Same, the very last one was where I asked my match to not give me a gift but to do something nice for themselves and enjoy the holiday…
She sent me photos of her giving gifts to those she interacted with every day with a note about who they were and why she gave those gifts. It was amazing (and she slipped in a pin from the Star Tours ride that I had been yearning for when I lost the one I had back in the mid 1990’s)
But, every single gift that was given to me, I still have and those memories are things I never will forget. I even got an amazing friend out of it as well.
I've worn the same necklace since 2018, since I got a small silver lotus flower pendant as part of the yoga exchange. It's one of my favorite pieces of jewelry, and I treasure the stranger who got it for me and sent it across the world.
I still have the painting with the emblem of my beloved football club from the 2017 Secret Santa. I look at it every single day. It’s one of the most beautiful gifts I’ve ever received. Thank you so much, Marisa <3
I did the baseball exchange a few times, and one time I got someone who lived in Michigan, so she got me this amazing Detroit Tigers tote bag and a small painting of Tiger Stadium at the corner of Michigan and Trumbull. The painting is in my bedroom, and I use the tote bag all the time. Another time my Santa got me a Detroit Tigers ballcap because I didn’t have one, and it’s still one of my favorite hats. It’s a really nice one with a Velcro enclosure on the back so I can get my ponytail through it comfortably. I did a bunch of other exchanges too that gave me stuff I treasure. It was really a fun experience.
I can’t remember what I sent though. Would be nice if my brain could just work normally and I could recall things on demand instead of weeks later when it’s most inappropriate.
Same here! I did it, then my cousin joined me, and we did it for a handful of years. It was fun! I did a snacks exchange one time as well! I got a hand knitted Yoda ears toque from an awesome girl in Poland!
Redditgifts didn't make Reddit any money, they had to have dedicated mods and customer service, and so as a business move they shut it down. I was also very sad about it, I had been involved in Redditgifts since 2013.
But it did create buzz (especially when celebrities and other notable people got involved)
The issue became that more and more people started grifting and making things worse for everyone. Rematching used to be just doing a little extra but then became almost mandatory because of how many people stopped actually doing anything for their matches
It grew beyond the Secret Santa into a year round thing and was extremely popular (though difficult to moderate)
It was pure until it wasn’t and sadly, will never be again
i got stiffed by both my secret santa and my rematcher the last year it ran. i'm still salty about the second since you had to go out of your way to be a rematcher and got nothing extra out of doing it.
I did too, signed up for rematch but nothing ever came of it. I guessed it was because they figured why bother since it was the last year. I was so sad.
I did almost all the exchanges and not once was stiffed until the last one. Still bummed Amazon tracking numbers that couldn’t be verified were accepted as proof. I am sure my Santa lied. It was a gut punch. I’m never not gonna be salty.
The only time I ever had trouble was when I was sending some Adventure Time stuff to someone in Europe as a rematcher. According to my records, it was supposed to have arrived, but my recipient never confirmed, so I never got credit for it, and it kept screwing up my participation in future exchanges.
Besides the tracking info, I don't know if it ever actually got to the recipient, and they never replied to any of my messages.
Me too. She messaged me wanting to be rematched because I was a lot older than her and she didn't know what a white man from Maine would like 🙄. Christmas came and went and she didn't send anything. I posted a bad review of her and I ended up getting a pair of socks a month after Xmas. It was so irritating cause it wasnt about what i got it was about the excitement of surprise. I was so bitter after that.
The year before that was amazing. Woman sent me a fruitpie, home made cookies and a sega dreamcast with 3 games!.
I always spent somewhere between 50 and 100 on the gifts I sent out on my end. The fact that this girl posted how she wanted international plane tickets or a week long cruise but then sent her SS a pair of socks a month late was absolutely disgusting
I stopped doing it when I was matched with someone who essentially demanded a single gift that cost $50. They answered every question on the questionnaire with the name of this specific gift that they wanted. I didn’t have to put any thought into buying gifts that matched the person’s interests, and that just took all the fun out of it for me.
It was the only exchange I often got, too. I had done it so much that I had enough experience "credits" or however they ran it so that I would only be matched with other redditors who also had that level of participation. So near the end, I was always getting good gifts because at the level I was at, everyone had been participating for a while and took it seriously.
I used to love shopping for my giftee because I didn't really have that many people to shop for.
Gosh yeah the minute I became an elf and then turned around and started putting more credits in to join the next year at a higher tier, the gifts I got went downhill. Previously I'd sent and received personalized gifts specific to their interests with little notes and such. At the higher tiers though, I received the most generic stuff possible (eg: a bathrobe).
Sure, I'm glad I received something, but it was definitely not matching what I was putting in anymore.
I still miss it though. I miss what it was in the 2010s.
Damn!!! I forgot about Elf’s even though I also did top tier a couple of times. I know that those were the only times where the gifts I sent (hundreds of dollars plus shipping to other countries) was sort of tempered by no thanks given or on one occasion the “giftee” being upset that it wasn’t “of Bill Gates caliber but just OK since it was essentially free”
Again, I wasn’t expecting anything special from my gifter but at least take a look at the profile to try to find something that they would like
But, overall, my experience was great and I’m forever thankful for that experience
As reddit got more popular there were more scammers getting involved in the secret santa as well. It really sucked because it was so wholesome in it's prime.
There was also a lotta low effort from new members who saw posts of ppl receiving way awesome and over budget gifts. That said I still have more Guinness world record certificate lol
Also people who really only asked for way above list asks.. you know, there are people who always put.Hey, in case I get bill gates, ha ha this is what I would like.
But then you'd get like someone being like, I only want lego sets. On like board game exchange.
I paid the way over price to get one to show off, but I still have it and one time hear my son telling his friends that I’m in the book of world records
Reddit tried to fix the scammer problem by having points you had to stake to participate in gift exchanges. It sucks that shitheads ruined it for the rest of us. Reddit could bring it back by requiring a $50 credit card hold though - if you don’t send out a gift, they keep the $50 and send a random gift for $45 bucks from the receivers Amazon wish list or something. It’d solve the profitability problem too.
By the end, I had enough points to always participate at the highest level. So I was getting good gifts because everyone at that level took it seriously. It was such a bummer when it went away.
I had two people claim I didn't send them a gift. Another time a man-child lost his mind because I didn't praise his gift enough. And the final nail in the coffin for me was the time a gifter lost their absolute shit when I could only get the shirt they wanted in XXXL and they wanted XXL.
