Secret Santas

Uggh, they never go right, do they?

I successfully managed to get out of 2 of them, but still ended up in another one. 

Plus you have to run around finding a gift for someone you barely know. Got someone I didn't know much about, but tried my hardest. And usually they don't know you so you can random stuff that you have no idea what to do with. I got a Canadian flag this year.    Someone thinks I'm Canadian which is alright, not to be associated with Trump!

Also, the people who publicly grumble and moan about what was given to them. Really, don't play if you want to be a cow about it.

Poor lassie who organised it didn't even get a gift, so now there's a collection going around to get her something.   I hate when people commit to Secret Santa and then don't actually buy anyone anything. 
I usually end up feeling sad and spending more money to chip in or to actually get a person something.

 

This is why we need to start the White Elephant trend in the UK.  Secret Santa is never smooth!

This is why we need to start the White Elephant trend in the UK.  Secret Santa is never smooth!

We do something a bit similar to this when my friends and I have Christmas meet-ups... everyone brings a gift, but we don't know who will get which gift until they're distributed.

This is why we need to start the White Elephant trend in the UK.  Secret Santa is never smooth!

I didn't realise it was an American think..I had never heard about White Elephant (still barely know what it is) until last year I think it was? Granted it was an expat group I heard referencing it haha. Is it a regional thing in the US?

I'm told it's basically like a Yankee Swap. That's what we do with my family (when I'm home in the US for the holidays).

I didn't realise it was an American think..I had never heard about White Elephant (still barely know what it is) until last year I think it was? Granted it was an expat group I heard referencing it haha. Is it a regional thing in the US?

I'm told it's basically like a Yankee Swap. That's what we do with my family (when I'm home in the US for the holidays).

The way my extended family (from Arkansas/Missouri region) did the white elephant gift exchange, everybody brings a wrapped gift and they all get put in a pile.  Then swap then goes in turns... when it's your turn, you can take an unwrapped gift from the pile and open it, or you can "steal" an already-unwrapped gift from someone else.  The next person then can either unwrap a new gift, or steal an open one.  If you're the second one to "steal" a gift, you get to keep it and nobody can steal it from you.  And this continues until all the gifts have been opened and either stolen twice and settled with their owner, or everybody is satisfied with what they have.

The gifts are often a bit random.  Some quirky toy or novelty "decoration" (someone brought a singing bass wall plaque once), or things like a package of 12 pairs of socks.

For some reason, we always played "white elephant" by bringing something that you own, but aren't using - to exchange for something else, so perhaps you all end up with something you would use. 

We always called the other kind of gift exchange with a new present a 'grab bag'. 

I didn't participate in Secret Santa at work because it was too much stress with actual gifts and a (big) Secret Santa on another forum I'm on.  But the thing about it here is....they don't find out who it was!!!!  People from work are posting 'whoever got me knows me really well, thanks secret santa' with a photo of the gifts on facebook....but they never find out!  In grad school it was the same.  What the heck!!

My mom started white elephant about five years ago and it’s so much better! Less stress and is fun. I’m usually the one who never gets my secret santa gift given to me. I hate it, but don’t want to be the grinch who doesn’t play

I didn't participate in Secret Santa at work because it was too much stress with actual gifts and a (big) Secret Santa on another forum I'm on.  But the thing about it here is....they don't find out who it was!!!!  People from work are posting 'whoever got me knows me really well, thanks secret santa' with a photo of the gifts on facebook....but they never find out!  In grad school it was the same.  What the heck!!

That's why it's called SECRET Santa! 

That's why it's called SECRET Santa! 

It's a  secret til you open the gift, then you get to find out!  But not here apparently.  Although not participating, I have totally found out who lots of people have, because I'm curious.

It's a  secret til you open the gift, then you get to find out!  But not here apparently.  Although not participating, I have totally found out who lots of people have, because I'm curious.

I'm from Colorado and we never found out who our Secret Santa was unless you happened to guess. It's a secret! Haha. Must be a regional thing.

The way my extended family (from Arkansas/Missouri region) did the white elephant gift exchange, everybody brings a wrapped gift and they all get put in a pile.  Then swap then goes in turns... when it's your turn, you can take an unwrapped gift from the pile and open it, or you can "steal" an already-unwrapped gift from someone else.  The next person then can either unwrap a new gift, or steal an open one.  If you're the second one to "steal" a gift, you get to keep it and nobody can steal it from you.  And this continues until all the gifts have been opened and either stolen twice and settled with their owner, or everybody is satisfied with what they have.

The gifts are often a bit random.  Some quirky toy or novelty "decoration" (someone brought a singing bass wall plaque once), or things like a package of 12 pairs of socks.

We've done similar to that in my family just not called it "White Elephant". We have a limit (usually around $25) and we buy something that anybody would enjoy (half the time it's funny stuff or some type of game that we end up playing or - standard - booze/scratch tickets). My mom has us pick cards from 1 upward and will either start with whoever has the lowest or highest card and work in order. the first person chooses but gets the last chance to swap. The second person chooses a gift and can ONLY swap with person 1. Person 3 can only pick a gift from person 1 or 2 to swap with...and so on and so forth (so it's ideal to either be first and have a pick of everything or towards the end when MOST stuff has been opened). The difference is that once you swap it's not your permanently. Somebody can always swoop in and steal from you if they are the right person in line..lol You've got to hide what you REALLY like from your siblings in case they want to be a total jerk.


With office secret santa, me and my closest office friend would always try to find out who everybody had and then we'd share between the two of us and we'd try to guess everybody we didn't know for sure LOL

The only secret santa I'm doing is pretty close to a white elephant, but my recipient will be getting theirs after Xmas. I haven't had the energy to walk to the post office the last two days! It's always amusing to see what everyone else has been given.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk