Fifteen colleagues, one budget, no conversation about it

Team Nord draws names before Christmas. Fifteen people, a twenty-five euro cap, and the same question every time: what do you give somebody you only know from the office? The honest answer is usually a voucher nobody redeems.

Secret Santa differs from every other occasion in that the list belongs to nobody. Fifteen people put things on it, fifteen people take things off. One list per person would be more cumbersome than the problem.

23
wishes in the team
25 €
cap per gift
1
link for everybody

Why here of all places

Why arranging it in the chat does not work

Secret Santa rarely fails on goodwill and almost always on coordination.

Nobody wants to ask
"What would you like?" takes the surprise away. So people guess, and get it wrong
Whoever writes first wins
In the team group the first suggestion is taken. The others do not know whether it is already gone
The budget is written nowhere
And is therefore exceeded by some and undercut by others
The way out is usually a voucher
It gets given because it cannot be wrong. For your shop it is the worst revenue of all

One shared list with the budget in the description resolves all four at once – and it does so without anybody having to hold a conversation.

The list itself

Twenty-three wishes, all of them under the cap

Everyone in the team enters two or three things. The cap is in the list description, which appears above the wishes.

WishQuantityPriceState
Insulated mug224.00 € each1 of 2 available
Small desk lamp122.00 €Currently reserved
Coffee beans, 1 kg319.00 € eachAvailable
Leather notebook221.00 € eachGifted
Rechargeable hand warmer118.00 €Available
Plant for the office415.00 € each2 of 4 available
Tea selection124.00 €Currently reserved
Headphone stand123.00 €Available

Not one wish above 25 €. That is not a feature of the plugin but an agreement – but it stands visibly above the list, and that is why it is kept.

What this occasion turns on

Reserving is the core here, not a nicety

At a wedding a reservation is a convenience. With Secret Santa it is what carries the occasion at all.

Hold first, buy later
You draw a name, sleep on it and buy the next day. Without reserving the wish is gone by then
A short deadline
Two or three days are enough. A forgotten wish becomes free again by itself instead of staying blocked until the party
Only with an account
Reserving requires a customer account. Whoever in the team has none buys directly – that works without signing in
Your own band
Right at the top of the list it says "You have reserved:" with quantity and date. Whoever changes their mind releases it with one click

What you set up for it

Two places and one note

With Secret Santa what counts above all is that nobody is pinned down too early.

Allow reserving
Without it this occasion does not work
Reservation deadline
Keep it short, so that a forgotten wish becomes free again quickly
Word filter
With lists that come about among colleagues the filter is no luxury – see The administration
Giving anonymously
Whoever wants to does not appear by name in the thank-you notes either. With Secret Santa that is often wanted

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Andere Anlässe

Common questions

Is a gift registry suitable for Secret Santa?

Yes. One shared list for the team is enough: everybody enters wishes, the link goes to all of them, and what has been taken is visible to everyone at once.

Does every colleague need a customer account?

Not for buying, the link is enough. For reserving, yes, because a reservation has to belong to an account.

How long does a reservation last?

As long as the shop sets. After that the wish becomes free again on its own and visible to everybody.

Where is the budget written?

In the description of the list, which appears above the wishes. The plugin enforces no cap; it only makes it visible to everybody.

Can you give anonymously?

Yes, if the giver chooses it at checkout. They then do not appear by name in the thank-you notes either; their e-mail address is never shown in any case.

Does the team see the colleagues' addresses?

No. Only the display name is on the list. If delivery goes to the owner, the address is masked.

What happens after the party?

After the date the list accepts no more gifts. The cart points this out to guests who arrive too late.