Christmas 2021: How to plan a fun-filled Secret Santa for your office, tips and rules!

Kick off this year's Christmas celebrations with a fun Secret Santa at your workplace. Here's how.

Pic courtesy: Pixabay (Representational image)

New Delhi: The festival of Christmas is just around the corner and everybody is in an undeniably cheerful mood! Why not bring this festive cheer into the office and surprise your colleagues with a sweet Christmas gift before taking off for the holidays? Yes, we're talking about a secret Santa.

What is Secret Santa?

Secret Santa is the traditional exchange of gifts with a twist - the recipient wouldn't know who gifted them the present. In a work setting, it would be each employee getting assigned another colleague to get a gift for.

Depending on the person, the employee would choose an appropriate gift for them and then keep it under the Christmas tree without mentioning that they gifted it. Later, the gift would be given to the recipient without any clue of who was their Secret Santa. 

It's a great way to build connections and bond with your colleagues at an especially joyous time. 

How to plan a Secret Santa in the office?

Set a price limit: Before beginning the Secret Santa festivities, make sure you create a price limit for how expensive the gifts can be so that there's no disparity in that. It would be a better idea if the employees can come to a consensus either anonymously or in-person of what the price ceiling should be for their gifts. 

Pick out names from a bowl: Write down everyone's name on a piece of paper, fold it and drop it into a bowl. Later, ask every employee to pick one name out. They'll be the secret Santa for this particular person. 

Consider a wish list: To make it more rewarding, prepare a wish list asking every employee what they would like for Christmas, it could be anything from red socks to scented candles. The secret Santa doesn't have to stick to the wish list but it could be helpful for those who don't know what to gift their colleague.

Host a gift-opening party: This is time for the big reveal! Choose a time and place which everyone would be comfortable with. Ask people to dress up and channel their Christmas spirit and let the gift exchange begin. You can even have them guess who their secret Santa was and watch the surprise on their face when they realise who it really was.

We wish you a Merry Christmas!