Top 5 Secret Santa Sites to Give Back and Save Money (original) (raw)

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As Thanksgiving nears many may notice the holiday decorations going up at malls, shopping centers, and around neighborhoods everywhere. And with that comes thoughts of gift exchanges, Secret Santas, and Yankee swaps sweeping over the office cubicles, playgroups, and book clubs.

Gone are the days of yore when the person in charge of the said gift exchange had to keep meticulous records and notes carefully hidden from all the participants. Just like Fantasy Football, Secret Santas can now be organized online, too.

Gift exchanges used to be purely for fun, but now those pinching their pennies are using the Secret Santa as a way to save money. Rather than get a gift for everyone in your family, which for some people can be in the double digits, a gift exchange retains the spirit of giving on a much smaller scale. An added bonus? If you only have one person to shop for and therefore spend less overall, you can spend more time and thought on the actual gift itself.

With so many in need around the world, another great way to leverage the Secret Santa concept while giving back is to donate money to a charity in the gift recipient's name. But don't just pick a random charity, think about the gift recipient's interests and passions and let that guide your charity choice.

Charitable Secret Santa

Great tools to search different charities online are:

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Charity Navigator - At this comprehensive site you can search for foundations by the charity's name or keyword. Or you can browse by categories including Animals, Education, and Environment. As you search, you can save the charities that look interesting to narrow down your choices for the ultimate gift. The gift that keeps on giving. Activists and good samaritans alike will appreciate the ease of use and information all in one place. Those who want to know exactly where their money is going will appreciate the pie charts that illustrate just that.

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Just Give - Touts itself as THE destination for charitable online giving. Like Charity Navigator, Just Give lets users search by category, key word, and charity name. Just Give goes a step further though with its inspiring stories of both adults and kids that give back. If you're someone that is on the fence because you consider shopping half the fun of the holidays, Just Give offers what you're craving. With a Just Give gift guide and holiday collections, any shopper will be satisfied. For those who are notorious for giving gift cards, you can give the gift of charity with Just Give's gift cards as well.

Organizing Your Secret Santa

Whether you're giving something tangible or something charitable, the following tools will aid with planning, organizing and executing the gift exchange methods of your choice:

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SecretSanta.com - A great tool for managing gift exchanges for both small and large groups. Are you the lucky intern that's been tasked with organizing your entire office's gift exchange? Not only does SecretSanta.com explain the nuts and bolts of what the Secret Santa, Yankee Swap, and White Elephant gift exchanges are, the site also offers step-by-step instructions for creating and managing the event, as well as creating the guest list.

Users can even save their gift exchanges year after year and set rules for the exchange so that if needed, certain people won't draw each other's names. (Handy if you were secretly dating that guy on the second floor and have since married the boss). SecretSanta.com is free to use.

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Swap-Bot.com - A site not specifically designed for Secret Santa gift exchanges, however, it's a handy tool that one can use to organize one. Swap-Bot.com is ideal for virtual groups or forums that would like to do a gift exchange since it's set up to allow members of the "swap" to send items through the mail.

Other features include setting price limits on items and a rating system. Don't have a group, but want to be part of a gift exchange anyway? At Swap-Bot.com you can sign up to participate in all kinds of swaps in different categories. Many of the open swaps are craft-related. Swap-Bot.com is also free.

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Elfster.com - Probably the most sophisticated of the three, Elfster offers many ways to set up a gift exchange. Even those people who don't have an email address can participate via Elfster. In addition to setting up the Secret Santa gift exchange, Elfster also offers tips & tricks for managing the exchanges for online communities, offices, and even Facebook groups and friends list. This is done via a simple sign-up link you can share with those you'd like to invite. Elfster also offers the security of restricting who can view the participants' emails and how the participant Q & A is handled.

Jessica Smith has successfully brought her 8 years of marketing and business development experience home with her, literally. She is Chief Mom Advisor and the woman behind the idea for MomForce.com, Chief Mom Officer for Wishpot.com, and works with big brands including Walmart and Ford. Jessica offers a personal glimpse into her life as a mom and virtual executive at JessicaKnows.com. Her specialties include creating buzz and community for companies that target moms through new media. She has also been recently tapped as one of the 50 Most Influential and Powerful Women in Social Media as #23. Jessica enjoys the best of both worlds, motherhood and career, at home in the DC Metro area with her husband and young son. You can find her on Twitter as @jessicaknows.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, shapecharge

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