Secret Santas

Instead of Secret Santas, we do this horrible game where we steal gifts from each other and everyone has to spend $15.

A receipt to prove what you spent!!! That is crazy. When we did the Secret Santa at an elementary school where I worked. We bought little gifts for the person for one week. At the end of the week you gave a larger gift either homemade or store bought. It was an absolute blast. There was no monetary amount that we had to spend. There shouldn't be either. I made my gift for the recipient. They absolutely loved it.

Haha reminds me of my brother who is in UK He told me yesterday and said that they were playing secret santa and he got a colorful muffler as a gift What a waste

i've tried the secret santa game a few times but it doesnt work for me. I dont like getting stuff for people i dont know.

Hi my company does have secret santa..and i LOVE it. we don't have to spend any minimum amount -- it can be a simple card/handmade stuff..anything at ALL.. and usually get really cool stuff like - cd's/tapes so i'm happy :) it's so much fun but it's bad if you give something but don't get anything in return..which happens quiet a lot -- it shouldn't though when you can give something as simple as a card. and even that can make someone smile..so why not ?

Somehow the concept of being forced to buy gifts for anyone seems insane to me. I buy for those I want to buy for.

everywhere ive ever worked secret santa was never forced on us.. we didn't have to participate.. if we didn't want it was all our choice.. But i love secret santa so i would always join in.. its great.. Love giving and receiving.. :)

My old job didn't do that, fortunately. We'd all pitch in and have a Christmas dinner at work, if we were working that night or Christmas Eve. Now, my middle daughter's school on the other hand lol. They do the secret Santa for the kids in class. OK fine...I guess. Well, now her basketball team is doing it as well, and the kids want 5.00 to get the coach a gift, and need to pick up something small for the teacher. It's all adding up, and we really need to watch our money. It's nice and all, but I think it's just giving kids the wrong idea about Christmas. And what about the parents that really really can't afford it? So their kid has to opt out, and I remember as a kid, we couldn't afford to get the teacher anything. I was the only one, and felt like such a heel. Teacher didn't care, but it really bugged me. I think I'm going to send in something for next year, all the classes should donate 5.00 in lieu of a gift for each kid, and give it to a charity or sponser a family in need. I'd have no problem with my money going towards that, rather then some cheap 5.00 toy a kid's going to break.

I am not working right now but I do co run a playgroup and we do sort of a secret santa. But we call them secret sisters and you can choose to partisipate or not. We have the same ss all year and will get something for there b-day as well. I don't think you should put a min of $20 on something and prove it with a recipt. It should be what you want to get now the price of something.

My work we have a Secret Santa We don't HAVE to be part of it, but if you want a pressie, you have to buy a pressie. Our limite is $10 for male or female, then Santa's helper will give the pressies out just before Xmas... Our 10 year old daughter had to buy a secret santa for school, she was givin a boys name from her class to buy for average of $5.

My husbands company doesn't do secret Santa. Every holiday they have a bake sale and contribute all that money to toys for tots and other children's charities so they are helping all year around, not just in December. I wish he would come home with a bonus from the company! lol

for me,i like playing secret santa because when the person receives it and he/she smiles or is happy, you feel the same way but when you are financially hard up it is ok to tell your boss about it.

Thanksfully not where I work. My sister's job it's a yearly requirement. Minimum of $25 All I can say is HELLO GIFT CARDS! I HATE SHOPPING FOR SOMEONE I DON'T KNOW INTIMATELY!

the gift giving occurs over several days. Typically, on a daily basis some small gift is secretly delivered to each person with an emphasis on creativity to make it fun. Examples include, a homemade card, a poem, candies, a trinket, a snack or a little piece of art. By playing this game over several days, the tension mounts and everyone is curious as to exactly who their personal ‘Secret Santa’ is. On the last day of the activity, the gift usually reveals the identity of the ‘Secret Santa’. This could also be played by agreeing on a certain place then all the secret santa's hide their gifts and then put small clues with the name of the person who they are secret santa to, which lead to where the gift is hidden.

but santas in chirstmas is a very good idea.

My husband's work has one, it's completely optional. And there is no minimum amount, just a maximum, so he could take anything. I don't think a mandatory Secret Santa with a minimum amount is exactly in the spirit of Christmas giving.

I think it is wrong to make someone participate in Secret Santa. Where in his job description does it say that he has to participate and buy someone a gift with his earnings? That is outragious! Secret Santa is supposed to be for fun and is supposed to be voluntary, not mandatory...that is just wrong.

My company does not do secret Santa but due to ONE employee we have been forced to draw names, which I do not like. We have a very small employee force only 7 of us and we have always just bought something for everyone and it was a LOT of fun. The boss always gives us a very elegant dinner, we play dirty Santa and receive one gift from him, then we all get a very sizeable bonus. So to buy each person in the company a gift was not a hardship, but there is always one person who has to change everything! I don't like drawing names and only purchasing something for one person. So, I draw the name and buy the gift but I also purchase something for everyone else too!

I think that it shouldn't be obligatory. I'm not a christian, but at my last job they had a secret santa thing, and a limit of £5.00, and assigned presents on a lottery-type basis. The present I'd bought was 4 nice shot glasses, and the MD who got my present was a real spoiled brat of a guy, and proceeded to whinge about the fact that it was "cheap" (which it wasn't - I went up to the limit) and that there wasn't any booze with it. Given the choice, I don't think it's a good idea - if people want to buy presents for their colleagues they should just go ahead and do that.

Well my company gave us Gifts, and Bonus so I m happy no cards though I just love the spirit that we have in our office that is more improtant to me. Also there was no Exchange Gifts but we had lunch and shared gifts within the team and later on The company gave us the employees a Treat with Gifts...It was as usual the best christmas days