About Secret Santas

Secret Santa is a fun way to exchange gifts at work. Some clubs, social groups and families also use Secret Santa as their preferred gift exchange method. Secret Santa adds mystery, humor and spending control to a group Christmas celebration.

Identification

Secret Santa is an anonymous gift exchange that works by allowing each participant to choose another participant's name out of a box. They tHen have to buy a present for that member, which will be given during the group gift exchange. A spending limit is usually imposed on the gifts, which can add to the fun and make the gifts given more creative. Each member keeps the recipient they've chosen a secret until after the presents are open.

Benefits

Having a Secret Santa gift exchange is a fun, inexpensive and fair way to celebrate Christmas. With a Secret Santa gift exchange, participants are able to stick to a reasonable budget for presents and are not expected to buy extravagant gifts. Because each participant chooses a different group member's name to buy a gift for, no one gets left out of the exchange. Secret Santa is more fun than traditional gift exchanges because participants try to guess who gave them the gift after opening it.

Size

Secret Santa can work for any group of 5 or more participants. It works best in large groups, and can be combined with other gift exchange games in groups of 10 or more. With groups of 10 or more, it is encouraged to include a gift swap in the Secret Santa festivities. This allows participants to swap their gift for another. This can be a great benefit since each Secret Santa participants in a large group may not know the member they are to purchase a gift for.

Time Frame

In order to give everyone enough time to shop for and wrap the presents, Secret Santa rules and name drawings should be completed at least 3 weeks before your Secret Santa gift exchange. The gift exchange itself will not take more than 20 minutes in groups of 10 or less.

Warning

While it can be difficult to buy a present for someone you don't know very well, it can sometimes be more difficult to buy the right present for someone you do know. Be sure to consider the entire group when you buy your Secret Santa present. Make sure it is tasteful and an acceptable object to open in front of the whole group. You should also make sure that the gift will not make your recipient feel uncomfortable.