like the "bring an unwanted item" thing - that sounds far more fun!

Sallys_Savings

jamtart6 wrote: »

Christmas jingles and says "SANTA ROCKS" on the front. horrendous! almost as bad as the singing fish "Billy Bass"

lol I hate those sort of things...but what ever "rocks" your boat

I bought my father in the sales a couple of years ago a Father Christmas which says (rather loudly) Ho Ho Ho have I got a surprise for you and then his trousers promptly fall down LOL Its that tackiest thing out but I make him put it on his table every year saying the kids bought it for him and he shouldnt dissapoint them :rotfl:



I dont want to seem a meeny but alot of the time no one knows what to buy for secret santas so why bother really. I think its far better just to go for a quick drink to the pub

I like the idea that celyn90 mentioned though....something worth thinking about

celyn90

tine wrote: »

and I got... A purple floating hippo connected by chain to a cheap plastic bath plug... I was not amused (fairly sure I know who my secret santa was and she was looking for a way to get back at me... the peril of being the boss and taking part in secret santa...)

My mum stopped this kind of thing happening in her work place last year by swapping all the name tags round when everyone had gone home! Mind you, she was the sort of person who, when forced to organise one year, used to make sure that she got herself in the draw! :rotfl: It's quite common in my work place one for extra presents to appear if someone wants to buy something odd for someone else, but it's all been light hearted so far.

singlehouseholder

Yeah, im the office cheapskate becasue I don't want to be in Bran-tub, as I explained to them though, I spend £10 on my little nephews, I'm not going to spend the same on a work mate! Anyway, I told them I'd feel really uncomfortable someone spending that amount on me. Not going to xmas dinner either, going to meet up afterwards for a few shandies. £25 for a plate of veg, bowl of soup and xmas pud- why aye, I'd rather spend £25 notes on a asda shop!