Secret Santa at the Office

LOL - if you made it clear to the girl who said that to you that you didn't want to know, then maybe she is just trying to throw you off track? Although, I still think it was kind of tacky. We used to do that in the office, and I would always try to figure out who had who, but I never let anyone else know that I knew who had them or who I suspected had them. Then when it came time to reveal, it was always fun to see if I had it right. Anyways, we didn't do little gifts the whole month, I think you are an over acheiver, and especially in this economy, who has the $ to do that?? We just did gifts on one day all together with a $20 limit.

We do a week of small gifts with a larger gift on the last day, when we have a big lunch together. Total amount spent not to exceed $25. The gal that organizes it here sends out the plan. For instance: Monday - favorite Candy - Tuesday - something in their favorite color; Wednesday - Christmas ornament - Etc. She also sends out a "questionnaire" in the beginning, and asks favorite color, favorite restaurant, favorite type of jewelry, favorite store, Starbucks or McDonalds, I would love __________, I would NOT like _____. I really like (hearts, stars, cats, horses, etc). Anyway - you can cover a lot with one little questionnaire.

Do you know who her Secret Santa is?? I would "ruin" it for her to!!! That was really crappy of her!! the FUN part is the Secret and guessing! I love the idea of leaving little secret gifts all month like you have been, but I guess that would have to be 'stated' at the beginning so everyone's on the same page. I hope she gets you the GOOD vodka ;-)
Merry Christmas !!!!!!!!!!

Aw, I feel bad for you! I hate it when people ruin surprises. It sounds like you really got into the spirit of the whole thing - how disappointing when others do not share your enthusiasm. This is exactly why my hubby stopped participating in his office Secret Santa a couple of years ago - it's such fun when it works the way it's supposed to, and a real bummer when it doesn't! I guess in your office they do not do the month-long gifting, but this should have been made clear to everyone at the outset. As for being "overachieving", I bet everyone in your office wishes you were their SS :) Oh well, at least now you know for next year. Enjoy your vodka and your cake pedestal!!

hi
I know some people do secret santa by giving something each day, but I think when it comes to work, once may be enough. However, you are very kind and generous to buy something for each day. you sound like fun!!
as for the co-worker spoiling the secret.. I agree TACKY... I too like to keep matters a secret and in life since there are few surprises left , darn her for telling you................. :( I guess is you get that Vodka you can fix yourself a nice drink :)
The cake pedestal/punch bowl sounds quite nice!!

You sound like me.. I love Secret pals and secret Santas.. Some people think it is stupid a waste of time and childish.. But I say Bah humbug on them..

I love giving more that receiving really.. I LOVE finding the perfect gift, watching them try to guess who gave it..I never spend a lot, but I try to make it match the person..

So I would also be disappointed that this person just had to tell you..
What a bore...

At our daughter high school we had secret pals.. Every staff member including custodians had secret pals.. I thought it was a great way for students and their families to show appreciation for everyone on staff.. And I know that each of the recipients really appreciated all of the thoughts..

One of the offices I used to work at for 5 years, I received the most horrible Secret Santa gifts known to man. Some of the years I even cried like the year I received a basket with nothing in it. There was incredible workmanship in the basket and I still own it today after figuring out how to use the little thing. It was signed and numbered on the bottom. I tried to be grateful and thankful but it was really hard. While I like surprises, if someone doesn't know what you would like it is better to find out so you can at least get what you would like.

My current office does a secret Santa but we put three items on a list that we would like to get. Our Santa picks one item to give to us from our list. This seems to work out much better. As for the little gifts all month long - yes that would be overzealous.

Lighten up and act surprised when you get your gift it may not come from Laura and it might be a big bottle of Vodka. :-)

there are 2 different ways to do secret santa. my son's choir class at school is doing secret santa as a way to get to know each other better the teacher assigned each kid who wanted to participate another kid. each day in choir they are supposed to bring something from home wrapped up with a clue (the items are little random stuff a stick of gum, a pencil, an eraser, a cookie etc) no spending money on this stuff. the clue is supposed to be about yourself so my son's items have said things like (I go to camp each summer, I have been to 17 states, I have brown hair and eyes, I wrestled last year) etc now they are not supposed to tell each other who they got till the last day. the other way is the way we do it in the family and we just choose names. we don't do stuff all month long just choose names and thats who you buy for. not much secret lol but thats how they do it.

I hate Secret Santas. I love to give the gifts, but I pretty much always end up being the forgotten person... watching everyone else get their little gifts throughout the week, trying to one-up each other and guess who it is, while I get one tiny thing at the very end.

It seems, the problem with your work is they didn't have set rules. Some people do a gift each day, some do just one larger gift at the end.... but whatever the work decides everyone should do the same thing. If you are the only one leaving daily gifts, then stop as that isn't the custom in your work group.

Also yes, she shouldn't have ruined the suprise. Some people are tactless, but there's not much you can do about it now!

I never heard of leaving the little gifts...I think a secret santa is just one gift. Your friend / co worker sounds like a gossip. I personally wouldn't reveal the name unless the person wanted to know.

Everyone has different rules you should have asked before you played. It's not a big deal though. Sounds like your co worker is ignorant.

the only way i get remembered at work is through silly santa, but everyone always tries to out do the next person in line so i didn't do that this year...pluse it'll be all i can do to get for my family this year so i have no buisness playing secret santa