It was fun. I gifted some cool stuff to some really awesome people. But the shitheads and assholes made it so so bad.
I'm still good friends with the woman (and her husband) from the US that I matched with back in... 2014 I think? They even came to stay with me in Australia in 2022. Never ending friendship was the best gift of them all!
I miss when this was in its prime, towards the end with all the people doing the absolute bare minimum hoping for a high value gift …that kinda sucked though.
I really feel my worst gift takes the cake. It was trick or treat, I said no tricks. They make a dangerous concoction of foam and something when they glued foam together to hide the gift- where the glue hit the foam was liquidy and gave me chemical burns on my hand, and inside the glued chemical burn foam was 1 dollar tree pocket calendar. Nothing else. I reported them but nothing came of it, I’m sure!
Remember the one year I tried to do this I spent $50 on my person and got absolutely nothing in return. Shattered my 18 year old heart lmfao. Mods sucked at understanding the situation and I never got re-paired. It’s not like it was a hard situation to understand 😭
I think I did 3 or 4 exchanges - 2 of my matches never sent me anything and I didn’t get rematched with anyone else. Kind of ruined the whole experience really.
I went above and beyond for mine… went through their profile to see what they liked, custom designed and 3D printed a Doom Christmas ornament (before 3D printing was as common), along with several other personalized things. My person sent me a $5 religious book straight from Amazon. :(
Same, I made a custom scavenger hunt/escape room-esque puzzle game with gifts inside when you unlock the box for my person and got an amazon mug in return 😭 at least I had fun making my gift
I remember I got someone who, admittedly, I had NO idea what they’d enjoy. I took a risk on a gift and it turned out to be incredibly special to them, as it reminded them of an important moment in their life. In return, I got a bunch of random stuff that I’d never indicated any interest in 🥲
I loved secret Santa so much! But I remember one year somebody just sent me some €5 gloves to an old address (from my abandoned Amazon wish list) and I felt too guilty to leave bad feedback so I got banned from participating the following year lol
Same for me. As a single mama with little close support it was the only way I ever exchanged gifts for myself. Did it for several years. Miss it so much!
This is why I asked, I truly loved it! I have artwork I received one year and it’s more Halloween darkness so only comes out that time of year and I get to remember this artist I got paired up with one time. Amazing experiences every time for me!
I honestly enjoyed making something special more than receiving my own present hahaha.
I remember a year where i had a absolute game geek,
I spend 1,5 week making a advent calender with steam redeem codes in envelopes spreading about 6 Meters hahah like a full 2,5 weeks of games. it had some cheap indie games, but also a few famous games, even like 1 or 2 newer titles (nothing crazy expensive).
Even put vague memes on every envelop that had something to do with the game inside, and a small text to go with the code.
I enjoyed the planning, crafting, and making someone happy so much, and i dearly miss it.....
They destroyed my favourite seasonal tradition :(
It was fun. I only had one time my secret Santa didn't send something, and that was a zero credit exchange. It was the bookmarks one, but I was rematched, and my rematch Santa came through, with a really beautiful set of bookmarks that I still have and use.
I also remember one year for the main Christmas exchange, I got someone who was into Journaling and doing crafts with her kids. I was working at Joanns then, and was able to go a little crazy (made good use of my employee discount to afford extra) with some fun journals and stickers for her and some kids craft items for her to do with her kids.
I do givingifts which is nice alt linked to Reddit/quite similar. I miss it too!! I had the VP of eBay one year gift me gifts and I still am not over it
This givingifts, you do this now? I had just fnd out about it the final year and was so upset to learn it was the last year. But I have always wanted to do one. One that people want to do, because they enjoy gifting others, esp when it scratches that creative side of brain.
This was fun, at least the anticipation was. I’d go overboard (despite not really having the money, in the spirit of making something magical) I loved watching the posts when people got their gifts. However it was very true that some people put in bare minimum effort, or none at all .
That was me, too. I'd definitely go overboard, despite not really having the money to, because I just enjoyed it so much and really wanted the recipient to have a good experience. So far as I know, the only one I really dropped the ball on was a Halloween exchange where my giftee said they were really into spoopy. I had no idea WTF "spoopy" was and thought it was a typo only to learn no, they did not want a bunch of cute Snoopy Halloween stuff. I could tell they were really bummed, too. I felt awful, because I really tried hard to make it super cute & cool. Oh well.
I did it I think 3 years? Two were ok but the last one, the giver spaced and worked really really hard to make up for it, to the point of (if I recall correctly) putting it in my mailbox while I was at work. After all that buildup about making sure I get it on time and all the back and forth, all it was was like a cheap guitar pick with a band logo on it. I double checked the mailbox to see if I missed something but no. Just chucked it in the garbage and felt a little creeped out so much effort went in to a really inconsequential gift.
I always put that I wanted to experience where they lived and their culture. Like maybe there's a gem of a jam shop in your city that people rant and rave about.
I got paired with someone from New Orleans and they sent me a box of southern snacks (I still have a bad of crawdad chips I am too scared to try 😂). They also included a family gumbo recipe that was passed down with many of the dry good ingredients to make it!
I did an international one and the person who got me was from Australia! I remember her strangely telling me they didn’t have cheese popcorn there (something I said I liked lol) I got someone in New Zealand who happened to be a big Mac Miller fan and I lived near Pittsburgh and I hooked up this person with some locals only merch, they lost their mind
I did an international one and I can't remember what country the person I got was in, Poland I think, and I think my entire package was confiscated by that country's customs. I think the person reported me for not gifting, but obviously I had proof of shipment. That was a bummer though.
I still have my coloring books and 3D printed Pencil and Pen holder, and for my second year my blanket and my snoop dogg cookbook I too miss secret Santa for Reddit 🥺
I LOVED doing this. I believe Reddit stopped because SO MANY PEOPLE signed up and then DIDN'T SEND A GIFT. Yes - there were "Secret Santas" that were suppose to step in when that happened, but even those people flaked on the event. I know this because I was "burnt" several times in the gift exchange - even by the "Secret Santa" that was suppose to pickup where "Santa" left off. It was a bit disheartening, but I still signed up that next year. I loved picking out cool gifts. Recall one year I got a fella that was disabled and took care of his momma. I gifted him a VISA gift card to help them. FELT GREAT!
