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The Secret to Secret Santa (at work)

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Yes, workplace Secret Santa sucks. Here's how to make it better.

The dreaded email

It's early December and you open the all-staff email about the secret Santa. Arrgh!

As if the Christmas period isn't busy enough already, now you have to spend time, energy and money in the stressful shops-at-Christmas environment trying to find something under $10 that will be appreciated by Tim from the finance department.

It's extra hard when you don't really know Tim from finance. Until you drew his name, you weren't even sure which of the finance guys was Tim and which was Steven.

A waste of time?

Is any of this necessary? Has anyone's life been meaningfully improved by a workplace Secret Santa gift? Are the token gifts worth all the time we spent brainstorming and buying gifts for near-strangers? I doubt it.

And a time of waste

How many gifts end up in the bin the next day? We buy stuff we never needed only to produce more garbage the planet doesn't need.

How to make it better

Here are three options for Secret Santa.

1. Escape. In a smaller team we've been able to escape the burden of Secret Santa. I was pleasantly surprised how many people supported this, but didn't speak up until I did. Why do we all do something so many of us dislike?

As Christmas approached, some team members gave small edible gifts. These were much appreciated. Partially because they were edible (I love that) but mostly because it was a voluntary act of friendly generosity and in some cases. That's so much more meaningful than the compulsory consumerism of Secret Santa.

2. Declutter. My wife is doing this today. We've never used this candle, but it's quite classy with its little lid-seal and decorative box. A great present for a woman at my wife's work. (I'm informed that women appreciate these things.) Anyway, we saved time by not buying new stuff and reduced our number of belongings by one.


How many of us have unused items around the house that could easily be Secret Santa gifts? Let's make Secret Santa a way to declutter. Of course Secret Santa will give you an item back. Hopefully it's something edible :)

3. Give good gifts. Think of gifts that don't add to consumerism and waste. Something the person would need or use anyway. It might be a music voucher or a small Christmas fruit cake. One ethical-minded colleague gave me Christmas-themed toilet paper. Apart from being an item I definitely have a use for, the rolls came from a company that donates profits to help build toilets in the developing world (so that fewer people die from diarrhoea). Brilliant!

PS. Secret Santa can be OK in extended families - especially as an alternative to buying lots and lots of gifts for every uncle, aunt and cousin. It can be a much better idea to get one significant gift for one person. My extended family takes it even further with our new Christmas tradition.

Number 9 tip

In my free ebook 10 Great Gift Ideas for People who Don't Want Stuff, the gift you already have is the ninth suggestion.

They're great gifts. Often they're still brand new. The gift itself is a great idea - just not for you. Or perhaps you had too many already. Either way, now that gift can be fully appreciated.

If you'd like your Christmas to be more about love and giving than about shopping and credit cards, why not grab my free Christmas Resource. It's got 5 websites to help your Christmas have less stuff and more joy. Have yourself a merry little Christmas.
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