Christmas is almost here and with it comes Secret Santa. Miranda takes a look at how to solve the problem of finding the right gift this holiday.

For many, Secret Santa is a dreaded moment of the Christmas period, where you end up getting a present you don’t want and giving one to someone you don’t like. A tough time lies ahead for all. However, there are some secret hints and tips to help you make it through.

Firstly, stick to the budget. No one likes that one show-off who splashes the cash and makes everyone else with their £5 festive Primark socks look bad.

Next, choose your shops wisely. Most university Secret Santa’s have a budget of £20 tops. This greatly limits the shops you can enter without being tempted to go over budget so stick to the shops with sales, student discounts and low-price reputations.

Then, when choosing presents, buy lots of cheap presents rather than one expensive and disappointing one. This works on so many levels. You please the gift-receivers because they get to shake, prod and open multiple bundles of joy. Here, an extended session of gift-induced excitement is born and, in the end, it doesn’t even matter what was in the parcels because they’ve just had so much fun opening them that they don’t care anymore.

Gift wrapping is also key to a successful Secret Santa experience. The bigger the bow the more brownie points you will earn because it looks like you “really made an effort”. So, save that extra 50p and sprinkle a bit of festive glitter in the card.

Key tip: everyone loves novelty festive memorabilia. Don’t worry about finding that person you don’t really know a vase for their collection, get them a novelty turkey hat and watch the hours of laughs unfold. This technique has the added bonus that, because it isn’t personalised, you can buy it before you even know who your Secret Santa is! You could even buy the gift in the after-Christmas sale and be ready 364 days in advance which is bound to make you feel like you’ve really got your life together!

If you follow these tips, you’ll definitely nail Secret Santa in terms of your own benefit.  If you were looking for criteria on how to genuinely bring joy to your Secret Santa recipients, then I can only apologise that you have been drawn in, but you will not have found this here.

 

Miranda Wild

Image Credit: Daily Express