I still have the paintings hanging up on my wall. And the dog toys a kind secret santa gave me. He since passed on so I can't bear to part with them as it's a double good memory. Secret Santa was always lit for me.
They were probably tired of dealing with the administrative burden around this, especially concerning people who didn’t send. The last year even the person who I rematched that was supposed to gift someone who already sent but didn't receive (they also didn’t send.)
I have a hammock I use all the time from my first gifts. I have a custom painting that I adore. Reddit Gifts was a great connection to random other people and I will always miss it
Ah I miss this! I had great gifts from my gifters and I went all out on my people I got. (Can't help it giving gifts is my love language)
After it went down there's the giving gifts subreddit, participated a couple of times but life got hard and haven't been able to participate. That and I keep forgetting.
I literally was going through my photos deleting and making room and ran into a screenshot of my list of badges from secret santa years 😭 one year a total stranger got me a Death of a Family Joker Mask (because that’s my favorite version of The Joker) with the entire comic book collection, valued at the time $50!! THAT’S TOO MUCH!! I still have it and it blows me away people would do this kind of thing.
I loved doing this and put a lot of effort into everything. Only my very last time did the person put effort into me. It meant the world how thoughtful the gift was. I didn't do it to get anything, I really enjoy giving. My I do admit the years I did it prior to that final one got a bit demoralizing. Twice the people I gifted had to be chased down basically to log in and confirm. And they barely wrote anything. I didn't even know if they liked their gifts.
I participated in the last secret Santa. I gave my match a 3D printer for Christmas, and got the nicest thank you note from him.
I ended up getting nothing at Christmas time from the person who matched with me, and just went on about my life. Then sometime in April, I got a package from Poland that must have gone by way of China, with tons of polish candy and other treats. Sadly, by that point secret Santa was shut down and I couldn’t thank the person properly.
So to my match from years ago: if you’re out there, I just want to say thanks.
I still have my tea dipper, coffee strainer (tea and coffee all gone hehe), porcelain vases, tonnes of stickers and a recipe book I got from some of the exchanges.
I loved Reddit Gifts and will always be thankful I got to enjoy them for a few years before it died. Extremely grateful it was a global activity as well, I live in Malaysia and enjoyed sending / receiving gifts from Brazil, the US, Canada, Poland, Russia… ❤️❤️❤️
Forever a special place in my heart. TQ RedditGift warriors!
I loved Reddit gift exchanges and the excitement of getting your match.
I did get screwed at least once but one of the best and most thoughtful gifts I’ve ever gotten was from a Reddit secret Santa. He saw that I’d been active in the SNES subreddit so he programmed a Raspberry Pi with every SNES, NES, and Dreamcast game and sent it with two compatible SNES style controllers and a really thoughtful letter.
I had fun doing some of these but best part was seeing what you sent posted and how happy they were met some lovely people doing it
I imagine it's a pain to administer though
Also missing Reddit secret Santa this year so I’ve decided to do one of those “angel tree” things where you pick a tag and buy a child in need a present! Definitely recommend.
I would do so many of these. It's also what probably led to my overall love of secret santa. I try to get everyone to do it during the holiday. It was fun to see what people would come up with. I would go over the top a lot cause I would have so many ideas for my matches most of the time. I still have a lot of gifts I was given. Especially books and comic books. I do miss it dearly.
One year I disclosed a bunch of things i liked- I’m an artist, I’m into anime and goth stuff. They sent me a light up photo of a bicycle. Never figured that out.
We still do, we just moved to givin.gifts (no longer Reddit backed but it’s really great. I haven’t had people sign up and not send a gift yet. At the end of Reddit gifts that was 90% of sign ups)
Once upon a time Reddit was a relatively niche community where the majority acted in good faith; at some point that good faith wore thin as the big money investors were severely butthurt at being "burned" too many times.
While there was definitely an uptick of bad faith actors signing up and not sending anything, it was the few big money investors that didn't like the quality of what they got in return that really ended it.
Just came back here to see how much I missed this.
Reddit Gifts collapsed because too many people exploited a trust-based system. Democracy can survive a little of that because it has mixed incentives, but communism can’t. One person abusing shared resources directly steals from everyone, and a number of freeloaders caused total breakdown. Human nature doesn’t magically change even if a system was I believe IMO near perfect.
I love so many of the gifts I received: I got the coolest Muppets Show sign someone made during the Muppets exchange, a huge collection of someone's scrap yarns (exactly what I asked for) during a yarn exchange, a thoughtful brewery tour of bar glasses for the beer and shot glass exchange...just to name a few. I handmade custom parts of a lot of the gifts I sent, which people seemed to appreciate. I understand why it had to stop, but it was so precious to me.
Aw I had such a great time with secret santa the first year I did it and then the second year it was an abject failure lol my sent gift got returned back to me as undeliverable even though the address was correct and I never received anything from whomever my Santa was
I really miss this. I would ask for just plain ordinary items that I could only get if I lived there. It was amazing to get gifts from people who really kinda took it for granted of all the things that made their area special.
It was an amazing experience.
I think they killed it because it was amazing? Ah probably not. Most likely someone working for Reddit got a crappy gift or nothing and decided to shut it down.
Reddit IPO has been in the cards since around the time it stopped. This site is a data farm and advertisement vehicle to the owners, which spits in the face any community elements that existed here in simpler times, that were hard work and not monetarily rewarding. Such is most of the world right now unfortunately.
Loved the socks exchange. I had so much fun finding gifts and sending them. I think they have stopped because of the people who didn’t send anything. They were there just to get gifts and there was a number of people left without presents.
I had fun with this. The one hometown I did, I sent my person a deep dish pizza, a Chicago flag and some Green River. I told them to make a green river float with some vinalia ice cream.
I always loved participating. I still have a handmade Christmas Ornament from one of my secret Santa’s that I hang on my tree every year and another hand made happy holidays plaque that a different secret Santa made me one year with all my favourite colors and interests (they even included bats). I really treasure all the thoughtful gifts I got over the years. Twice I didn’t get a gift, once a had a rematch Santa and the other time I didn’t but overall it was an amazing experience.
I always feel like shit, I was a real youngin and someone bought me the coolest shit I’ve ever gotten and it made my year especially since I never got gifts when I was young.
Out of the many gifts throughout the years from friends/family, the ones from the Reddit Secret Santa were honestly some of the best and most thoughtful gifts I've ever received. Even became friends with one of my Santas haha.
