My Secret Santa Secret

For the first time in a long time, I declined to join in on the office ritual of Secret Santa. I had the genuine excuse of not really having the finances this year to part with the money for a gift for someone who isn't family or a dear friend. But in fact, I don't like the whole concept of Secret Santa gift giving, have never liked it, and have some reasons for my dislike which I think are quite valid.

The first is that Secret Santa isn't. By whatever method is used, each person gets the name of another person in the office. It's then becomes a strategic guessing game to figure out who got who. Some will readily part with the information, especially if they can find out who got them in the process. Others will try to covet their person's name, but won't succeed. I always tried to be in the latter group. I could keep it a secret right up until the gifts had to be left out for the the big reveal, when the spies were at their most active. The office needs to know so that when the gifts are opened, they know exactly who gave WHAT to whom. Trust me, with about half the names and by process of elimination, someone other than the person officially keeping tabs will have it all figured out before the gift wrap comes off the boxes.

Then, there's the gift. Now, I've participated in Secret Santa where the person not only writes their name, but also a few suggestions for gift-giving that are within the allowed cost. But for the most part, I've been in ones when the gift was left up to gift-giver, to someone who doesn't know you and usually will go with the generic "one size fits most occasions" gift.  Most people are overwhelmed enough already by shopping for family and close friends.  The coworker that they rarely interact with may not necessarily be in line for that thoughtful gifting process after everything else is being said and done and I can understand that completely. 

The mentality of everyone should get a gift so they don't feel left out is for children and I'm not a child.  Quite frankly, I'd rather get nothing than a gift that only fills a work-social obligation.  Some would say that's harsh and potentially creates bad feelings in the workplace.  Perhaps, but I doubt it'll last much beyond the first day of the new year.

In case you want to call me a Scrooge or a Grinch for my terrible work gift attitude, hold off for a second.  Want to know where the money went that I didn't spend on a Secret Santa gift?  I didn't spend it on myself.  It got added to the money that I give every year to local charities, to places where I know it will do good things for people who need it more than I do.  It's a little better than giving or receiving another box of toiletries, a snow globe, a pen set, a scarf, or any number of other tchotchke that would only end up taking up space in a closet or other storage space, don't you think?