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What do a pair of socks, a candle, a vacuum cleaner, and a box of chocolates have in common? All of them are Christmas presents that can be a success or a total flop. That’s because what is an excellent gift for one person might not be for another. But while these examples depend on the person on the receiving end, some items are terrible to give someone, and there’s simply no question about it.
As you probably already gathered, today we’re focusing on gifts; and mostly, the bad ones. We found stories of some of the most unforgivable, ridiculous, even somewhat inappropriate (especially when given at work, which some of the gifts on the list were), and simply the worst gifts people have ever received on Secret Santa. If you thought the ugly sweater you got from Susan in accounting was bad, you might change your mind after reading through this list, so wait no longer and scroll down to find Christmas gift horror stories below.
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#1
Someone bought the office brown-nose a fresh, bloody cow's tongue and gave it to him in a glass presentation case.
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#2
Broke up with my boyfriend and less than a month later got a ‘grow your own boyfriend’ from secret santa……….
#3
Obligatory not me but….
I worked with a girl who sometimes had slightly greasy hair, and an unfortunate monobrow.
She opened in front of everyone a pair of tweezers, a makeup mirror and a bottle of dry shampoo.
Safe to say she was fairly upset.
#4
I once worked in a place where a guy with ginger hair received brown hair dye. He had never mentioned wanting to dye his hair at all and was a very unwelcome gift.
The office junior had also had a spray tan a few weeks before, I’m going back around 15 years ago so they were relatively new at the time and the colouring was definitely more orange than they are now. She got a can of Fanta and some orange face paints. She was a 17 year old girl and had only been with the company for a few months and looked absolutely mortified.
Both gifts were left in the conference room after the gifting and nobody ever took responsibility for them.
I never go for humorous gifts unless I know the person really well. If not, I’d rather stick to something generic like biscuits or a mug or something inoffensive. Much rather be boring than be as big an arsehole as either of the aforementioned gift givers.
Brenda Spagnola-Wilson 3 hours ago
Briefly worked at a small business (about 20 people) where we had a $10-$15 price range. Rules were nothing "personal" or obscene, no food items (allergies), no holiday specific items, no alcohol or gift cards for alcohol. It was fun.
#5
A sack of cement. Still no idea why to this day.....
#6
There was a woman in our work who really wanted a baby. She was thinking of going for donor sperm and IVF, but would have had to go private for it and was stressing about the expense and uncertainty.
Her Secret Santa present was a turkey baster with a note attached suggesting "Santa" could provide the donor sperm. She broke down crying in the middle of the office while the utter a*sehole of a man that had given her the present laughed uproariously and the HR girls looked ready to throw up in horror.
He had been removed before New Year (dunno if he was fired or if he left willingly), and she had to take a month off due to stress. It was horrible. We don't do Secret Santa anymore in our office.
#7
I once got an IKEA toilet brush. No idea why, nobody from work had ever been in my toilets to think I needed one.
#8
I had slept with someone at work, we hadn’t made it public but people had put two and two together, they got me a ‘screw’driver set (implying I screw in the office). Was so embarrassed opening it in front of everyone and people asking me why as a young 22yo female I’d have a masculine type tool box. He obviously got a normal secret Santa as why embarrass the male.
#9
A coworker got me makeup brushes, and said I'd be so much prettier with makeup, because I'm so plain.
(I actually like makeup, I just don't always feel like doing it. Apparently my coworker didn't think it was a choice?)
Paul C. 58 minutes ago
Everyone at our company thought that "Guy" I worked with was SO nice. He treated the colleagues in his team like sh!t. Woman from another department spent way over the allotted amount on his gift because, he was SO nice. If one of the ladies in his team had death rays for eyes, he would have been frazzled!
#10
A free gift from a magazine. Not even with the magazine, just the freebie, still in packaging branded with the magazine name.
#11
When I was in sixth form I was overweight and not very popular/cool and the popular girls got me a thong. I was so obviously not the kind of person to wear one, I felt so humiliated.
#12
Well I was the only one to not receive a gift in the secret santa. It was humiliating. Someone got my name and didn't bother.
#13
I once got a bottle of moisturiser that was 2/3's full...
#14
I'm a woman who used to have long hair. Over lockdown I shaved all my hair off. At the next Secret Santa, someone got me a Britney Spears wig. Absolute comedy gold.
