Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Off Topic Stingy Santa ideas - I need suggestions

Also called Dirty Santa. I have ideas, so I'm requesting some.

At work our Santa game is for $10 gifts. Electronic doohickeys and decorative items tend to be popular. I have no ideas. I'm not good with decorative stuff. Last year I got a two-cup coffee-maker, and that was popular to steal.

At the other party I go to we have $15 gifts. Decorative platters and cookie jars are often brought, but are no popular. Tools were popular, but have been overdone to death and no one really wants them anymore. Alcohol is popular, but several people always do that, and I want to do something fairly unique.

I'm not an imaginative person, so I'm asking you creative folks to help me out with ideas.

How about googling for 'innovative gifts' or something similar? I'd recommend Firebox.com , which has a host of gadgets and fun little items at a huge range of prices, from just a few pounds upwards to over one hundred. But I don't think they trade in the US. Something along the same lines in the US might work for you though.

Just as an aside, not intended as an idea for you, I have to share what has to be my favourite item currently on sale at Firebox. The Clocky . I just about broke a rib laughing when I discovered this. I have to say though, that after a couple of days it would probably be thrown through the window or stomped on.

I also love the idea of the Pond Wars Ducks . I suspect a Darth Fader will be finding its way into my brother's Christmas parcel.

LabRat

If I had a Clocky, it would die. A painful death. And I don't even have trouble getting up in the mornings. But I hate the sound of my alarm clock.

The S.O. is traumatized by alarm clocks (from getting about one to three hours of sleep a night three times a week for most of his undergrad education). I imagine if I put a Clocky on his bedside table to suprise him one morning that'd be grounds for a divorce.


alcyone

I'd actually heard of this once before, but didn't know the details.

I know this is going to sound kind of lame, but I've attended MANY of these exchanges over the years and have found that the best gift I ever got was a book of stamps. Nice holiday stamps wrapped up in a pretty box. Useful and under $10, easy to wrap, appropriate for any work environment, and it doesn't matter if a man or woman ends up with it.

Depending on how well you know the person, you could make a tape or CD of some music you think they might like. A "free" idea is to simply make or buy the person a card and or award saying something you appreciate/like about them. Kindness never goes out of style.

Mona

If you look at the top right corner, you can switch to the US site.

I'm not sure everyone understands what exactly 'dirty Santa' is. Every guest to the party brings one gift, wrapped. You take turns picking one of the gifts from the table, in a predetermined order (point system). the first person to pick has the lowest score. they pick a gift, unwrap it, and then the next person goes. They can either pick a new gift, or choose the one already unwrapped. This continues until everyone has ended up with an unwrapped gift. (You've seen something similar to this on big Brother). Its 'dirty' because you're stealing gifts from each other!

Some ideas:
1. If its for work, and you guys are always lacking in spoons, Buy as many as you can from the dollar store that comes to that total.
2. Homemade Jams, pickles, sauces, etc. You get the idea.
3. A nice frame, holding an autographed picture... of you!
4. A christmas ornament
5. Woopy cushion.
6. Postcards, keychain, other tourist 'stuff', along with brochures, all from your own city.
7. T-shirt... with your company logo, or something else appropriate
8. A journal or datebook, in which you've already marked notes down a few pages... your birhtday, etc.
9. Slippers of a cartoon character. Spongebob?
10. ten of YOUR favorite chocolate bars
11. a bobblehead toy- Bush maybe?
12. If you've played with this group last year, the awful gift you got stuck with then.
13. lottery tickets
14. a bottle of computer screen cleaner, and soft cloth
15. A vhs, with xmas specials taped on it.
16. Candy canes

thats all I can think of right now, good luck!

Desiree

Some of those are good ideas. Others aren't really acceptable, depending on where you play. I should have mentioned that in the groups I participate in gag gifts are prohibited. You're supposed to get things people will like. Whoopee cushions and pictures of myself would be unacceptable. Homemade jams and the like would probably be popular at one of the place I play, though.

One thing about this kind of game - you don't really know what sort of gift to get until you've played it with the group at least once. Some like humorous stuff and some don't. Some like gadgets and some don't. One of my places everyone groans at those decorative cookie jars, and at the other place they are pretty popular.