It got to a point at least for me when I would put a lot of effort in and in return I was getting literal gas station things or I just wouldn’t receive anything so I quit.
I understand that some people didn't play fair when it came to gifting, but, to me, if I didn't get anything, I was fine with that. It's about giving. If I could do well for someone else, then I've done my job. You don't give to expect something in return.
I did this twice, and it was lots of fun! I still use the cocktail making stuff and travel themed gifts I got. It was nice to do something for a stranger and really not expecting anything in return.
Ugh, I did it one year and ended up sending a fortune buying gifts and shipping them to Australia (from the US). My secret Santa got me a bunch of junk.
It was a good time. I just wish I'd had more warning and understanding about it shutting down so I could have taken screenshots of the postings from the people who got my gifts. I honestly didn't care that much about getting anything. I just loved picking out the gifts for people and sending it to them and waiting for their post.
I am a bit late but was very sad when they ended this. I got a guy a Cthulhu game and he absolutely loved it! He sent me a video of himself going nuts over it. I wish I could find that video. It made my day. I remember that some celebrities got involved so you had a chance of getting a famous person as your secret Santa. It was one of the best things about Reddit and they got rid of it. I miss old Reddit so much. I had another account that I started around 2014 I believe.
I got the best Christmas gift ever from participating years ago. A signed picture of Tim Curry with a certificate of authenticity. They took the time to look through my comment history and did something incredibly thoughtful. I tried to do the same with my fellow. I miss secret Santa.
Not going to lie, I signed up for Secret Santa one year and got my mom🤦♀️ It was absolutely hilarious when her gift didn't show up and I said "oh here" and she opened to see it say Secret Santa 🤣🤣 I miss those days.
First year I started my new job, I took a pay cut. Things were hard and it was during COVID. My secret santa some redditor bless them, made by Christmas. I've never forgotten it. And I've always tried to pay it forward each year for anyone then I can
I saw some wonderful things happen during those times. But it feels like we don’t live in that world anymore. Secret Santa History
I am naturally a person that will drive themselves crazy to find THE PERFECT GIFT for someone so loved stalking their old posts to figure out something really special. I remember once getting a blanket made with photos of their dog that had passed away for someone.
I used to do the Halloween one every year, it was the highlight of the season for me and just when I was financially stable enough to start doing Christmas too they stopped it. Halloween hasn’t felt right since.
I did it once and received a bag of broken, tarnished costume jewelry. Like someone scooped it out of their junk drawer and mailed it. It was incredibly gross.
I still have the gifts from participating years ago. I get many questions about the painting one gifter painted for me. I miss doing this.
I participated once and I still have the porcelain cat figure in my bathroom !
Same, the very last one was where I asked my match to not give me a gift but to do something nice for themselves and enjoy the holiday…
She sent me photos of her giving gifts to those she interacted with every day with a note about who they were and why she gave those gifts. It was amazing (and she slipped in a pin from the Star Tours ride that I had been yearning for when I lost the one I had back in the mid 1990’s)
But, every single gift that was given to me, I still have and those memories are things I never will forget. I even got an amazing friend out of it as well.
Yup, some of those gifts are very dear to me, I still use them years later!
(The ugly mug exchange was especially nice!)
I've worn the same necklace since 2018, since I got a small silver lotus flower pendant as part of the yoga exchange. It's one of my favorite pieces of jewelry, and I treasure the stranger who got it for me and sent it across the world.
I also have artwork and just overall great memories of connecting with people I never imagined. Seriously great memories!
One year I got a moderator of a beer sub and I mentioned how I used to work in a brewery and they gave me a home brew kit that I use to this day.
still have a lava lamp from one of the last ones it was fun and something about seeing your pick post your gift is better than receiving anything
I still have the painting with the emblem of my beloved football club from the 2017 Secret Santa. I look at it every single day. It’s one of the most beautiful gifts I’ve ever received. Thank you so much, Marisa <3
I did the baseball exchange a few times, and one time I got someone who lived in Michigan, so she got me this amazing Detroit Tigers tote bag and a small painting of Tiger Stadium at the corner of Michigan and Trumbull. The painting is in my bedroom, and I use the tote bag all the time. Another time my Santa got me a Detroit Tigers ballcap because I didn’t have one, and it’s still one of my favorite hats. It’s a really nice one with a Velcro enclosure on the back so I can get my ponytail through it comfortably. I did a bunch of other exchanges too that gave me stuff I treasure. It was really a fun experience.
So do I! I cherish it.
I can’t remember what I sent though. Would be nice if my brain could just work normally and I could recall things on demand instead of weeks later when it’s most inappropriate.
Same here! I did it, then my cousin joined me, and we did it for a handful of years. It was fun! I did a snacks exchange one time as well! I got a hand knitted Yoda ears toque from an awesome girl in Poland!
I still have mine, too, from several different ones. I miss it so much, it was so fun and such an awesome way to spread genuine joy.
The painting was a gift Todd!
Yeah i still have some Gift i use nearly in daily Basis. For example once i got a really nice Hand Coffee grinder.
I use it daily for ky morning Coffee Routine
I have so many of the gifts I received from other reditors over the years!
I treasure the mermaid tail necklace I got a few years ago, and I still have all my gifts as well
Redditgifts didn't make Reddit any money, they had to have dedicated mods and customer service, and so as a business move they shut it down. I was also very sad about it, I had been involved in Redditgifts since 2013.
But it did create buzz (especially when celebrities and other notable people got involved)
The issue became that more and more people started grifting and making things worse for everyone. Rematching used to be just doing a little extra but then became almost mandatory because of how many people stopped actually doing anything for their matches
It grew beyond the Secret Santa into a year round thing and was extremely popular (though difficult to moderate)
It was pure until it wasn’t and sadly, will never be again
i got stiffed by both my secret santa and my rematcher the last year it ran. i'm still salty about the second since you had to go out of your way to be a rematcher and got nothing extra out of doing it.
I did too, signed up for rematch but nothing ever came of it. I guessed it was because they figured why bother since it was the last year. I was so sad.
I did almost all the exchanges and not once was stiffed until the last one. Still bummed Amazon tracking numbers that couldn’t be verified were accepted as proof. I am sure my Santa lied. It was a gut punch. I’m never not gonna be salty.