#16
Got a picture frame. Inside the frame was a picture. This picture had been printed on normal paper, from a s**t printer, in black and white.
The picture was of the gift-giver's face.
#17
Budget was a tenner.
Boss gave the perma-intern a tenner and a pack of polo mints.
Classy.
#18
When I was at school I received a secret Santa, it was a smarties tube with two dead Duracell batteries in it….
Megalodon Meg 7 hours ago
Secret Santa in 4th grade. Got my bully. Gave my bully some nasty old mesh purse my foster mom had in storage. Wrapped it in newspaper and a grocery bag. Totally could have afforded a real gift but why would I?
#19
I had a boss who had an obvious favourite employee. For secret Santa one year she got a mug, mousepad and post-it notes with his face on them.
#20
Expensive nuts and wine, clearly a regift. We had to fill out a form with things we can’t have etc, I am allergic to nuts at the time I couldn’t drink, which I made clear on the form.
#21
Does nothing count? I have done countless Secret Santas where I have been the one person to end up with nothing. The one thing I like about where I work now is that the person who runs it is like a wolverine when it comes to making sure everyone gets their present.
Brenda Spagnola-Wilson 3 hours ago
There should always be one person who knows what name each person got just to keep things fair
#22
Only ever participated in two Secret Santas.
First, sixth form: received a set of some big-ish name bath stuff - cute, but unfortunately I cannot use like 90% of bath products, fancy or otherwise, because of my eczema and generally super-sensitive skin. Put that in a drawer until the summer, when it went into a raffle for a local social club thing.
Second, first Xmas at a new job: despite my usual group of coworkers knowing that I absolutely do not want children, whoever got me as their giftee decided it would be *hilarious* to gift me a baby clothes set, complete with a "hint, hint" written on the tag... -.- Made sure those went in a rubbish bag and in the dumpster at end of shift.
Never, ever, taking part in one again. F**k, if I'm not sure what to get someone, surely a gift card is better than risking upsetting or outright offending them.
Huddo's sister 6 hours ago
Why donate the bath stuff but not baby clothes. Would have been great for someone buying second hand things because they can't afford new. I wouldn't let ill intention make things go to waste.
#23
We have a family gathering in early December where we have to do Secret Santa for no more than a Fiver and must be bought from a Charity Shop. Hats off to the local British Heart Foundation shop who had an unopened Santa that blows bubbles out of it's backside for £4.50. Absolute winner!
#24
A guy received a photoshopped picture of his sister in her underwear.
#25
A few years ago, I have gained some weight after having my daughter and was really struggling to loose it, which is the main contribution to my post-partum depression. I shared the situation with my colleagues and got a dumbbell as a secret santa gift with a note 'maybe you need to lift harder, this may help.' I was fuming at the spot but held myself together well (I think).
Left the job for a promotion 3 months later and only used the dumbbell as a doorstop.
#26
Way back I worked with a woman who had a major reputation for keeping her husband well under the thumb. This guy was not even allowed his own debit card from her without prior clearance.
In an anonymous secret Santa I got her a dog collar with his name on the tag.
She had a f**king meltdown.
#27
I got the guy who would lie constantly to get out of work, not good lies either, real s****y lies. So naturally I got him ‘The big book of excuses’.
#28
I used to work with this very sexist chauvinistic guy who was really vocal about his views on why women aren’t suited in the workplace. So I got him a nice notepad (Paperchase might I add) that had “The future is female” on the front. I thought it would be funny and thought he would see the funny side too but he was furious! I later found it on someone else’s desk, turns out he gave it to another colleague.
#29
A member of staff who was on a fixed contract and was finishing at Christmas. He got a framed print out of a map from Google maps showing the directions from our office to the social security office.
#30
A guy at work had epilepsy. His boss got him a strobe light.
#31
My worst was when the owner of the company announced that whoever’s name he drew would be getting a new MacBook pro, everything else was a £10 limit. On the day there was a MacBook Pro shaped box with my name on it. Everybody was excited and gathered round. I opened the wrapping and it was indeed a MacBook Pro box. I opened the box and inside was not a new laptop, but a cork screw. The owner of the company thought it was hilarious, everybody else just thought he was a d*ck.
#32
Not me but a colleague. She had recently (about 5 months prior) gotten out of a long relationship and was in the middle of selling the house and got rid of the dog. She also used to put a crazy amount of effort into secret Santa making massive photo collages for people amongst other things but everything she did was handmade and a lot of time went into it.
