Nov 24, 20203 min read

Secret Santa - What's It All About?

So what is Secret Santa all about? How do we do it? Where can it all go wrong? And what should we buy? We have all the answers for you.

What’s it all about?

It’s a traditional little idea where a group of friends, family or colleagues come together to exchange Christmas gifts. Out of a hat, you choose one name (usually anonymously) from the group, which you will then buy a present for. The joy of this is you don’t have to buy everyone a gift so its cost-effective, it works for those with a busy schedule and it’s a good fun shared experience too. There is usually a set budget (Around £10 - £20, but completely up to you) so no one goes wild or gets disappointed. Anticipated opening reactions include being lost for words, finding it absolutely hilarious or being extremely mortified.

How do we do it?

Good old classic drawing a name form a hat works or if you are working remotely you can organise this through Draw Names instead. On this website, you can add everyone in the group into the draw and they all get sent someone else's name via email which is who they will be buying for. A perk of this site is that there is a wish list, where receivers can go through and choose something or a few things they would like and it basically does the job for you. Just before Christmas round up your group and exchange your gifts. This is also achievable virtually if you all post each other the gift and open it via a scheduled festive Zoom call. Nothing will stop us.

Where can it all go wrong?

Know. Your. Audience. We have done Secret Santa with friends before and it was always a barrel of laughs. The idea was to go to Poundland and buy £5 worth of ridiculousness and it was great fun for everyone involved. So when it came to Secret Santa at the new job we had just started, we had so much experience and knew we would ace this and make a great first impression. That was not the case. As everyone, including ourselves, opened the very thoughtful and personally picked out gifts, we had to gulp and hide our red face as our poor receiver unwrapped their turkey baster. So take advice from us as we have made the mistakes for you. Find out to some level what your Secret Santa is expecting beforehand.

What should we buy?

Depending on how you want to play the game and whom you have drawn. You can always play it safe with items such as a candle, notebook or chocolate and they’ll be satisfied. If you want to do something unique and just for them, personalised gifts like these Festive Photo Socks are a great idea too. But if you’re feeling a bit more daring, then here is your chance to make it clear what you really think of them with a joke present (try not to be too mean).