{"id":962,"date":"2023-07-01T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-07-01T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bagsoflove.com\/blog\/?p=962"},"modified":"2023-06-30T13:17:48","modified_gmt":"2023-06-30T12:17:48","slug":"how-to-give-a-secret-santa-gift-the-complete-guide-to-avoid-public-embarrassment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bagsoflove.com\/blog\/how-to-give-a-secret-santa-gift-the-complete-guide-to-avoid-public-embarrassment\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Give A Secret Santa Gift: The Complete Guide To Avoid Public Embarrassment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It\u2019s coming up to that time of year again; everything is starting to feel a little festive, and the office chatter is starting to lean toward holiday plans\u2026and Secret Santa. Some of us love Secret Santa, and some less so. If you\u2019re anything like me it\u2019s the secret Santa etiquette that you just can\u2019t fully get to grips with. You just don\u2019t know how to give a Secret Santa gift.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, if that\u2019s the case, then don\u2019t worry \u2013 I\u2019ve done some research \u2013 and now I am here to share it with you. Once you\u2019ve read our handy guide on how to give a Secret Santa gift, you\u2019ll finally be able to start enjoying it for the office fun it really is.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

How to Give a Secret Santa Gift<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The whole idea is that anyone could be your Santa, and everyone is someone\u2019s Santa. There are so many things that you can do throughout the whole Secret Santa process to try and eliminate ruining the fun. We mean for both you and your colleagues. We\u2019ll go through some of them in a minute. The main thing is don\u2019t tell anyone who you\u2019ve got, or what name you pull. We mean anyone! That way there\u2019s no temptation for them to tell someone, and the office doesn\u2019t turn into a trade-off to try and find out who picked who.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"\/<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

How to Give Clues for Secret Santa<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Now this one is a strange one, and it\u2019s a personal preference. We\u2019d recommend making some ground rules when you start your Secret Santa. Some people like to share who gifted what, after the gift-swapping has happened, and others keep it a secret forever. However, if your workplace has decided to do it, you could give some clues about what\u2019s inside the gift. One of our favorites is putting a riddle on the front that gives an idea of what the present is, without totally giving it away.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"\/<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

How to Collect Secret Santa Gifts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In my years of Secret Santa-Ing, I have been able to test many ways of gift<\/a> collections. For me, there is a clear winner. One person, preferably not a participant, will go around and collect all the presents in a big sack. Sounds simple? That\u2019s because it is \u2013 and that\u2019s why it works. Other ways that aren\u2019t totally disastrous include: having a collection bag somewhere, dropping them off in a room\/on a table\/at a set location and even leaving them on your colleagues\u2019 desks, but those all have (in my opinion) more flaws than the get-in-the-sack method.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"\/<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

How to Give Out Secret Santa Gifts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Again, there are many methods of doing this. Similarly to the collection, we prefer the one-man-and-their-sack method. It stops there from being a giant free-for-all to get to the presents. It\u2019s much less important this time whether the sack guardian is a participant or not \u2013 it just needs to be someone who doesn\u2019t mind waiting till last to open their Secret Santa gift. Needless to say, with the left-on-desks method, the gifts are already distributed, however getting the right gift to the right desk is often tricky without being spotted. Unless of course, your sack-keeper delivers each one to their respective recipients\u2019 desks \u2013 but that feels like it\u2019s overcomplicating things.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"\/<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

How Does The Gift Exchange Work?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

By this point, it may not surprise you to hear, that there are yet again numerous ways that you can do this. The idea is that it works on a round-robin basis. This means that you don\u2019t need an even number of people to set up a Secret Santa. Imagine you have five people, and you stand them in a circle. Each person writes their name on a piece of paper. The papers are then passed to two people to the left. Now everyone has a piece of paper with someone else\u2019s name on there. Nobody has themselves, and none are duplicated.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"\/<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

How To set up a Secret Santa Gift Exchange<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Obviously, if you all stood in a circle and did it that way, everyone would be able to work out who got who. To keep the anonymity, you can throw the names into a hat. The hat method does have a chance of people pulling their own names. Sometimes people will pretend they\u2019ve pulled their own name so that they can swap for an \u2018easier\u2019 colleague to shop for. Another great option is to use a website, that has been built for that purpose, like Elfster. This will hold information such as dates, details of the exchange, and the budget and does all the name swapping for you.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"\/<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

