Her Campus Logo Her Campus Logo
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Nottingham chapter.

After my housemates and I gave Secret Santa a go recently, I thought that a helpful article for this season would be a guide on how to make sure it runs smoothly. 

Here are some important tips to avoid mistakes:

Make sure the gift-giving date is agreed upon by all members. 

We left it up in the air, and unfortunately it meant that one member of the group had to be given their present in advance, which sort of ruined the mystery.

Ensure that a budget is set up. 

We went with a £10 budget, however, luckily an unspoken rule was that we could go slightly over, especially when factoring in delivery. This might be different depending on the friend group, so it could be beneficial to add a serious price cap, or to disclose that you’re thinking of going over.

Perfect the name picking process.

This tip is not necessarily one you have to follow. Like many people this year, we decided to use a website to pick the names, as it emails each person who they have. This might seem less effort than picking a name out of a hat, however personally I think this ruins the magic of picking out handwritten names, and the fun of trying not to look at who you just received. It can also lead to mistakes, as in our group we went through the website twice as not everyone received the first link. Long story short, some people read their first draw which we abandoned instead of the real one. This led to one person receiving two presents and a lot of panic buying for the forgotten party on the day. Likelihood is this mistake would not happen for everyone.

Hide who bought what. 

A smart way of concealing who’s presents are from who is buying wrapping paper to share for the group. This means that even if you spot someone adding their presents to the communal bag, you can’t be sure who bought them when the unwrapping begins. 

Get a good gift. 

One way of ensuring people receive something they want is to send a message into your group chat, such as ‘Secret Santa, I really need a cheap brown lip liner’. However, Secret Santa is also a fun test to see what your friends think you would like, so if your friends are doing this as more of a gag present than a genuine one, maybe this isn’t the best idea.

Gift ideas

Something edible.

This is one way to bulk out a present, or nail a ÂŁ5 budget. Hopefully you know your person’s favourite chocolates or sweets, and can put these into a little treat bundle. If in doubt, it’s hard to wrong with a giant chocolate santa.

Something personalised.

A big wish this year from my house was something personalised. I opted for pants, but this also works for socks and t-shirts. It’s something they can always wear around the house, and lasts longer than sweets or chocolates.

Something Christmassy.

Another easy idea for a Christmas themed gift exchange is something Christmas themed. This could be gift-bow hair clips from primark or something fun to wear to a Christmas party. Again, like the personalised socks, Christmas themed underwear can’t really go wrong.

Rachael Lewis

Nottingham '26

Rachael Lewis is a new member of the Her Campus team. She writes about current affairs, seasonal advice, film and university life. She is currently studying English in her second year at the University of Nottingham, which inspires her passion for writing. In her spare time, Rachael enjoys baking, movie nights and playing squash incorrectly. She also likes making videos and rewatching the Office.