Workplace Secret Santa, Sorted

Office Secret Santa usually starts well and ends with someone forgetting to buy a gift, someone else spending £40 on a £5 budget, and a spreadsheet nobody can quite follow. None of that is compulsory.

Setting a sensible budget

This matters more at work than anywhere else, mostly because nobody wants to be the one who went overboard in front of colleagues, or the one who turned up empty-handed. Agree a figure for the whole team before anyone starts shopping, and make sure new starters hear about it too.

Inviting colleagues

Get names and work emails from whoever's taking part, add them, and you're set. Nobody needs to create an account or download anything, they just need to check their inbox when the draw's done.

Remote and hybrid teams

Works just as well whether everyone's in the same office or scattered across three time zones. Assignments go out by email, so it doesn't matter who's in on a given day. Just build in enough time for gifts to actually arrive if people are posting them.

Using exclusions

Handy for couples who work together, a manager and their direct report if that feels a bit odd, or anyone who already buys for each other outside work. Set these before the draw, not after.

Keeping it secret

Assignments go out by email, and the pairings aren't shown again inside the app once drawn, not even to whoever organised it. So the person who ran the draw can't accidentally let it slip at the coffee machine either.

For the basics of how the whole thing works, see our Secret Santa rules guide.