How to Wrap Your Gifts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The main thing that matters when it comes to Secret Santa is to remain anonymous. The lengths people go to in hiding their identity vary greatly, from getting someone else to write the label for them to not using a label at all. Sometimes people print a label rather than risk the handwriting detectives. One of our favorite ideas is to get stickers<\/a> printed with the recipient\u2019s face on it and use that in place of a label.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"\/<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

What to do if You Forgot Your Secret Santa Gift<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We must be honest here, our best advice is just to not forget. There are ways around it if you do, but being blunt, not one of them is ideal. Set a reminder in your calendar. Add it to your alarm text that morning. Leave yourself a note, write it on your hand, and do whatever you need. Just don\u2019t forget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you do forget, there are a couple of ways that you can try and save face. Gift vouchers, albeit not very personal, are usually a quick save. You could get a card and put an I.O.U in there, but, and I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH, make sure you do bring one in. I have been at the receiving end of \u201cI\u2019ll bring it next week\u201d and then\u2026nothing. In this research, I\u2019ve read blogs written by others that have too. It does not feel pretty. Still, just don\u2019t forget in the first place if you can help it.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"\/<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Now You Know How to Give a Secret Santa Gift<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

You know how to give a Secret Santa gift, the ins, and outs of how Secret Santa works, and tried and tested ways of gift collection and distribution. Our only other advice would be to stick to the budget \u2013 it\u2019s there for a reason. No matter how much you think \u201cso-and-so will appreciate that I have spent the extra\u201d, it just isn\u2019t the done thing. Now, what to get for your Secret Santa? Well, that one\u2019s up to you.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Click<\/figure><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s coming up to that time of year again; everything is starting to feel a little festive, and the office chatter is starting to lean toward holiday plans\u2026and Secret Santa. Some of us love Secret Santa, and some less so. If you\u2019re anything like me it\u2019s the secret Santa etiquette that you just can\u2019t fully […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":964,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_yoast_wpseo_title":"How To Give A Secret Santa Gift: The Complete Guide To Avoid Public Embarrassment","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"Some of us love Secret Santa, and some less so. If you\u2019re anything like me it\u2019s the secret Santa etiquette that you just can\u2019t fully get to grips with."},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow To Give A Secret Santa Gift: The Complete Guide To Avoid Public Embarrassment<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Some of us love Secret Santa, and some less so. If you\u2019re anything like me it\u2019s the secret Santa etiquette that you just can\u2019t fully get to grips with.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bagsoflove.com\/blog\/how-to-give-a-secret-santa-gift-the-complete-guide-to-avoid-public-embarrassment\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How To Give A Secret Santa Gift: The Complete Guide To Avoid Public Embarrassment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Some of us love Secret Santa, and some less so. If you\u2019re anything like me it\u2019s the secret Santa etiquette that you just can\u2019t fully get to grips with.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.bagsoflove.com\/blog\/how-to-give-a-secret-santa-gift-the-complete-guide-to-avoid-public-embarrassment\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Bagsoflove Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-07-01T14:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-06-30T12:17:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.bagsoflove.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Secret-Santa-Gift.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"886\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"550\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Bags of Love\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bagsoflove.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.bagsoflove.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Bagsoflove Blog\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.bagsoflove.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bagsoflove.com\/blog\/how-to-give-a-secret-santa-gift-the-complete-guide-to-avoid-public-embarrassment\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.bagsoflove.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Secret-Santa-Gift.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.bagsoflove.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Secret-Santa-Gift.jpg\",\"width\":886,\"height\":550,\"caption\":\"Secret Santa Gift\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bagsoflove.com\/blog\/how-to-give-a-secret-santa-gift-the-complete-guide-to-avoid-public-embarrassment\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.bagsoflove.com\/blog\/how-to-give-a-secret-santa-gift-the-complete-guide-to-avoid-public-embarrassment\/\",\"name\":\"How To Give A Secret Santa Gift: The Complete Guide To Avoid Public Embarrassment\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bagsoflove.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bagsoflove.com\/blog\/how-to-give-a-secret-santa-gift-the-complete-guide-to-avoid-public-embarrassment\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-07-01T14:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-06-30T12:17:48+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bagsoflove.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f9c031a2d58d7f4a093d542880396089\"},\"description\":\"Some of us love Secret Santa, and some less so. If you\\u2019re anything like me it\\u2019s the secret Santa etiquette that you just can\\u2019t fully get to grips with.