Wiktionary
n. 1 A Christmas tradition where a group of people give anonymous gifts among the group, with each person only required to give one gift. 2 The person who bought a present for another, in the secret Santa exchange.
Wikipedia
Secret Santa is a Western Christmas tradition in which members of a group or community are randomly assigned a person to whom they anonymously give a gift.
Deriving from the Christian tradition, the ritual is known as Secret Santa in the United States and the United Kingdom; as Kris Kringel or Kris Kindle (Christkindl) in Ireland; as Secret Santa, Kris Kringle, Chris Kindle (Christkindl) or Engerl-Bengerl in parts of Austria; as Secret Santa or Kris Kringle in Canada and Australia; as Secret Santa, Kris Kringle, or Monito-monita in the Philippines; as Angelito in the Dominican Republic; and as "Wichteln" in Germany. "Wichteln" is what a "Wichtel", a wight, does, a good deed. In Poland, the tradition is celebrated on the day of 6 December (Mikołajki). All of these names derive from traditional Christmas gift-bringers: the American custom is named after Santa Claus, or St Nicholas (Poland), while Chris Kindle and Kris Kringle are both corruptions of the original name of the Austrian gift-bringer Christkindl, which means the "Christ Child". Exceptions are the UK (where the traditional gift-bringer is Father Christmas) and the Philippines (which has the Three Kings). Spain and in most places in Latin America use amigo secreto (secret friend) or amigo invisible (invisible friend). In Israel, this game is called גמד וענק (A Dwarf and a Giant) and is mostly played during Purim.
The term Pollyanna is used in Southeastern Pennsylvania and South Jersey.
"Secret Santa" is the 13th episode of the sixth season of the U.S. comedy series The Office and the show's 113th episode overall. It was written by Mindy Kaling and directed by Randall Einhorn. The night the episode premiered, it was immediately followed by an episode of 30 Rock with the same title.
The series—presented as if it were a real documentary—depicts the everyday lives of office employees in the Scranton, Pennsylvania, branch of the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. In this episode, the office throws a Christmas party, and Michael is upset when Jim allows Phyllis to be Santa, since he has always been the one to dress up. Meanwhile, Oscar develops a crush on a new warehouse worker, and Andy's secret Santa gift to Erin - the 12 Days of Christmas, featuring live birds - does not go as well as planned.
"Secret Santa" is the eighth episode of the fourth season of the American television comedy series 30 Rock, and the 66th overall episode of the series. The episode was written by series' creator Tina Fey and directed by Beth McCarthy-Miller. It originally aired on the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) in the United States on December 10, 2009. The episode featured appearances by actors Cheyenne Jackson as Danny Baker, Julianne Moore as Nancy Donovan, and Larry Wilcox playing himself.
The episode centered on a gift-giving contest between Liz Lemon ( Tina Fey) and Jack Donaghy ( Alec Baldwin), Jenna Maroney's ( Jane Krakowski) jealousy over new TGS with Tracy Jordan cast member Danny Baker's (Jackson) singing skills, and the writers— Frank Rossitano ( Judah Friedlander), James "Toofer" Spurlock ( Keith Powell), and J. D. Lutz ( John Lutz)—coming up with a fake religion to get out of NBC page Kenneth Parcell's ( Jack McBrayer) "Secret Santa" scheme.
Critical reception of the episode was generally less than favorable. According to the Nielsen ratings system, "Secret Santa" was watched by 7.54 million households during its original broadcast. The night the episode premiered, it was immediately preceded by an episode of The Office with the same title.
Usage examples of "secret santa".
I gave them an hour to blow off the steam, do the Secret Santa crap.
Victor Johnson was there and even though I found it disgusting that Rupert Guest and him had given Tim's Secret Santa a vial of semen and a douchebag and were getting a kick out of seeing Gerri Robinson crying in the bathroom after she opened it, I still couldn't help flirt with Victor and we shared a joint and he kept asking me where Jaime Fields was.