Secret blooming santas

I work in a smallish office of about 20 people some who are very cliquey and would die if a mildly rude joke was made.

We have had some disastrous SS in the past and it has thankfully been dropped for the past few years.

However we have had a new intake of young ladies who have no responsibilities and who "just luvvv Christmas" (which is ok as long as you don't have to do the Xmas eve trolley fight and do all the cooking for the next few days and cope with visitors staying over) and who are very keen to have SS again.

What the hell do you buy someone you have no interest/nothing in common for a fiver especially if you live in a hick town with nothing but Poundland or charity shops. It would appear we won't know who our pick is untill another week or two so plenty of time to get something on line ... not!

They also want to have a Christmas jumper competition so you have to buy a jumper and then pay a fiver to wear it. Personally I would rather give it all to charity not to wear one!

Bah humbug!

You have my sympathy. Secrety santa. A lotto ticket and some tat.
I am on holiday abroad from 10 December so no Xmas cards to family. Also friends locally and I have all contributed £5 to charity instead of exchanging cards

Just had the Christmas Jumper conversation on another forum, schools tend to do it as charity thing, not for me I am afraid.
Don't think we did secret Santa when I worked, it was a bran tub if anything!

I suppose it it's all ladies taking part, then you can look on line for something for a generic female so you're prepared....drink related gifts usually go down well, minature baileys and chocs that sort of thing. Good luck!

Thankfully we don't have this pallaver! My sympathies LATI. Can you just refuse to participate, or is that a cue for more drama?
Is the budget a fiver? I wouldn't put too much thought in. Something 'smelly' but gender neutral will probably do. I've seen people given packs of disposable razors... so you' still be doing better than that!

I did suggest we had a Poundlad SS and give the other £4 to charity.

I never joined in the SS when I was working, nobody minded. (I wasn't the only one either).

I agree, it is tricky to know how to pitch it, but - if they can't give you more notice than that - they can't expect something earth-shatteringly original, can they? Especially with such a small budget. I think I'd just play it safe with some nice chocs or toiletries. Can sympathise with the Christmas jumper thing, too. A friend of mine is in a terrible state at the moment about his sister in law's 40th, which - much to his horror - is fancy dress. For obvious reasons, he doesn't feel like he can get out of it, but having to turn up to anything in fancy dress is his worst nightmare. There's an irritating misconception that people that don't want to participate in these things are boring / don't know how to enjoy themselves, some people don't seem to respect that indulging in their idea of fun might be mortifying for some people, for a whole variety of reasons. Perhaps you could wear something that is more of a festive nod? Red or green with a Christmas badge or something? If you do decide to go down the Christmas jumper route, you should be able to get one quite cheaply from Primark, if you have one nearby.

A gift voucher for a fiver from say Boots! Simple buy what they want with it.

As for the jumper thing, sorry I wouldn't be caught dead in one. And you tell them straight to Feck Off.

Secret santas are really difficult to pitch, go low, like a fiver and you're restricted to something really small, or silly (which I suppose is the general idea). We pitch ours at a tenner, the only thing is, is that we used to say spend no more than a tenner, but we found that some people were getting really good gifts, whilst some were getting stuff that is less than a fiver. This year we're going to say spend around the £10 mark!

5 lottery tickets in an envelope and if they win the biggy then you`re rid of them for good. Sorted !

Stupidly I've just agreed to join in with the secret santa at work. I've got to buy for a young girl in a different office whom I don't know at all, in fact I'm not sure I ever spoken to her. What makes it even more tricky is she's Muslim so obviously alcohol or scratchcards as suggested above are out. Why did I agree to take part.

I saw a lip balm in a jazzy duck container (on line Boots so don't know what it's like in real life) which I thought would pass the "funny but not cruel" remit but the name I've just picked wouldn't be into that so off to the shops!

The one thing we have ruled out is mugs as our work cupboard will collapse if any more added, but there are some lovely or even funny ones for a fiver.

Yes, result! A colleague has swapped with me and I'm now buying for the boss, so for the King of the office what could be better than throne spray (the same type of thing as poo pourri)?

If anybody is participating in the Christmas jumper thing, then Aldi`s special buys from Sunday 4th Dec are ladies, mens and childrens Christmas jumpers, £7.99.

We'll be doing our secret santa next week when I'm back from my holiday. There's a couple I'm dreading getting, one is a lady, and a lovely lady she is, but I don't know her very well, however, what I do know is that she is very well to do, and I'd really struggle to think of what to get her, and the other is an older lady, quite old fashioned and religious, and all I do really know about her is that she doesn't eat chocolates! a scarf? a scarf, or a scarf?
The lady I really want to get is one who loves her perfume, but she seems to wear the slightly cheaper ones, and ones I tend to like myself - Would probably get her a small bottle of SJP Lovely, can buy online for a tenner and it comes in a really pretty bottle - smells gorgeous too! Wish me luck folks!

Have fun shopping!

What a bit of luck! 18 people in the draw and I was the first one to draw, and I managed to pick one of my best mates inside and outside of work!...Feeling really lucky cause some of them would have been really tricky!