The only time I ever had trouble was when I was sending some Adventure Time stuff to someone in Europe as a rematcher. According to my records, it was supposed to have arrived, but my recipient never confirmed, so I never got credit for it, and it kept screwing up my participation in future exchanges.
Besides the tracking info, I don't know if it ever actually got to the recipient, and they never replied to any of my messages.
All of the other exchanges went great, though.
Yeah, I got shafted 2 years in a row and it absolutely killed my love for it.
Me too. She messaged me wanting to be rematched because I was a lot older than her and she didn't know what a white man from Maine would like 🙄. Christmas came and went and she didn't send anything. I posted a bad review of her and I ended up getting a pair of socks a month after Xmas. It was so irritating cause it wasnt about what i got it was about the excitement of surprise. I was so bitter after that. The year before that was amazing. Woman sent me a fruitpie, home made cookies and a sega dreamcast with 3 games!. I always spent somewhere between 50 and 100 on the gifts I sent out on my end. The fact that this girl posted how she wanted international plane tickets or a week long cruise but then sent her SS a pair of socks a month late was absolutely disgusting
It was definitely difficult but wholesome
I remember the regift and I always did that too because my Santa always came through as I did with who I got.
So, so many things are "pure until they weren't," online and off.
Absolutely
I stopped doing it when I was matched with someone who essentially demanded a single gift that cost $50. They answered every question on the questionnaire with the name of this specific gift that they wanted. I didn’t have to put any thought into buying gifts that matched the person’s interests, and that just took all the fun out of it for me.
I had a few like that. Some people really felt like pulling teeth to do something fun and nice for them.
The last year I got stood up, I was so bummed as it was the only exchanging of gifts I ever did for myself. I miss it so much.
It was the only exchange I often got, too. I had done it so much that I had enough experience "credits" or however they ran it so that I would only be matched with other redditors who also had that level of participation. So near the end, I was always getting good gifts because at the level I was at, everyone had been participating for a while and took it seriously.
I used to love shopping for my giftee because I didn't really have that many people to shop for.
I’m here on Reddit many years later because of Redditgifts
Gosh yeah the minute I became an elf and then turned around and started putting more credits in to join the next year at a higher tier, the gifts I got went downhill. Previously I'd sent and received personalized gifts specific to their interests with little notes and such. At the higher tiers though, I received the most generic stuff possible (eg: a bathrobe).
Sure, I'm glad I received something, but it was definitely not matching what I was putting in anymore.
I still miss it though. I miss what it was in the 2010s.
Damn!!! I forgot about Elf’s even though I also did top tier a couple of times. I know that those were the only times where the gifts I sent (hundreds of dollars plus shipping to other countries) was sort of tempered by no thanks given or on one occasion the “giftee” being upset that it wasn’t “of Bill Gates caliber but just OK since it was essentially free”
Again, I wasn’t expecting anything special from my gifter but at least take a look at the profile to try to find something that they would like
But, overall, my experience was great and I’m forever thankful for that experience
As reddit got more popular there were more scammers getting involved in the secret santa as well. It really sucked because it was so wholesome in it's prime.
There was also a lotta low effort from new members who saw posts of ppl receiving way awesome and over budget gifts. That said I still have more Guinness world record certificate lol
Also people who really only asked for way above list asks.. you know, there are people who always put.Hey, in case I get bill gates, ha ha this is what I would like.
But then you'd get like someone being like, I only want lego sets. On like board game exchange.
Haha. Came here to say I have my Guinness world record certificate
Same! It's my go-to fun fact about myself lol
I completely forgot about that. I have no idea where mine went to as I updated my email address.
I paid the way over price to get one to show off, but I still have it and one time hear my son telling his friends that I’m in the book of world records
Reddit tried to fix the scammer problem by having points you had to stake to participate in gift exchanges. It sucks that shitheads ruined it for the rest of us. Reddit could bring it back by requiring a $50 credit card hold though - if you don’t send out a gift, they keep the $50 and send a random gift for $45 bucks from the receivers Amazon wish list or something. It’d solve the profitability problem too.
By the end, I had enough points to always participate at the highest level. So I was getting good gifts because everyone at that level took it seriously. It was such a bummer when it went away.
Yeah same for me.
Same.
I had two people claim I didn't send them a gift. Another time a man-child lost his mind because I didn't praise his gift enough. And the final nail in the coffin for me was the time a gifter lost their absolute shit when I could only get the shirt they wanted in XXXL and they wanted XXL.
It was fun. I gifted some cool stuff to some really awesome people. But the shitheads and assholes made it so so bad.
I think it was so popular that people would pay to join. Maybe it can be brought back that way?
I only participated twice but I really enjoyed shopping for a stranger and hoping they liked what I picked out. I still hope it’ll come back some day.
I'm still good friends with the woman (and her husband) from the US that I matched with back in... 2014 I think? They even came to stay with me in Australia in 2022. Never ending friendship was the best gift of them all!
That’s amazing! I’m glad you got so much out of the Reddit secret Santa. Even more reason to bring it back.
I miss when this was in its prime, towards the end with all the people doing the absolute bare minimum hoping for a high value gift …that kinda sucked though.
Yeah my last year I got a bag of hard candy
The year before last my match sent me 2 rocks as my gift. Meanwhile I went over and above shopping for my person.
Some girls love rocks, to be fair 😆
I really feel my worst gift takes the cake. It was trick or treat, I said no tricks. They make a dangerous concoction of foam and something when they glued foam together to hide the gift- where the glue hit the foam was liquidy and gave me chemical burns on my hand, and inside the glued chemical burn foam was 1 dollar tree pocket calendar. Nothing else. I reported them but nothing came of it, I’m sure!
Remember the one year I tried to do this I spent $50 on my person and got absolutely nothing in return. Shattered my 18 year old heart lmfao. Mods sucked at understanding the situation and I never got re-paired. It’s not like it was a hard situation to understand 😭
I think I did 3 or 4 exchanges - 2 of my matches never sent me anything and I didn’t get rematched with anyone else. Kind of ruined the whole experience really.
Exactly. I was kind of glad when they ended this. Too many people took advantage of kindness and it just sucked.
I went above and beyond for mine… went through their profile to see what they liked, custom designed and 3D printed a Doom Christmas ornament (before 3D printing was as common), along with several other personalized things. My person sent me a $5 religious book straight from Amazon. :(
Same, I made a custom scavenger hunt/escape room-esque puzzle game with gifts inside when you unlock the box for my person and got an amazon mug in return 😭 at least I had fun making my gift
That sounds amazing!!
