Exactly ^^^

The person organising Secret Santa at my work place went round asking people if they wanted to partake. Some did, some didn't.
Those that did, bought presents for the person whose name they picked out of a hat.
Those that didn't simply got on with their day.
No fuss was made, no campaigns started, no tutting, no spite, no animosity at the other camp.

It was almost like everyone were adults and could choose or to take part or not take in a bit of festive fun. I know this won't resonate well with the OP but guess what, in the real world folk are quite capable of going about their business without spoiling it for everyone else.

Backfired on me one year. I belong to the same forum as my brothers partner and we both took part in SS. Unfortunately I was drawn to get her a gift and went to great lengths to post it from well away from our hometown. She hated her gift and moaned about it to me saying her SS obviously hadn't taken much trouble over her gift, they were supposed to be opened Xmas day but she opened hers the day she got it. I couldn't say it was me as the whole point was supposed to be the guessing game after. When it all came out she was embarrassed and upset that I had kept quiet. I no longer take part in SS.

I hadn't, till about six years ago, when you had that Boots advert where that woman in the office calls out, 'Secret Santa!' then everyone put their bits in a sack. It was one of those ads playing Here Come The Girls.

Fortunately I've never had the misfortune to encounter Secret Santa.

Instead of Secret Santa and present-giving, do religious Scots have Secret Saltire & presbyteries?

Just because people may not take part in social interaction at work do not mean they loathe their work colleagues, some of us go to work to earn money, I certainly would not be where i work for any other reason.
I talk to my colleagues, i get on with most of them, but that is where it ends.
I have nothing against secret Santa if other people want to do it and to be fair they do ask if we are interested they do not just take it fro granted that we are. Myself I do not bother, I can not be bothered with it.
I am good friends with 3 people from work, we go out for drinks and coffee.

I do not get involved with anything at work, just go in, do my job, go home and get paid at the end of the four weeks.

Well rubber bands are not something one would buy as a present. They're an item you buy when they're needed. Seems a bit thoughtless. Might as well just give a pack of cheap biros or something like that.

I've only done Secret Santa twice - once at school and last year at one college society's Christmas party. For the one at school we just gave sweets and at the college one we had a €10 budget but the gifts people gave and received were not too bad. I got a bracelet which I still wear.

If they're seahorse shaped then depending on the size of the pack they could have easily been £10 as they sound like Guylian Belgian chocolate seashells and they're not cheap.

I do understand your annoyance if the rule was no sweets though.

To be fair as much as I like it and treat it as a bit of fun, you can occasionally get an idea of how mean or shameless people can be. One year I got a five year old Fifa game for the XBox, not even in its cellophane wrapping. Clearly had just been bought for pennies second hand or lifted from someone's collection at the last minute!

We used to do Secret Santa at the place I used to work and the only rules were the gift had to be as cheap and tacky as possible, whilst still being appropriate for the recipient in some way. One year, the workmate's name I drew out the hat had caused a bit of a stir about a month earlier by dressing up as Osama Bin Laden for a fancy dress charity night we'd held, so I popped into the nearest pound shop, bought a roll of black bin liners and wrote 'OSAMA' in thick black marker pen on the label just above the words 'Bin Liners'. I then spotted an oversized velvet jesters hat (complete with bells on) in claret and blue, which I also bought as I knew she was a West Ham season ticket holder. She loved them, so job done.

These days, my friends and I all go out for a meal about a week or two before Xmas and just do a 'lucky dip SS', into which we each put the most ridiculous/tacky/useless pound shop item we have been able to find. Some of them are so dire they deliberately get 'forgotten' and left behind on the table, which is why last year I had to chase my friend round the car park, insisting she take home the bunch of bright red plastic chillies on a string she'd received. She managed to get away that time, but they got posted through her door on Xmas Eve anyway. Mind you, one friend said the pack of disposable latex gloves she'd received might actually come in handy and another friend looked very regal with a bright pink plastic potty perched on her head!

The wife's team are doing a "dirty-secret santa" swap tonight.

Her boss is getting a set of nipple clamps.

Come on Noise747, you and some other members of DS are known to be miserable gits come the Festive season and that you bang on every year with same party pooping crap...give it a break for a while. That said at your age I doubt you will...fixed in your almost obsessive ways.

Before I retired as a Ward Manger we ran Bran Tubs et al with great success on the unit, no pressure to join in at all although 100% of the staff did Its whats called fun

No cribs for the beds?

i replied to a thread about secret Santa and my view, which is i have nothing against it as long as it do not involve me, i also replied to a post saying about interaction at work and making statements that just because some people do not interact they they loath their colleagues, which is not true.

You do not like my post you can always put me on ignore, it will not bother me one little bit,

What you did as a ward manager, is up to you. i work because i have to, not to interact. i have my fun outside work.

You should all cheer up, Christmas is fun. Be thankful for what you have.

My wife's family is fairly large, (4 sisters, add in husbands) so we decided we could by 8 fairly inexpensive presents which no-one really wants or spend €50 on one person, so that's why we do Secret Santa.

Some of the relatives can still be pretty cheap mind, buying something from bargain shops, just because the item was originally €50 doesn't allow you to buy it for €30 and you can tell just how little thought they put into them (last year I got some cheap, bar kit which still sits unopened in the cupboard in the attack)

Please expand on that statement LOL

Learn to lighten up Noise for crying out loud.

I am thankful, after 2014/15 and what I went though I am still here. but it still do not mean I have to follow the crowd and celebrate christmas.



i go out with friends, I go to the theatre now and again, I do things which i enjoy,

Oh yeah, do not tell me what to do.

Re first BIB thank you for your understanding Rich. Re 2nd BIB, the more of us who do not participate through not liking it, the sooner it could die down. Works Christmas cards seem to be dying down - a little sadly in my opinion - so maybe Secret Santa could eventually follow.

If they're the chocolates I think they are, a box of those can cost up to £30, depending on the size. Not cheap and nasty at all....

I've seen a secret santa where everybody opened their presents at once. And then the works arsehole asked everyone who had given what presents. Yes, there's a f***wit in every workplace.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I always hoped I would get my own name, so I could get myself something decent.
It seems to have largely died out at my office.