One of the other girls thought it would be a great idea to get a blow-up man (the kind hen parties use) and tape on a box of chocolates and a few tins of drink. It very much did not go down well, she was very upset and she had a bit of a meltdown in front of us all about the present. She also said she was not happy because that’s what she got when she goes to such an effort every year.
#33
I spent a few hours making a picture montage of the person’s sporting wins (after speaking in confidence to their partner and sister) and putting the resulting image in a tasteful frame. I gift wrapped the present and added a hand-written note.
The donor (who was a bit of a flake, TBH) had forgotten it was secret Santa that day, and hastily wrapped an apple from her lunch in newspaper a few minutes before the presentation of gifts.
Guess who got that. :(
Joseph Miller 36 minutes ago
I get it if you forget. A lot of things going on during the holidays, but c'mon. At least an "IOU" would suffice.
#34
I worked for a small company that was owned by an actual billionaire. She picked out my name for Secret Santa. She got me a very cheap looking solar powered torch. Yes… a solar powered torch. A torch that requires sunlight to work. Even if it was a normal torch, who the f**k buys that for someone as a Secret Santa gift?! Why get me that? Not once did I express a love of wandering around in poorly lit places.
#35
Bath bombs that were bake off themed. I didn’t have a bath, and we worked with a client who’s entire brand was around baking and I’d been extremely verbal about how I wasn’t watching or interested in bake off.
Huddo's sister 6 hours ago
As a teacher, I often get bath products as gifts from student/parents. I either gift them to someone else or donate to the op shop. It doesn't disappoint me as much as getting edible gifts do now I have so many allergies/intolerances. I used to love getting chocolates and things. I was pleased to see no all the chocolates in the favourites box may contain gluten- I ate them and am giving the rest to my stepdad as part of his gift, along with the shortbreads from another student.
#36
Inexpensive marital aid for a lovely lady who was mortified in the group opening and then very cross.
#37
I will stress that the person who received this gift thought it was hilarious as both he & the colleague who gifted the item share the same kind of humour.
He was a 2nd Generation Nigerian immigrant, so his parents had come over, he often went back to Nigeria. For Secret Santa he got a ‘Nigerian survival kit’. A cardboard box which contained a bag of rice, a bottle of water & a banana.
#38
At girl who worked at my job (way before I started but this story has apparently gone down in history) gave a male member of staff a box of brownies and a “bl*wjob voucher”.
#39
Someone I knew got a novelty pooing reindeer that pooed chocolate drops for his boss. Mildly amusing to everyone else but insanely offensive to his boss.
#40
Worked in a bank, and 1 woman got an edible g string! Nobody owned up and we were all just saying WTF!?
#41
Years ago a male colleague of mine gave a very-single female colleague a set of AA batteries in a secret santa. She never forgave him.
LavenderHippoInAJar 6 hours ago
Wait I'm missing something -- what does her being single have to do with any of this??
#42
In a place I worked, a colleague got offered deodorant because people thought he smelled bad. Another got “sl*tty” lingerie because they thought she was sleeping with the boss. Someone got a laundry bag because they wore same sweater days in a row. Is that kind of thing common?
#44
Inflatable photo frame. I "accidentally" left it in the restaurant, only for someone to bring it in to work the next day and return it to me
#45
Canned peaches + can opener.
#46
My colleague received a box of beard baubles a couple of years ago. He didn't have a beard. Still doesn't.
Huddo's sister 4 hours ago
Beard baubles are a thing? I suppose anything can be, but still seems weird.
#47
Years ago I used to work on a site which had incredibly strict security - the sort where they X-ray all the things going into and out from the site. There was obvious restrictions on booze, weapons etc etc.
Someone in my team bought someone else a big box, in it was a crate of 0% beer, a water pistol that looked just like the real thing but was bright pink, some candies that came in a plastic case shaped like a hand grenade and some like syrup drink mixers which were presented in syringes. He hadn’t broken any specific rules, but when the recipient had to get it all xrayed to get out the guard nearly had a fit.
#48
Porcelain d**k from an apparently famous place in Portugal. Recycled many times over each time we had a new person on the office till when someone broke the tradition.
#49
My friends did a secret santa and the guy I got bought me a single beer wrapped up. That following weekend he brought the other 5 beers to a party I was hosting.