It just sucks so bad to have never had a good experience with it 😭
I remember I got someone who, admittedly, I had NO idea what they’d enjoy. I took a risk on a gift and it turned out to be incredibly special to them, as it reminded them of an important moment in their life. In return, I got a bunch of random stuff that I’d never indicated any interest in 🥲
Sometimes I wear the Ukrainian t-shirt my secret Santa sent me in 2017 and wonder if they are alright 😥
Dam.
Good times I always signed up to be a rematch Santa
I loved secret Santa so much! But I remember one year somebody just sent me some €5 gloves to an old address (from my abandoned Amazon wish list) and I felt too guilty to leave bad feedback so I got banned from participating the following year lol
This used to be mu yearly tradition, and i miss it dearly :(
Same for me. As a single mama with little close support it was the only way I ever exchanged gifts for myself. Did it for several years. Miss it so much!
This is why I asked, I truly loved it! I have artwork I received one year and it’s more Halloween darkness so only comes out that time of year and I get to remember this artist I got paired up with one time. Amazing experiences every time for me!
I honestly enjoyed making something special more than receiving my own present hahaha.
I remember a year where i had a absolute game geek, I spend 1,5 week making a advent calender with steam redeem codes in envelopes spreading about 6 Meters hahah like a full 2,5 weeks of games. it had some cheap indie games, but also a few famous games, even like 1 or 2 newer titles (nothing crazy expensive).
Even put vague memes on every envelop that had something to do with the game inside, and a small text to go with the code.
I enjoyed the planning, crafting, and making someone happy so much, and i dearly miss it..... They destroyed my favourite seasonal tradition :(
Loved Secret Santa. Spent more time and effort on getting everything just right for an unknown person than I did for family. It felt great.
It was fun. I only had one time my secret Santa didn't send something, and that was a zero credit exchange. It was the bookmarks one, but I was rematched, and my rematch Santa came through, with a really beautiful set of bookmarks that I still have and use.
I also remember one year for the main Christmas exchange, I got someone who was into Journaling and doing crafts with her kids. I was working at Joanns then, and was able to go a little crazy (made good use of my employee discount to afford extra) with some fun journals and stickers for her and some kids craft items for her to do with her kids.
I do givingifts which is nice alt linked to Reddit/quite similar. I miss it too!! I had the VP of eBay one year gift me gifts and I still am not over it
This givingifts, you do this now? I had just fnd out about it the final year and was so upset to learn it was the last year. But I have always wanted to do one. One that people want to do, because they enjoy gifting others, esp when it scratches that creative side of brain.
Money
Im proud of my secret Santa badges. It was a lot of fun. 🎅
This was fun, at least the anticipation was. I’d go overboard (despite not really having the money, in the spirit of making something magical) I loved watching the posts when people got their gifts. However it was very true that some people put in bare minimum effort, or none at all .
That was me, too. I'd definitely go overboard, despite not really having the money to, because I just enjoyed it so much and really wanted the recipient to have a good experience. So far as I know, the only one I really dropped the ball on was a Halloween exchange where my giftee said they were really into spoopy. I had no idea WTF "spoopy" was and thought it was a typo only to learn no, they did not want a bunch of cute Snoopy Halloween stuff. I could tell they were really bummed, too. I felt awful, because I really tried hard to make it super cute & cool. Oh well.
The only negative experience I had was that my Santa glitter bombed me one year. That shit was everywhere in my home for a long time.
Wow.
Harsh
What an AH.
Cos most of the people involved sucked absolute dick.
Signed up for recieving the free gift, not the giving side
I participated once. Sent a gift but never received one myself.
I did it I think 3 years? Two were ok but the last one, the giver spaced and worked really really hard to make up for it, to the point of (if I recall correctly) putting it in my mailbox while I was at work. After all that buildup about making sure I get it on time and all the back and forth, all it was was like a cheap guitar pick with a band logo on it. I double checked the mailbox to see if I missed something but no. Just chucked it in the garbage and felt a little creeped out so much effort went in to a really inconsequential gift.
I always put that I wanted to experience where they lived and their culture. Like maybe there's a gem of a jam shop in your city that people rant and rave about.
I got paired with someone from New Orleans and they sent me a box of southern snacks (I still have a bad of crawdad chips I am too scared to try 😂). They also included a family gumbo recipe that was passed down with many of the dry good ingredients to make it!
I did an international one and the person who got me was from Australia! I remember her strangely telling me they didn’t have cheese popcorn there (something I said I liked lol) I got someone in New Zealand who happened to be a big Mac Miller fan and I lived near Pittsburgh and I hooked up this person with some locals only merch, they lost their mind
I did an international one and I can't remember what country the person I got was in, Poland I think, and I think my entire package was confiscated by that country's customs. I think the person reported me for not gifting, but obviously I had proof of shipment. That was a bummer though.
I miss this aswell! Good times!
I use my s’more sticks at every Cub Scout campout. Never even knew telescoping sticks existed.
I still have my coloring books and 3D printed Pencil and Pen holder, and for my second year my blanket and my snoop dogg cookbook I too miss secret Santa for Reddit 🥺
Secret Santa was so great. I still use one of my gifts every day.
I still use the best boss mug I got!
I have my Guinness World Record from participating in 2011.
I LOVED doing this. I believe Reddit stopped because SO MANY PEOPLE signed up and then DIDN'T SEND A GIFT. Yes - there were "Secret Santas" that were suppose to step in when that happened, but even those people flaked on the event. I know this because I was "burnt" several times in the gift exchange - even by the "Secret Santa" that was suppose to pickup where "Santa" left off. It was a bit disheartening, but I still signed up that next year. I loved picking out cool gifts. Recall one year I got a fella that was disabled and took care of his momma. I gifted him a VISA gift card to help them. FELT GREAT!
No, it was because the program cost them money to run and as they were trying to become profitable, they saw little advantage in keeping it around.
Check out r/givingifts
profit margins
I still have the paintings hanging up on my wall. And the dog toys a kind secret santa gave me. He since passed on so I can't bear to part with them as it's a double good memory. Secret Santa was always lit for me.
Involved in the last 5 I believe. Miss it too.
