Giving and receiving gifts is a part of most peoples’ holiday traditions. Some people who prefer not to get a gift for every single person they know may opt to do a Secret Santa gift exchange.

For secret Santa exchanges, each person involved will draw the name of someone else and will buy a gift for that person only. At the end of the gift exchanges, some people make a game out of guessing who their secret Santa was. 

“I think it’s dumb, but sometimes it can be fun because I have gotten a few good presents from it,” sophomore Kodi Graham said. “I once got a really nice wallet from a secret Santa.”

Sophomore Morgan Essary believes that a Secret Santa exchange is a “fun” take on traditional gift giving.

“Secret Santa can be a fun way to mix up getting people Christmas presents,” Essary said. “There isn’t technically a point, but oh well.”

Others prefer to know who to thank for the presents they get.

“I think that secret Santa is very frustrating,” Mahler said. “I like to know who I got the present from.”

Some students do not like the anonymous exchange’s take on gift-giving.

“I don’t like secret Santa,” sophomore Morgan Veitenheimer said. “It’s a weird and pointless tradition.”

Although a Secret Santa exchange means less presents, the students who take part in them support the anonymity of gift-giving.

“I think that it is a very positive way to spread Christmas cheer anonymously,” sophomore Desiree Biggers said. “It’s nice to make someone feel special.”

The Fellowship Of Christian Athletes is doing a “Holiday Houdini” in which the students give each other words of encouragement anonymously.

“I think that the “Holiday Houdini” is a fun experience,” freshman Davis Mays said.

The FCA has high hopes for the “Holiday Houdini” campaign and hopes it can become a tradition.

“It was really fun to do the “Holiday Houdini” thing,” eighth grader Sadiee Strachan said. “I think it should continue because it’s doing something nice for others without them knowing who it is.”