It is becoming increasingly popular at Christmas to have a secret santa in offices and large groups to save everyone having to buy a present for everyone. With the current economic people are reluctant to spend a lot on a present, especially in a group of people that aren’t their closest friends. This also leads to the problem of having to buy a present for someone who you don't really know! So here are some ideas of presents you can buy when you have a £10 spending budget:

This is especially useful if your secret santa group is from an office environment. Coming up to New Year every business-woman is going to need a diary to keep track of their important 2010 plans!  If your gift recipient is anything like me and leaves buying a diary until some time in the middle of January, only to end up with a rubbish one, then this every day essential will undoubtedly be much appreciated.

Notebooks are always useful for people with a hectic lifestyle. Everyone writes shopping lists, to-do lists and little reminders to themselves so there will always be a useful for a notebook. If your recipient is a writer of any description then the chances are that they could never have too many notebooks!

Even if you don’t know the person you’re buying for very well, you can easily find out if a scarf is a good thing to buy them without having one of those not-so-subtle conversations; just have a little look when you see them at whether they are wearing one or not. Even if they don’t often wear scarves, there will still surely be some point in the winter when a scarf stops being an accessory and becomes a necessity.

If you don’t know the person you’re buying for very well then this is a good present to go for, since the chances are that whoever it is they are one of those people who like to wash. And if they are not, then this is an even better idea! I had a friend who loved being bought bath stuff, she said that if she got enough for Christmas and her birthday then she wouldn’t have to go out and by shower gel ever!

Possibly not the best idea for a man to buy for a woman, unless she is a particular friend, or you might send the wrong message, but on the whole you can’t go far wrong with jewellery. I always love getting earrings, and I like cheap ones just as much as really expensive ones, so don’t feel like you can’t buy jewellery for under £10. Just check (before you buy earrings) that the person in question does in fact have their ears pierced!

You’d be very unlucky to be buying a present for someone who wasn’t a fan of films. While you’d need to know the person you’re buying for reasonably well to know what genre they’d like, it probably isn’t too difficult to ask one of their friends if you really don’t know.

You can also check out my secret santa gift ideas for men under $15