#50
I did a secret santa once when I was at college with a few friends, we made lists for each other so we expected to just get something from there.
I ended up getting some sort of engine filter for someone's car as that's what he asked for. When the day came the person who had me had forgotten to bring it in. He ended up telling me what it is and it was a minecraft lego set.
That was about 4 years ago and I still haven't gotten it, every now and then he'll send a photo of it fully built just sitting on his shelf.
So I suppose my worst gift was nothing, unless you count pictures of said item as a gift.
#51
We had a guy with no teeth who was given a full dental hygiene kit. He took it as the joke it was intended to be though so all well.
#52
I used to work with someone who was promised a promotion then screwed over by our manager. He got her a mug that said C*nt on it for the secret santa.
#53
When I was 20 I was working for the NHS on a inpatient mental health ward. We used to open our secret Santa presents with the patients on Christmas morning.
That Christmas I was given a vibrator by a man at least 20 years older than me, who said "I thought you needed to loosen up". And, of course, I opened a vibrator in front of a ward of women who'd been in inpatient care for years.
#54
One of the older ladies in HR bought one of the younger ladies in HR two pairs of edible knickers.
Inappropriate for anyone in any work environment, but completely unacceptable from/to anyone in HR.
#55
I was 18 and quite shy. A much older man who was also the boss of the team got me a really crude calendar and said “it’s always the quiet ones.” Hid it in my locker as couldn’t face taking it home to my kind parents!
#56
My aunt lost her hair very suddenly. She was always very proud of it, then it was all gone in under a year. Obviously it was massively upsetting for her and she was very self conscious, especially with people prying about it at work. She got given a headscarf for secret santa.
#57
As a Project Manager I was given an alarm clock so that I would “ensure you are delivering on time” 🙄 who tf are these people
#58
The person I bought for had just moved here from Australia so I got them Scottish stuff like shortbread and a miniature whisky etc... as much as I could get for the limit. The person who had me got me a miniature bottle of Marvel Avengers branded shampoo.
#59
Not mine but the story spread around work very quickly.
Trainee teacher at the secondary school I worked at. He had to buy for the head of department having known her for a few months. The gifts were obviously anonymous so he chose to buy her a double ended d*ldo. When I say buy, I mean he already owned it and just ‘gifted’ it to her.
She opened it at their department meeting and was appalled. Trainee bragged about it to the other student teachers, word got back to head of dept that he bought it.
Oddly enough, he dropped out not long after this.
#60
£10 budget. Someone bought me a pack of incense sticks.
#61
A while ago, I was once given a "size matters" mug that's about 2 - 3 mugs worth. I can only assume it had something to do with my weight, however, jokes on them, I actually think it's a pretty decent mug and ended up being a good way to store my cooking utensils, lol. Oh, for a few days after getting it, I proceeded to use it for coffee at work, much to the shock (abd probably disgust) of my co workers, lol.
After that I was given my present: some kind of "cheap and nasty" pan flute (which didn't even work as most of the "pipes" were blocked)... I can only assume it's because I am originally from South Africa... I honestly don't know if they were trying to be nice or nasty, but I ended up feeling rather sad and disappointed (probably in part to my gift getting rejected)... I did have someone I know come over and ask what I got and if I liked it (maybe it was the gift giver?), and I tried to pretend I liked it, but my heart just wasn't in it...
#62
I got given a nail polish set. It was a very cheap brand and clearly an “I don’t know what to buy women” gift, since I never wore nail polish.
#63
I wouldn’t class it as inappropriate, but a colleague, who was not the brightest, was really struggling to get someone a gift. All he knew about her was that she enjoyed a cigarette break, so he bought her a packet of fags for Christmas.
Huddo's sister 4 hours ago
I'm surprised f**s wasn't censored (we use that for cigarettes in Australia and maybe the UK). There used to be lolly/candy called f**s, but with the change of meaning for the word, they became Fads.
#64
A lime green mankini and the recipient proceeded to model it over his clothes at the pub. Oh the horror.
#65
I was once sent, by my wife, to buy nipple tassels for the lady she’d drawn in their Secret Santa. They all worked at the local primary school.
#66
A fl*shlight beer can thing... the recipient was not happy and caused a huge HR thing.
During the same secret santander exchange, someone got 1/8 of weed and management called the police.
