Is a £10 Secret Santa limit tight?

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See it as it's framed

Our note

On 27 October, the British Retail Consortium said non-food shop prices were 1.7% higher than a year earlier. For an office Secret Santa, the agreed spending limit is the figure that matters to the group.

In a 2024 instantprint survey of 1,000 UK office workers, 48% said they spent £5 to £10 on a Secret Santa gift. Almost a third, 31%, said they would not take part at all. An older 2021 Mastercard survey of 2,000 adults who had taken part in the previous three years found average spending of £12.16. The surveys cover different groups and years, and the office's own arrangement still matters.

Debrett's treats a budget as approximate. It uses a tenner as its example, says a little overspending is fine, and warns against spending twice the budget. I would weigh the agreed limit and the pressure people feel to join in alongside the price of the gift itself.

What's a fair amount? A Secret Santa limit: what published surveys found and what readers said at other amounts.