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bagsoflove.com\/blog\/how-to-give-a-secret-santa-gift-the-complete-guide-to-avoid-public-embarrassment\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.bagsoflove.com\/blog\/how-to-give-a-secret-santa-gift-the-complete-guide-to-avoid-public-embarrassment\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bagsoflove.com\/blog\/how-to-give-a-secret-santa-gift-the-complete-guide-to-avoid-public-embarrassment\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.bagsoflove.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"How To Give A Secret Santa Gift: The Complete Guide To Avoid Public Embarrassment\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bagsoflove.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f9c031a2d58d7f4a093d542880396089\",\"name\":\"Bags of Love\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bagsoflove.com\/blog\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/94abd966e831335b1878b94e29bdb995?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/94abd966e831335b1878b94e29bdb995?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Bags of Love\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.bagsoflove.com\/blog\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How To Give A Secret Santa Gift: The Complete Guide To Avoid Public Embarrassment","description":"Some of us love Secret Santa, and some less so. If you\u2019re anything like me it\u2019s the secret Santa etiquette that you just can\u2019t fully get to grips with.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.bagsoflove.com\/blog\/how-to-give-a-secret-santa-gift-the-complete-guide-to-avoid-public-embarrassment\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"How To Give A Secret Santa Gift: The Complete Guide To Avoid Public Embarrassment","og_description":"Some of us love Secret Santa, and some less so. If you\u2019re anything like me it\u2019s the secret Santa etiquette that you just can\u2019t fully get to grips with.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.bagsoflove.com\/blog\/how-to-give-a-secret-santa-gift-the-complete-guide-to-avoid-public-embarrassment\/","og_site_name":"Bagsoflove Blog","article_published_time":"2023-07-01T14:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-06-30T12:17:48+00:00","og_image":[{"width":886,"height":550,"url":"https:\/\/www.bagsoflove.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Secret-Santa-Gift.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Bags of Love","Estimated reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.bagsoflove.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.bagsoflove.com\/blog\/","name":"Bagsoflove Blog","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.bagsoflove.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.bagsoflove.com\/blog\/how-to-give-a-secret-santa-gift-the-complete-guide-to-avoid-public-embarrassment\/#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-GB","url":"https:\/\/www.bagsoflove.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Secret-Santa-Gift.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.bagsoflove.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Secret-Santa-Gift.jpg","width":886,"height":550,"caption":"Secret Santa Gift"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.bagsoflove.com\/blog\/how-to-give-a-secret-santa-gift-the-complete-guide-to-avoid-public-embarrassment\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/www.bagsoflove.com\/blog\/how-to-give-a-secret-santa-gift-the-complete-guide-to-avoid-public-embarrassment\/","name":"How To Give A Secret Santa Gift: The Complete Guide To Avoid Public Embarrassment","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.bagsoflove.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.bagsoflove.com\/blog\/how-to-give-a-secret-santa-gift-the-complete-guide-to-avoid-public-embarrassment\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2023-07-01T14:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-06-30T12:17:48+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.bagsoflove.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f9c031a2d58d7f4a093d542880396089"},"description":"Some of us love Secret Santa, and some less so. If you\u2019re anything like me it\u2019s the secret Santa etiquette that you just can\u2019t fully get to grips with.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.bagsoflove.com\/blog\/how-to-give-a-secret-santa-gift-the-complete-guide-to-avoid-public-embarrassment\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.bagsoflove.com\/blog\/how-to-give-a-secret-santa-gift-the-complete-guide-to-avoid-public-embarrassment\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.bagsoflove.com\/blog\/how-to-give-a-secret-santa-gift-the-complete-guide-to-avoid-public-embarrassment\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.bagsoflove.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How To Give A Secret Santa Gift: The Complete Guide To Avoid Public Embarrassment"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.bagsoflove.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f9c031a2d58d7f4a093d542880396089","name":"Bags of Love","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.bagsoflove.com\/blog\/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-GB","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/94abd966e831335b1878b94e29bdb995?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/94abd966e831335b1878b94e29bdb995?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Bags of Love"},"url":"https:\/\/www.bagsoflove.com\/blog\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bagsoflove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/962"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bagsoflove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bagsoflove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bagsoflove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bagsoflove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=962"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bagsoflove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/962\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":965,"href":"https:\/\/www.bagsoflove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/962\/revisions\/965"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bagsoflove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bagsoflove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bagsoflove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bagsoflove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}