It was a wild place to work that week.
#67
My boss in my first proper job (office worker, I generally just wore polo shirts to work) got me a shirt and tie from Marks and Spencer.
#68
I got someone who was notoriously tight a wallet. However it was called a tight a*sewallet and all the pockets were stitched shut. He was well pleased with his new wallet until he realised! He left it on the table!
Huddo's sister 4 hours ago
What I don't get is people who buy things like this are literally wasting their money. They would be better off just not buying anything, not giving something for a joke that lasts a few seconds at most.
#69
I got given a lighbulb and a piece of wood once. Still not quite sure what it was meant to be.
#70
Got told we could only spend a fiver, it was my first year there so I took it literally. Everyone else spent £20+ and I got a co-worker post-it origami. I thought it was a cool little gift. Heard her saying a few months later, "I'm not doing it again. Last year I got post its and I know who it was" and everyone acted appalled.
#71
I got a children's creative kit to make a volcano. Although I didn't have children then. It was a strange gift for me.
#72
Finger lights. Yes lights for you fingers, led, red green and blue lights. F****n sh*te whilst everyone else got wine or smellies. We were all sat round as well about 15 of us. There were some shocked faces. Mine being the biggest.
#73
A co-worker of mine once gifted a woman we work with a ball gag because she had a hard time being quiet. She took it very well.
Smeghead Tribble Down Under 2 hours ago
If someone gave me that, I would have tested it out on the opposite end to where their mouth is.
#74
I have a winner.
In school, year 9, we had Secret Santa with a £3-5 price. I get a bag of budgens sweets that say 39p in the corner from a guy who decided he really didn't like me.
He was very well off so it was just to be a d**k/stingy.
As I spitefully eat them, one of my molars which had apparently been weakened by antibiotics as a child decided to choose now as the moment to crumble. So I got to go to the dentist to have my tooth rebuilt for Secret Santa.
#75
A bottle of poppers called Phuck, wrapped in a used Milky Way wrapper with bits of chocolate still on it, with the tag from a teabag stuck on as a gift tag.
Dude who gave it to me was on roughly £50k.
#76
A neon pink lacy thong, at a work secret santa. I was totally confused until the purchaser told me that my knickers were constantly on show above my trousers when bending over. Mortified.
#77
When in secondary school, my friend and I were the only two boys in a group of all girls. One Christmas they all gave us both a pair of their underwear.
Now I wonder why I never held onto them, could have made a mint.
Blue Bunny of Happiness 4 hours ago
I wondered why they could have made a mint…..then I reread the post….ewwwwww!
What do you think ?
Smeghead Tribble Down Under 2 hours ago (edited)
Not a Secret Santa, but I used to be on an international online postcard swapping forum, and sometimes groups did gift exchanges. I would go out of my way to pick unique little Aussie souvenirs, or Australian-made sweets or things like that, and they aren't cheap but I enjoyed it. I always got rubbish in return, but one swap was the worst. It was a Valentine's Day one. I got the person I drew a medium-sized stuffed kangaroo, boxed chocolates, some pretty stationery, and a couple other things that I thought were pretty nice. I received (from a different person in the group) a small string of heart lights and the cord was cut in pieces, a torn pink envelope, a single piece of chewing gum, and a tissue. A single tissue. Then when I asked on the boards if anyone else had received actual rubbish (with a photo of what I'd gotten, but not the person's name, username or anything like that) I was the one who got jumped all over for being rude O_o I left that site after that.
Smeghead Tribble Down Under 2 hours ago (edited)
Not a Secret Santa, but I used to be on an international online postcard swapping forum, and sometimes groups did gift exchanges. I would go out of my way to pick unique little Aussie souvenirs, or Australian-made sweets or things like that, and they aren't cheap but I enjoyed it. I always got rubbish in return, but one swap was the worst. It was a Valentine's Day one. I got the person I drew a medium-sized stuffed kangaroo, boxed chocolates, some pretty stationery, and a couple other things that I thought were pretty nice. I received (from a different person in the group) a small string of heart lights and the cord was cut in pieces, a torn pink envelope, a single piece of chewing gum, and a tissue. A single tissue. Then when I asked on the boards if anyone else had received actual rubbish (with a photo of what I'd gotten, but not the person's name, username or anything like that) I was the one who got jumped all over for being rude O_o I left that site after that.
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