Sainsbury's has conducted some research into the trends around secret Santa gifting. A third (33%) of women admit to going over-budget on their workplace Secret Santa, this compares to one in five (20%) of men who do so, with the vast majority of men (70%) sticking steadfastly to the budget.
Secret Santa clearly puts Brits in a merry mood – a third (33%) said novelty items would be the top choice for a colleague. But Glasgow bucked the trend with almost a third (31%) of locals revealing that a boozy gift would be their go-to, which was also the case for Newcastle (27%). When it comes to receiving, food and drink are top of the list for the majority of us – the research reveals that more than half (56%) of us would like to receive gifts of either food or drink this year.
The research also shows that those working in the finance sector are the most generous, with over a third (36%) likely to over-spend, closely followed by retail workers (34%). While the majority of us stick to our allotted budget, some are guilty of underspending – with those working in engineering the most likely to do so. Despite the day job, the least likely to stick to a budget either way were finance workers, 42% of whom admitted they are likely to go either over- or under-budget.
However, for some of us, budget is of no concern at all – half (50%) of us are on the naughty list for admitting to either re-gifting a present we have previously received or using something from our cupboards for the office Secret Santa. Those who work in IT are the thriftiest, with 73% saying they have re-gifted something from the cupboard.
Rona Olds, Head of Buying & Design Home at Sainsbury’s commented, "We’re a nation that loves to treat those around us at Christmas time, whether family, friends or colleagues. Novelty items, food and drink products are always popular and make great gifts for everyone – that’s why we continue to invest in our range and quality of products to make sure our customers can live well for less and get everything they need from us for a fantastic Christmas.”