The rules an office actually needs
- A budget, stated as a limit or a target, with a number. Not around a tenner.
- The date gifts must be handed in by, and the date and time of the exchange itself.
- Whether gifts are opened together or taken away, because people dress a gift differently depending on the answer.
- Whether the giver is revealed at the end. Both work, but the group should know in advance.
- What is out of scope: alcohol, anything about appearance, anything a colleague would have to explain to someone else.
- What happens if someone leaves or is off sick, which is the gap that catches every office exchange.
The out of scope list is the point
A workplace gift gets opened in front of people with different jobs, ages and beliefs, and someone has to keep it on their desk. That rules out most novelty gifts, anything referring to how a person looks, anything involving alcohol in a mixed group, and the sort of joke gift that is funny between two friends and uncomfortable in a room of twenty.
Writing it down is the kindest thing you can do. People who were planning something risky get a quiet steer, and nobody has to be told afterwards.
Cover the absences
Decide in advance what happens if someone is off on the day, leaves before it, or never hands a gift in. The usual answer is that the organiser holds a spare gift within budget and posts or stores anything undelivered. Saying so in advance stops one person being visibly left out.
Questions
- What should an office Secret Santa budget be?
- Most workplaces use ten to twenty-five pounds or dollars. The number matters less than stating it clearly and saying whether it is a strict limit or a rough target.
- What gifts should be off limits at work?
- Alcohol in a mixed group, anything referring to how a colleague looks, anything a person would have to explain to someone else, and joke gifts that only land between close friends.
- Should people open gifts in front of everyone?
- Either works, but decide in advance and say so. People wrap and choose differently depending on whether the opening is public, and a mismatch is awkward on the day.
- What if someone is off sick on the day?
- Agree in advance that the organiser holds any undelivered gift and passes it on later, and keeps one spare within budget. Deciding this beforehand stops anybody being visibly left out.