What shall I get my Secret Santa presentee...

[ianrauk]

Following on from the coat hanger suggestion...

 

[dellzeqq]

if you think about it too long, this Secret Santa thing can be a real trial. I've only ever had one riproaring success....

during one of my trawls through a second hand bookshop I found a leather-bound volume of Raphael reproductions for a tenner. The book must have been seventy years old - the pages were interleaved by tissue, like an stamp album. Had the same thing been newly published it would have been £80 and more.

The recipient was as pleased as pleased can be. So....second hand book shop and a bit of negotiation on price?

 

[wiggydiggy]

if you think about it too long, this Secret Santa thing can be a real trial. I've only ever had one riproaring success.........

Hence my hatred of it

If you have to do it get down the local £1 shop and pick up the first 5 shiny things you see

 

[Butterfly]

I refuse to take part in them now, but if I did, I'd MUCH rather someone got me some chocolates than try to be funny or crude or give me (yet more) candles, foam bath or photo frames. I have enough candles that we could turn the lights off for a month if it wasn't for the asthma! (Yes I do know I'm a grumpy moo, thanks. But I'm a grumpy moo who doesn't waste days buying presents that my friends don't want and trying to look pleased at opening yet another cookbook)

 

[Theseus]

Hence my hatred of it

If you have to do it get down the local £1 shop and pick up the first 5 shiny things you see

Like you I have been scarred for life ...

The first job I had was working in a "team" (in the loosest possible sense of the word) that had a culture of negativity. For example, we had a whiteboard behind the managers desk where we were encouraged to write down each other's mistakes, foibles or quotes. Both business and personal ones were fair game. Each week the manager would pick one to be awarded the "WoW" award. This was an old zebedee toy with a badge that had a capital W merged with a ships anchor. As the badge was a shorthand for w*nk*r, the "WoW" award was for the "W*nk*r of the Week".

Come Christmas we had a Secret Santa and everyone appeared to make it a point to get presents that were in some way hurtful or otherwise denigrating. One girl, who was somewhat wholesome, received a couple of D batteries. Just them. Anther chap who was an avid Gunners fan got a Spurs scarf. I got something as equally distateful.

At the time it all seemed a good laugh until I realised just how devisive it all was.

Since then I have always firmly, but politely declined to take part in anything similar.

 

[wiggydiggy]

I refuse to take part in them now, but if I did, I'd MUCH rather someone got me some chocolates than try to be funny or crude or give me (yet more) candles, foam bath or photo frames. I have enough candles that we could turn the lights off for a month if it wasn't for the asthma! (Yes I do know I'm a grumpy moo, thanks. But I'm a grumpy moo who doesn't waste days buying presents that my friends don't want and trying to look pleased at opening yet another cookbook)

Nope its not grumpy We're saving the world from cheap tat one present at a time!

Last SS I did I found out what their fav film was and got one of those fabric prints of a scene from the film, this was a few years back so they were still a novelty. What did I get back? A Pack of Rennies and some genuine 'silk' hankerchiefsof the type seen in a cracker

So better off not bothering!

 

[vernon]

You know I often wonder sometimes what members get up to on the net!!

I buy stuff while it's cheap in the summer sales and then wait for victims suitable recipients to emerge.

 

[Stig-OT-Dump]

I suggested a "secret grinch" for christmas - you pull a name out of a hat and then steal something off their desk. Strangely enough it didn't get beyond the proposal stage despite some initial support.

 

[brokenflipflop]

I was on an archeological expedition to Eritrea a couple of years back and I uncovered some artefacts from the Ottoman empire including 9 tiny gold coins dating back to the 17th century. I gave my secret santa one of the coins. They were mighty shocked and mighty pleased.

 

[Aperitif]

[QUOTE 1645495, member: 1314"]It's 20:50 and the pressie needs to be in the sack by ten tomorrow morning.

And I have nothing.[/quote]
Do a 'FNR' and don't turn up?

 

[Slim]

..... Another chap who was an avid Gunners fan got a Spurs scarf.....

I sort of had the reverse. The recipient was married to a hardcore Spurs fan so I got her an Arsenal hat and scarf. She was a bit grim faced working out how to explain the hat and scarf to her husband.

The best though was when the person whose name I pulled out of the hat was jewish. I actually bought her a couple of presents. The second present was something quite nice but the first packet she opened was a packet of bacon. Most of the people around the table at prezzie-opening time were mortified but the recipient laughed until she cried.