Day 1: Secret Santa is the key to a stress free Christmas

If your family is anything like ours you will completely relate to the madness that ensues every Christmas when it comes time to buying presents for everyone. I have three brothers, who have 7 kids between them, a sister who has two kids, my parents, my brother and sisters in law, my in laws, grandparents, my sister in law and her partner, not to mention my soon to be husband and our son. It's insane to think about buying something decent for everyone in the family. Apart from being an expensive exercise, who has the time to go shopping for 20+ presents!

One Christmas, as we sat over the 15 $5 gifts we received, it was decided that the following year we would do Secret Santa.

So, the following Christmas we each drew a name out of a hat and that was who we were buying a decent enough present for that year. And it worked a treat! There was no wastage, no unused gifts and just pure joy at buying something useful for someone that didn't break the budget!

Whilst I realise that Christmas is not about gift giving, it is a huge part of the festive season. So why not save some money this year and instigate Secret Santa with your family.


There is a fantastic free website called Eflster that helps you to co-ordinate and manage your Secret Santa!



Visit www.elfster.com to get the ball rolling. Otherwise, a simple name drawn out of a hat will suffice.