Secret Santa: Know All About it & Be The Perfect One!

What is Secret Santa?

Long before the daily struggles of adulting, there came the heartbreaking realization that life isn’t all sunshine and rainbows and the tooth fairy and Santa Claus never did exist. That’s when we appreciated our parents a little more for all the years they were our original ‘secret’ Santas.

Then came the internet and exposure to western culture. We became aware of the Christmas feast, mulled wine and our soon-to-be favourite annual tradition- Secret Santa. This tradition is known by a variety of different names in different parts of the world: Kris Kringel or Kris Kindle in Ireland; as Wichteln or Engerl-Bengerl in parts of Austria; as Secret Santa or Kris Kringle in Canada and Australia; Manita-Manito in the Philippines; Angelito in the Dominican Republic; and as "Wichteln" or "Julklapp" in Germany. At its crux, the concept is quite simple. A group of people get together and everyone is assigned one person they need to gift anonymously. After the gifts are exchanged, one has to try and guess who their gift giver, aka, their Secret Santa is. However, there are a few fun twists you can add to make this game even more interesting!

White Elephant or the Yankee Swap

Each participant brings a gift, wrapped so as to conceal its content. The gifts in this game are generally amusing and impractical ones, sometimes referring to an inside joke within the team. All the gifts are put in the center, and the first person picks one and unwraps it. After that, each player has the option of either picking a new gift from the pile and unwrapping it, or ‘stealing’ an already unwrapped gift from another player. The person whose gift gets stolen also has the same choices. The game ends when every person has an unwrapped present in his or her hands. Pro tip- have at least six people for this.

Add a Letter!

A sweet and thoughtful gesture to add to your gift is a handwritten letter that may or may not give hints about who the Secret Santa is. To add another layer to the game, the receiver can first open the gift and try to guess, and only open the letter only after three wrong guesses.

Bet on it.

Each participant buys gifts within an already fixed budget without any particular recipient in mind, and also puts in a fixed amount of money in the common pool. Each player has the option of either picking a random gift, opt for money or put in their name to get all the unpicked gifts. Once every player has made their choice, the gifts are opened and the winners of the money and unpicked gifts are chosen in a lucky draw.

The Perfect Secret Santa Gift

Now that you know what all you can do this year, allow us to help you with the perfect gift! One of the scenarios that you’d often be in a fix in if gifting someone in the office. If you have been assigned a gentleman that you need to gift, we have got your back. Fear not! We won’t be giving you the usual, drab, given-without-a-thought ideas like a box of chocolates or a coffee mug. (Seriously, how many coffee mugs can one person have?!)

What we have for you are gifts perfect to show your gift receiver that you believe them to be the true gentleman that they are. Explore our wide range of premium grooming products that will have them looking dapper as ever. A classic, all-time favourite is the Blanc perfume set, apt for the sophisticated office-goer with its citrusy, fresh, powerful yet subtle fragrance. You could even go for a beard grooming kit or an oh-so-fine shaving box with all the essentials they’d need to look well put together at all times. If you know your colleague well, there are a lot of gift box options you can explore depending on what they would need. You can even curate your own boxes. Trust us, a considerate gift like this will surely be appreciated. Don’t know them too well? A gift-card is always a good option, so that they can get their hands on exactly what they would like.

So go ahead, try out an interesting variation of Secret Santa this year and get ready to gift well.