Alternatives to Secret Santa

December — the season of Mariah Carey, office parties, the John Lewis Christmas advert and Secret Santa. While these traditions are tried and tested parts of the festive season, we’ve been looking at how we can reduce the waste created by gifts for the past year and, well, we think Secret Santa needs a re-vamp!

Now before you click off this blog in anger — hear us out. When we spoke to people about our app, we asked them about the worst gifts they received. An overwhelming majority of these turned out to be poorly thought out Secret Santa presents (a taxidermy book for a vegan was one of the worst examples). But, whilst we do want to improve the gifts we give and receive each year — which has the pleasing effect of cutting down on how much waste we produce, too — we aren’t here to do a Scrooge and spoil your Christmas fun.

Instead, we’ve proposed a number of ways you can get into the spirit of Secret Santa without giving (or receiving!) unwanted gifts — saving you a few pennies, and saving the planet some more plastic waste.

Club together!

Instead of a group of people each spending £15 on a small present for one other person, why not all put the money together towards a meaningful experience that the whole team can enjoy. This is a great excuse to get out of the office and do something fun as a team — and surely beats being given a novelty sized Toblerone for the 4th year running…

Pot luck lunch

Instead of purchasing a gift for another team member, why not plan a team lunch or dinner where each member prepares a dish? This is a great opportunity to socialise, and also allows team members show off their culinary finesse and share what they traditionally eat at Christmas time.

Food bank

December is officially the month of excess — too much to eat, too much to drink and too much money spent. Organising an office collection for a food bank is a lovely way to contribute to society whilst offsetting a little Christmas guilt. Make collection day a big event, with prizes to be won by the team that collects the most items.

Operation Christmas Child

If you like the idea of raising money for charity, you could also decide to partake in Operation Christmas Child. OCC is an annual initiative ran by Samaritans that invites people to send a shoebox of gifts to children in need around the world. Since 1990, Samaritans have sent shoeboxes of gifts to more than 168 million children in over 160 countries! For more information on how to get involved, head to the website.

So — what do you think — are you ready to change up your gifting habits and modernise your next office Secret Santa? If you like the idea of gifting unconventionally, check out the WhatWeWant app, the app that lets you easily pool money from lots of people to put towards a larger gift or activity — perfect for helping you update the way your office does Secret Santa this year.