Man Vows to Not Participate in ‘Expensive’ Secret Santa with ‘Absurd Rules’ — and Now His Family Says He’s a ‘Grinch’

A man objects to exchanging “expensive” gifts this holiday season – and it causes major family drama.

A man explained on Reddit “Am I A——?” forum on Friday, Dec. 6, that this is the second year his older brother Liam has organized a “crazy” Secret Santa gift exchange for a group of about 20 family members.

A Redditor shared that there was “no budget” last year.

“Everyone was obliged to submit a wish list. Deviations are not allowed. Some people went wild with requests – trips to Bali, designer bags, etc,” he wrote. “My recipient, Eliza, had one of those lists and I could only afford a $60 gift card. It didn’t go well. Relegation? Eliza was not happy.”

“The other luxury enumerators were not happy and the whole thing turned into chaos because some lists were followed, some were not,” he continued.

Two men are arguing over Christmas presents (photo).

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This year, the Redditor said his brother added a new rule to the exchange in an attempt to improve the system: Everyone will still make a wish list, but participants will be matched with “matching budgets” — as in “luxury givers with luxury listers.” ”

“Doorknob? If the random draw is not perfect, we would have to reshuffle the names or manually replace them within the group,” he added.

The man said he “put his foot down” because of the “absurd rules”, told his brother that the system was complicated and suggested that they return to a more traditional Secret Santa without a wish list and with a limited budget that would create room for more thoughtful gift-giving.

He also admitted that he ended up accusing his brother of “just trying to pile on the gifts” instead of creating a fun, honest family experience.

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“Liam blew up,” said a Reddit user. “He called me emotional, Scrooge and the Grinch. He even said that I was trying to control everything. I was honestly shocked. To make matters worse, some family members (not coincidentally, luxury seekers) messaged me afterward that I was overreacting in asking Liam to explain himself.”

Christmas presents under the pine tree (photo).

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“At that point I was done,” he continued. “I told everyone that if they don’t see how unreasonable it is to alienate family members who can’t afford these over-the-top lists and Beats headphones, I don’t want to be involved in any way.”

He concluded the post by asking his fellow Redditors if he was “——?” The post – which had already received more than 2,000 comments by December 7 – sparked a lot of discussion among Reddit users, with the vast majority of commenters coming to the man’s defense.

“[Not the a——]”, wrote one commentator. “Half of your family sounds extremely deserving and this is the opposite of the Christmas spirit.”

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“This is like weird extortion,” another user wrote. “If you are so careful with gifts and want expensive things, buy them yourself. NTA. This is a great way to make Christmas toxic.”

Another person noted that the man’s family is losing out — even if they’re technically getting expensive gifts.

“It’s totally reasonable to want a Secret Santa that’s affordable and thoughtful — just because you’re not dropping a grand on a gift doesn’t mean you don’t care,” wrote a Reddit user. “The fact that your family can’t understand it or even have a real conversation about it is wild. Honestly, that’s their loss, because giving meaningful, personal gifts is so much better than simply picking something off the ‘I want an iPhone’ list.”

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Source: HIS Education