STEP 1 - ALERT YOUR COLLEAGUES BY EMAIL. Early in
December, send out an e-mail, inform your co-workers that
you're organizing the Secret Santa, and ask them to sign up
by a specific date (say, 2 weeks before Christmas). Give
them the basic rules: 1. TOTAL anonymity, 2. No gifts worth
more than £5.00 (or £10.00 or £500.00 if
you work in an investment bank, you decide the limit) 3.
Don't forget to say it's ok not to take part so some can
opt out.
STEP 2 - THE DRAW. Once you have a final list of
participants (you might have to send e-mail reminders) and
it's now two weeks to Christmas, write down all the names
on slips of paper, fold them up, and put them into a box.
Gather the participants around and get them to each draw a
name from the box at random. THEY MUST NOT REVEAL THE NAME
THEY HAVE DRAWN. Don't do this Christmas Eve, this step
should happen at a date that gives the participants time to
buy the gift!
STEP 3 - SECRECY IS PARAMOUNT. Once everyone has drawn a
name, they MUST NOT reveal whose Secret Santa they are,
otherwise it's not secret is it !!. You need only a couple
of spoilsports to completely ruin a Secret Santa and allow
everyone to know who their Santa is. Threaten them with
nail pulling or ban them from the Christmas Party if anyone
breathes a word. Now that each participant has a name to
buy for, they have to go and demonstrate their ingenuity,
insight, humour, and maybe feelings, to buy something
unique or creative; or even for that matter, useful; for
their chosen recipient ! At this point it is good to remind
the secret Santas that the spend limit is RIGID. It's no
good if 90% of the participants keep to the limit and 10%
go overboard. The idea is to find a gift WITHIN the limit
and show your gift buying prowess. Any cheat can double the
limit and impress, it takes a real pro to get it right
within budget.!
STEP 4 - COLLECTING THE GIFTS. A day or two before the
appointed day, get the secret Santas to bring their gifts
to you, and without looking, put their gifts in a big bin
liner . If you yourself are taken part, it's important that
you look away or close your eyes, and get the other
participant to do the same. You could of course ask a non
participant to do the present collection if you like. Then
keep the bag hidden somewhere safe. It is VERY important,
of course, that the gift should bear only the name of the
receiver, NOT who it's from, and furthermore, it should NOT
be handwritten. The recipient should not ever find out who
the gift is from. That's part of the fun..
STEP 5 THE DAY. Gather everyone around together on a
designated day, maybe the last day that everyone is in the
office before the holidays, and distribute the gifts.
Everyone now has to open their own gift in front of the
other participants, one of whom of course, is their secret
Santa ! At this point, in the mayhem and hysteria,
inevitably the names of some of the givers are likely be
revealed, and the suitability, price, creativity, humour,
etc of the presents will be judged, for better or for
worse—all through next year Sandra from IT will
always wonder who it was that bought her a Beer Drinker's
Helmet, and why !. But again, that's all part of the fun !
----------------------------------------------------
Neil Holley-Williams is the owner of one of the UK's best
websites for interesting and unique gift ideas.
His company have scoured the web for the most interesting
and best gift websites so you don't have to. The website
contains many ideas for those 'Secret Santa' gifts
For more information go to http://www.giftideacentral.co.uk/
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