Text

Fashionista ~ Career Woman ~ Op Shopper ~ Online Shopping Addict ~ Bargain Hunter ~ Child Rearer ~ Book Reader ~ Social Commentator

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Secret santa? Bah humbug!

I am not the greatest fan of secret santa, or kris kringle as you may call it. The idea in itself is great, but in practice I have not had much luck getting good gifts. I do enjoy giving, but let's face it - we all want to receive something nice too!

This year we did a $10 secret santa at work. As usual, I put a lot of effort into my gift and received a dissapointing one. I got a "table top" game, but a really complicated and silly one. It's too heavy for travel (or maybe just too complicated to be enjoyable... a pack of cards is so much better):

Quite a pity, as some of the titles actually look good (mine isn't even in this photo) - 50 Places to Visit/ Things to Do Before You Die sound like fun. The rrp of these is $5 at Australia Post, so a good gift idea if you choose a nice one - but not cool for a $10 secret santa! I can't regift it either, as the silly gift giver wrote my name on the wrapping and it went through and made an imprint on the metal box *rolls eyes*.

Other dissapointing secret santa gifts I have received:
~ For a $30 secret santa, an almost expired $20 Sportsgirl gift voucher. Obviously someone was regifting, poor form!
~ For a $20 secret santa, a mini first aid kit. Apart from being very random, it was a pretty useless first aid kit - it contained a few sachets of antiseptic, some plastic bandages, a needle and some tweezers. I could do better for $10 at my local pharmacy!

The other night I had another SS to attend to for an Xmas dinner with a group of girlfriends. I promise that I am usually a very kind and thoughtful person. On this occassion, the SS was anonymous and I justified my behaviour on the premise that I don't even know some of the attendees, and one of these people who I have no connection with might pick my gift out of the santa sack. So I regifted a set of giftcards that has been sitting in my cupboard gathering dust for years. It was gratifying. And someone who I had not met before that night received my gift.

My gift was a cute handmade bag organiser made by Bragbags. I am pretty sure it was regifted too, because it would have cost way more than the $10 limit. I already have a handbag organiser that I don't use, but in comparison to the giftcard set that I had gotten rid of, I was stoked with this new acquisition. I think this is how I will approach SS in the future - as a decluttering exercise.

What is the worst gift you have ever received?

4 comments:

  1. That's such a shame about your gifts! I always try to go to a lot of effort to find a gift within budget that I think my recipient would like!

    Last year for my Secret Santa I received a $5 tin of shortbread from Coles for a $15 budget SS.

    I still always try to go to lots of effort though, because I know it can be disappointing to receive a thoughtless gift and I would rather give them the pleasure of receiving something nice, regardless of what I get back! It's all in the spirit of Christmas giving! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. There is a limit for a reason...not only to make sure people don't spend too much - but to make sure everyone gets a gift of equal value. Sorry to hear you got a sucky gift :(

    ReplyDelete
  3. that sucks. i guess it depends on who you are secret santaing with. i always like the sacret santa where you can steal and swap presents! makes it a bit easier to palm off those unwanted presents!!
    kel x

    ReplyDelete
  4. This is so sad! I would definitely get disappointed with such secret Santa gifts. Its better you organize a party in a good event space and get good gifts wrapped in a same wrapper and make people pick random ones. This will be so much better.

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...