I'm really not a fan of the x-mas office present buying. Having to buy a cheap gift, in this case, under $10, for someone you may not know that well. Usually they'll end up with something fairly crappy that they'll probably never use or at best, pass on in another Kris Kringle (Secret Santa) next year. This process can be repeated many times with different social groups and all I can see it doing is adding to the unnecessary overconsumption of this time of year.
I made a request to the organiser: I would like the person who drew my name out of the hat to donate to a community group or charity of my choice (I chose ACON - The AIDS Council of NSW). She begrudgingly agreed this would be OK (but wouldn't I prefer a gift?!). I mentioned it to a couple of others and it seemed the idea caught on and one of my colleagues made the suggestion to the organiser that perhaps we should all donate. But no, apparently this was not a good idea as most people would like to receive something. And I thought x-mas was about giving?!
This is where the revolution begins. Emails started circulating and all the staff bar 2 (the organiser and the manager) have nominated charities they would like $10 donated to in lieu of receiving a crappy $10 gift.
In a further amusing twist, guess who's the lucky one that must buy a gift for the organiser?! That's right me!
I found the perfect thing, something that won't add (too much) to all this needless consumption and something that will (hopefully) get the message across that there are better ways to 'get in the spirit' of x-mas
Happy holidays!
... but this helps. Leisha Hailey and Clea Duvall show you can be green and hot and gay. Mmmm tasty!
