I participated in one a long time ago....realized real fast no matter what dollar limit you set....you GET crappy knicknacks or plastic junk you don't need
and honestly no one puts one bit of thought behind it.
bow out....I haven't been in one since and won't..HAHA...I would rather give truth heartfelt presents to people who I WANT to give.....and remember, we all know the cruddy little present isn't the focus. It is the thought that counts, yea right?
I do the kid thing at school and spent the $5 gift, but never rely on getting anything good back for your kid..HAhaha...but then again any plastic toy makes the little ones happy
Maybe that's why it's more blessed to GIVE than to RECEIVE ...
I always give without expecting anything in return and get my joy out of the gift I gave. That's kinda the dorky thing about secret santa's and white elephants .. those people aren't buying something for YOU because the WANT to .. it's because they drew your name, or a random gift..
One year at my work I got this stupid looking blow up toy that you are supposed to put in your car back window, its a fat man and when you squeezed a plastic bulb thing he pulled his pants down.
my MIL rocks at gift giving my BIL gets a guitar and I get dollar store kids plates who happen to have out grown barney and teletubbies
Think of me
think of me fondly,
when we've said goodbye.
Remember me
once in a while -
please promise me
you'll try.
The one good thing was that my son was happy with the army men! Normally at the inlaws they buy a really stupid 3 or 4 dollar item....like an ugly picture frame or 'how to build your own outhouse' book, then tuck a $25 gift card inside. They get pretty funny with the gag gifts sometimes.
I think I would have preferred the chia head to the candy.....wanna trade????
One year at my work I got this stupid looking blow up toy that you are supposed to put in your car back window, its a fat man and when you squeezed a plastic bulb thing he pulled his pants down.
I feel your pain. I still strongly remember a gift exchange at school as a child back in the mid 70s. We were dirt poor, but Mom somehow came up with a new toy for my person (I think back then the cap was $2.00...lol). I ended up with a cheap, hastily wrapped ball point ink pen (not in a package or anything). I was honestly crushed, and barely kept from crying. Years later I realized that the child probably did not bring a gift, and that the teacher probably pulled that pen out of her desk so that I would have something to open. Because of that, I've never done gift exchanges with my school kids; it's just so unfair to some.
My DH's family does a gift exchange. It helps that each person makes a list of the kinds of items that they like, but we have still opted out this year due to our budget. At $25 a gift, that's $75 extra to spend at this time of year.
I think Secret Santa-ing can be fun if it's among a small, tight-knit group of people who know one another pretty well. But when it's among people you really don't know well, it loses something for me...