Every workplace has someone who is not as good at mixing as everyone else. People tend to know less about the, and their personal life is one of life’s great mysteries. If you pick their name out of the hat for the Christmas Secret Santa, what are you supposed to buy them? Do you buy them an awful Christmas sweater that makes you cringe when they actually wear it to work or do you buy them a bottle of wine and realize at the party that they do not drink alcohol? Whatever you do, you have to find the perfect present that makes them think you actually put some thought in to the process.

Are We Missing Something?

It helps if you know the person has a sense of humor, but all too often, these people rarely have a joke in the staff canteen. They may even spend half of their break times with their head in a book. If this is the case, try to catch a glimpse of the authors or the book title. At least this way, you will have a chance at working out what makes them tick. If you catch them reading something about the occult or ‘how to kill a neighbor and get away with it’, you had better not buy them anything they do not like. Sadly, it is the ones who were quiet who are known to snap with dire consequences.

Making Light of a Situation

There are some people, who are grateful no matter what they receive. The mere fact that you remembered them and did not leave them wondering whether or not, their name actually made it in to the Secret Santa draw, will be overjoyed at the inclusion. You could literally give those people the torch you found in the cracker at the Christmas party and they will smile from ear to ear as they match up your gift with the torch they found in their cracker.

That’s a Bit Personal

Buying the shy-guy something with their name on it is the most impressive gift they could receive. How many people actually talk to them or call them by their name on a daily basis in work? The shy people among us usually have a select number of people who they converse with and that social circle is enough for them. They rarely suspect that many other people know they exist. The fact that you take the time to put their name one a present is a great effort in their eyes. This is also a good tactic, if you genuinely do not know the person you are buying for. If you have no knowledge of their interests, or you didn’t know their name until you drew it out of the hat, you cannot go wrong with a personalized gift. Just make sure the person is a boy or girl, because some names are unisex.

The Disposable Gift

Secret Santa time is a great time to give away something a relative gave you as a gift, but you could not bring yourself to bin. That lamp that is still in the box or that ornamental plate that is more mental than ornate. Now is the time to replace it with something you like. Think about what you are giving away and then instead of buying something for secret Santa, you can buy what you like and everyone is happy. If you were given three electric toasters as wedding gifts, you can easily get rid of them at Christmas time. Just make sure nothing you give away is engraved with a special message. This is particularly important when you are disposing of gifts from ex-partners. Declarations of love can give the shy-guy false hope that is hard to shake off. 

Most Secret Santa gifts are a novelty product anyway, so not much thought needs to go in to them, but if you are not careful, you could offend more than delight.