By Nico King GIle,
Staff Writer.
Christmas is the most joyful, spirited and fun time of year. Christmas tunes fill the air, school gets out for two weeks, everyone tries to be good. You get to drink hot chocolate, give and receive thoughtful gifts and spend time with family and friends.
Except for some blemishes: most Secret Santas. Simply put, Secret Santas don’t create this feeling. Desperately trying to find a good, thoughtful, fitting and somehow $15 (in some cases) gift for somebody you’ve never talked to before is terrible. Senior Alexa Bannister said they can be “fun if you’re with the right friend group.” But finding one for a random person or sometimes just a distant family member is stressful. During one of Bannister’s Secret Santas, her dad had to get a gift for her aunt but didn’t know her well enough and so her mom ended up giving her the gift.
On top of that, there’s no guarantee you’ll enjoy what you get. Bannister said, “If you get someone a really nice present and then you get something really bad in return, it doesn’t equal out. . . It’s not fair.” Some Secret Santas try lists of things the other person wants or likes, such as hobbies, favorites and more. “You right down kinda what you want [but] it never works,” said Bannister.
Moreover, these Secret Santas often have tight spending limits which makes finding a real gift from the list impossible in that spending range. To buy a single item on their list, it is often more than 15 dollars, much less anything else you want to get to make it feel like a complete gift, and then in return receiving a meaningless 10 dollar gift card is just disappointing.
Meanwhile, White Elephant gift exchanges can often be with the whole family, but also occur in the occasional work group. Bannister said, “Some person. . . might paint something and then you get a $5 Grinch mug.” This phenomenon is very common, since not all gifts are equal and often the amount spent is even less equal if someone feels screwed. In the end, what do we really need or even want from a random gift exchange? What item selected for anyone would we not be able to find in less than a minute and order in another? Yes, there are some fun or funny rare or novel gifts, but how many of these White Elephant gifts are those? One out of twenty?
There are still good ways to do these White Elephants, but with a friend group. Not work, not family. Secret Santas can be used, as our Random Acts of Kindness Club is doing, to impact lives in a personal way. If this country didn’t have a crippling inequity crisis, this wouldn’t be an issue.
