Why Secret Santa Did A Good Job

You might remember that a little while ago I told you I was taking part in a Secret Santa swap courtesy of MoneySupermarket. I was paired with Sarah from Boo, Roo and Tigger Too!

I’d like to think I’m easy to buy for, well come on I even posted a Dear Santa letter a few weeks ago to make it easy! Now as a working mum I dream of posh nights out with cocktails, good food and grown up conversation. In reality I have a lot of nights-in, I think I’ve become the Queen of nights-in in fact! So when I read Sarah’s card about having a great night in on her I was touched that she had put thought into her gifts and an array of gifts it was too!

I got a Steak Condiments set because I’ve talked a few times about how much I love steak. I have to say it’s one of my favourite things to eat in the whole world. The set included English Mustard, Horseradish Sauce and Cajun hot sauce, all of which I will use in one thing or another. But not for me, I prefer a good old Bearnaise with my beloved steak or no sauce at all to appreciate the meat.

She also sent me some pj’s (she sent a gift receipt in case she didn’t get my size right, but I don’t need it because they are the right size – well done Sarah!) She had clearly read about my dream to be a detective and the ‘Touch of Frost’ mug made me giggle!  As did the vintage detective book which was very thoughtful, I won’t read it, don’t get me started on my slightly odd  feelings about books that have been ‘handled’ by other people. I prefer my Kindle nowadays but I loved the vintage look of the novel. So Sarah did a good job, she had clearly thought a lot about what to buy and what I would like. Thank you Sarah!

So what did I get Sarah? Well I thought very carefully about what to buy, as I said before I spent hours looking at her blog. I thought of a few different gifts:

1st though:  Makeup, because Sarah thinks her eyes are her best feature and I wanted to help her highlight them – but this is a personal gift and I didn’t want to buy a brand that Sarah didn’t like or shades that she didn’t like and I’d be annoyed if someone bought me makeup that I didn’t like. So I discounted that idea.

2nd thought: A cookbook because Sarah features a lot of recipes on her blog – then I thought that as a blogger Sarah possibly does what I do and researches recipes online instead of  using cookbooks. So I discounted that idea too

3rd thought: This was the thought that I wanted to fulfill the most and I’m sorry that I couldn’t make it happen Sarah. I wanted to get something to give Sarah the chance of some much needed and deserved me time. I spent honestly hours looking for either a spa trip or a special afternoon tea in Sarah’s area but I couldn’t get anything within our £25 budget that wouldn’t involve Sarah having to spend money herself. I didn’t want to leave her out of pocket and the only thing I could find that looked just right involved a 120mile round trip!

So in the end after much mumbling and grumbling about not being able to get what I really wanted and much more reading of Sarah’s blog and even googling her name and blog name. I stumbled upon my final idea. I knew that Sarah, like me, is a bit of a Queen of the night-in and in a comment on someone elses blog she mentioned that red wine and chocolates would make for the perfect  night in. So I started looking online and found nice gift sets with one bottle of wine and a box of chocs and yes they looked nice, and yes they are sweet gifts but they didn’t seem good value so I put my thinking cap on. If I bought wine and posted it there were obvious issues to contend with but then I had a brainwave! I managed to get 6 bottles of wine on sale which seemed a way better deal and would of course lend themselves to more than one night in! Or worst case scenario she has lots of wine for cooking! Then I found a nifty discount code and managed to order a small box of choccies to go with the wine. RESULT. Not what I wanted to get but hopefully it’s a present that made Sarah smile and hopefully surprised her too!

Merry Christmas Sarah and family, I hope you had a fabulous time and that the real Santa was kind to you all. Oh and have a glass or two of the plonk for me!

This is part of the MoneySupermarkets Secret Santa challenge, I know I probably won’t win the ipad but hopefully Sarah will for her thoughtful gift!