Because people
They were probably tired of dealing with the administrative burden around this, especially concerning people who didn’t send. The last year even the person who I rematched that was supposed to gift someone who already sent but didn't receive (they also didn’t send.)
I miss sending people soaps and candies! I got some cool squid and cuttlefish paintings from this 🎶
I'm sad my family decided to purposely toss them.. 😔
I have a hammock I use all the time from my first gifts. I have a custom painting that I adore. Reddit Gifts was a great connection to random other people and I will always miss it
Ah I miss this! I had great gifts from my gifters and I went all out on my people I got. (Can't help it giving gifts is my love language)
After it went down there's the giving gifts subreddit, participated a couple of times but life got hard and haven't been able to participate. That and I keep forgetting.
I have a set of coasters, a T-Rex mug and a dive knife. All of which I use to this day. I miss random strangers being nice.
I literally was going through my photos deleting and making room and ran into a screenshot of my list of badges from secret santa years 😭 one year a total stranger got me a Death of a Family Joker Mask (because that’s my favorite version of The Joker) with the entire comic book collection, valued at the time $50!! THAT’S TOO MUCH!! I still have it and it blows me away people would do this kind of thing.
I loved doing this and put a lot of effort into everything. Only my very last time did the person put effort into me. It meant the world how thoughtful the gift was. I didn't do it to get anything, I really enjoy giving. My I do admit the years I did it prior to that final one got a bit demoralizing. Twice the people I gifted had to be chased down basically to log in and confirm. And they barely wrote anything. I didn't even know if they liked their gifts.
I participated in the last secret Santa. I gave my match a 3D printer for Christmas, and got the nicest thank you note from him.
I ended up getting nothing at Christmas time from the person who matched with me, and just went on about my life. Then sometime in April, I got a package from Poland that must have gone by way of China, with tons of polish candy and other treats. Sadly, by that point secret Santa was shut down and I couldn’t thank the person properly.
So to my match from years ago: if you’re out there, I just want to say thanks.
I still have the gifts, good old days
I loved it but I rarely got a gift back. There were too many scammers.
I still have my tea dipper, coffee strainer (tea and coffee all gone hehe), porcelain vases, tonnes of stickers and a recipe book I got from some of the exchanges. I loved Reddit Gifts and will always be thankful I got to enjoy them for a few years before it died. Extremely grateful it was a global activity as well, I live in Malaysia and enjoyed sending / receiving gifts from Brazil, the US, Canada, Poland, Russia… ❤️❤️❤️ Forever a special place in my heart. TQ RedditGift warriors!
I did two years, and want it back!! 🧐 my second year, my Santa put a little something in for me to smoke…it was delightful! 😉
I loved Reddit gift exchanges and the excitement of getting your match.
I did get screwed at least once but one of the best and most thoughtful gifts I’ve ever gotten was from a Reddit secret Santa. He saw that I’d been active in the SNES subreddit so he programmed a Raspberry Pi with every SNES, NES, and Dreamcast game and sent it with two compatible SNES style controllers and a really thoughtful letter.
I had fun doing some of these but best part was seeing what you sent posted and how happy they were met some lovely people doing it I imagine it's a pain to administer though
Also missing Reddit secret Santa this year so I’ve decided to do one of those “angel tree” things where you pick a tag and buy a child in need a present! Definitely recommend.
I would do so many of these. It's also what probably led to my overall love of secret santa. I try to get everyone to do it during the holiday. It was fun to see what people would come up with. I would go over the top a lot cause I would have so many ideas for my matches most of the time. I still have a lot of gifts I was given. Especially books and comic books. I do miss it dearly.
One year I disclosed a bunch of things i liked- I’m an artist, I’m into anime and goth stuff. They sent me a light up photo of a bicycle. Never figured that out.
I participated twice and didn’t receive my gift both times. The last year I was going to give it another try they stopped doing it.
If it wasnt said, you can still do this -->. https://givin.gifts/exchanges/official
We still do, we just moved to givin.gifts (no longer Reddit backed but it’s really great. I haven’t had people sign up and not send a gift yet. At the end of Reddit gifts that was 90% of sign ups)
I've just found out about https://givin.gifts/ so I'm gonna give it a go to get my reddit gifts fix!
Once upon a time Reddit was a relatively niche community where the majority acted in good faith; at some point that good faith wore thin as the big money investors were severely butthurt at being "burned" too many times.
While there was definitely an uptick of bad faith actors signing up and not sending anything, it was the few big money investors that didn't like the quality of what they got in return that really ended it.
Just came back here to see how much I missed this.
Reddit Gifts collapsed because too many people exploited a trust-based system. Democracy can survive a little of that because it has mixed incentives, but communism can’t. One person abusing shared resources directly steals from everyone, and a number of freeloaders caused total breakdown. Human nature doesn’t magically change even if a system was I believe IMO near perfect.
I hang my gift ornament every year, I was just happy to be able to play.
Only got to do it once but loved it! I also still have the shirt that I received from it till this day.
I got nothing for my last year .... Thanks Grinch 😵
My first and only year I did Secret Santa, I loved my gifts.
I love so many of the gifts I received: I got the coolest Muppets Show sign someone made during the Muppets exchange, a huge collection of someone's scrap yarns (exactly what I asked for) during a yarn exchange, a thoughtful brewery tour of bar glasses for the beer and shot glass exchange...just to name a few. I handmade custom parts of a lot of the gifts I sent, which people seemed to appreciate. I understand why it had to stop, but it was so precious to me.
I miss them so much I still use my gifts I got through them.
Aw I had such a great time with secret santa the first year I did it and then the second year it was an abject failure lol my sent gift got returned back to me as undeliverable even though the address was correct and I never received anything from whomever my Santa was
I miss it too
Some of these exchanges were the best gifts I ever got—- still have most of them. It was a great time
I really miss this. I would ask for just plain ordinary items that I could only get if I lived there. It was amazing to get gifts from people who really kinda took it for granted of all the things that made their area special.
It was an amazing experience.
I think they killed it because it was amazing? Ah probably not. Most likely someone working for Reddit got a crappy gift or nothing and decided to shut it down.
I was kicked off for no reason I could suss out.
Reddit IPO has been in the cards since around the time it stopped. This site is a data farm and advertisement vehicle to the owners, which spits in the face any community elements that existed here in simpler times, that were hard work and not monetarily rewarding. Such is most of the world right now unfortunately.
I managed to participate in the last year this program was active!
Who do we petition, or proposition to get this back? Because I'm down
Good ol days
We did this as a family. Choosing what to send people. I miss it.
Loved the socks exchange. I had so much fun finding gifts and sending them. I think they have stopped because of the people who didn’t send anything. They were there just to get gifts and there was a number of people left without presents.
I lost my reddit secret Santa badges somehow
I had fun with this. The one hometown I did, I sent my person a deep dish pizza, a Chicago flag and some Green River. I told them to make a green river float with some vinalia ice cream.
I'm happy it ended. Too many freeloaders putting zero effort into a gift and expecting to get cool stuff in return.
I just wanted to do it again this year, than I read it that it is no longer on reddit. :(
I always loved participating. I still have a handmade Christmas Ornament from one of my secret Santa’s that I hang on my tree every year and another hand made happy holidays plaque that a different secret Santa made me one year with all my favourite colors and interests (they even included bats). I really treasure all the thoughtful gifts I got over the years. Twice I didn’t get a gift, once a had a rematch Santa and the other time I didn’t but overall it was an amazing experience.
I like gifts
I did it once a few years back wad too late to sign up again and now its gone 🥲
I always feel like shit, I was a real youngin and someone bought me the coolest shit I’ve ever gotten and it made my year especially since I never got gifts when I was young.
Out of the many gifts throughout the years from friends/family, the ones from the Reddit Secret Santa were honestly some of the best and most thoughtful gifts I've ever received. Even became friends with one of my Santas haha.
I did this when it was fun. I received a set of vintage beer glasses and beer steins
Is there any way we can build a petition to bring this back?? This was a memorable experience every year
I miss it too! I still have several gifts from my gifters. I also miss the teacher supply gifting too. Those were my favorites
I did two. One didn’t get a gift and another got an inappropriate gift.
I still have the gifts from my secret Santa's. I didn't know they stopped it! 😞
It got to a point at least for me when I would put a lot of effort in and in return I was getting literal gas station things or I just wouldn’t receive anything so I quit.
I understand that some people didn't play fair when it came to gifting, but, to me, if I didn't get anything, I was fine with that. It's about giving. If I could do well for someone else, then I've done my job. You don't give to expect something in return.
I did it twice and got some cool gifts. But now they raised tarrifs
I did this twice, and it was lots of fun! I still use the cocktail making stuff and travel themed gifts I got. It was nice to do something for a stranger and really not expecting anything in return.
I participated once but the shipping was more expensive than the gift itself and I got a nice 3Ds game in return. I’d join if they ever open up again
I did not participate in this but have participated in similar ones from other sites. Every gift I received was wonderful and still cherished as well
I loved the secret santa but it got sad when people would not mark the gift received
I still have all my gifts from years and years! I love my reddit secret Santa presents. Can it start again?
I miss this so much, I did lots of exchanges over the years and still cherish and use many of the items I received
i loved it so much and looked forward to it every year!!! people from it created r/givingifts and people still do exchanges there btw
My SS the last year of the exchange was so awesome, a million “thank yous” wasn’t enough
I participated every year. Hot sauce was always a big hit.
Ugh, I did it one year and ended up sending a fortune buying gifts and shipping them to Australia (from the US). My secret Santa got me a bunch of junk.
givin.gifts still does it!
I was wondering that the other day. I still use the baking sets.
Is this not a thing anymore? I always want to join in but I am so damn forgetful
It was a good time. I just wish I'd had more warning and understanding about it shutting down so I could have taken screenshots of the postings from the people who got my gifts. I honestly didn't care that much about getting anything. I just loved picking out the gifts for people and sending it to them and waiting for their post.
I still have a lot of my gifts from a while ago. I miss it.
I am a bit late but was very sad when they ended this. I got a guy a Cthulhu game and he absolutely loved it! He sent me a video of himself going nuts over it. I wish I could find that video. It made my day. I remember that some celebrities got involved so you had a chance of getting a famous person as your secret Santa. It was one of the best things about Reddit and they got rid of it. I miss old Reddit so much. I had another account that I started around 2014 I believe.
I miss it - it was the best
These were my favorite gifts to buy and favorite to receive even when it was just a greeting card exchange.
I love that!! I got into funkos from secret Santa here
I was thinking about this the other day, I did it for years. I really miss it too
I always wanted to participate in this but I couldn't because I was too young (as in, not an adult yet but close)
but meh, now when I could…
I got screwed the last year. My SS said it would be late and it never came. 🥲 Still had fun doing it and got to give and receive some cool gifts!
I miss them, too. I still have the cooking tools and cookbooks I received.
omg i was just saying this! i've been doing it since 2019 :(
I only got to do it twice but still use the socks and t-shirt and cookbook I received often!!
I got the best Christmas gift ever from participating years ago. A signed picture of Tim Curry with a certificate of authenticity. They took the time to look through my comment history and did something incredibly thoughtful. I tried to do the same with my fellow. I miss secret Santa.
Not going to lie, I signed up for Secret Santa one year and got my mom🤦♀️ It was absolutely hilarious when her gift didn't show up and I said "oh here" and she opened to see it say Secret Santa 🤣🤣 I miss those days.
First year I started my new job, I took a pay cut. Things were hard and it was during COVID. My secret santa some redditor bless them, made by Christmas. I've never forgotten it. And I've always tried to pay it forward each year for anyone then I can
i still have the gifts i got years ago :’) someone made me a horror-themed cross stitch
They took it off Reddit, but there still is secret Santa. No clue why it was taken off site though
I saw some wonderful things happen during those times. But it feels like we don’t live in that world anymore. Secret Santa History
I am naturally a person that will drive themselves crazy to find THE PERFECT GIFT for someone so loved stalking their old posts to figure out something really special. I remember once getting a blanket made with photos of their dog that had passed away for someone.
I was just thinking about this the other day. Shame the scammers had to ruin it for us
I used to do the Halloween one every year, it was the highlight of the season for me and just when I was financially stable enough to start doing Christmas too they stopped it. Halloween hasn’t felt right since.
I still have my gifts from the last few years! I’d love if they’d restart it.
My Reddit Secret Santa bought me an Avalanches album on vinyl, and it's still one of my favorite records. I miss this shit. :|
I always got trolled or never got anything.
I did it once and received a bag of broken, tarnished costume jewelry. Like someone scooped it out of their junk drawer and mailed it. It was incredibly gross.