Each participant in the 'Secret Santa' program will prepare gifts for others and also receive gifts from one person in the group. All gift giving and receiving activities take place anonymously.
The first time being a "Santa Claus" giving gifts to strangers, Thuy Trang made her own cookies and chose to buy a pair of gloves and a music box.
Trang's program is called "Secret Santa" with 800 participants. One person has two roles, having to prepare gifts for others (Secret baby - the secret gift recipient), and also receiving gifts from a secret person in the group. All gift giving and receiving activities take place anonymously under the coordination of the Organizing Committee.
Trang said that in addition to preparing gifts, each person will write a handwritten letter to encourage and congratulate the recipient, wishing them a happy Christmas and New Year.
When receiving a message from the organizers that "the recipient has no special interests, let's surprise them", Trang thought of making handmade items with some other items such as music boxes, night lights, gloves printed with Christmas tree and Santa Claus motifs.
"The feeling of giving and receiving a gift and good wishes on Christmas makes me feel warm and less lonely," said the 24-year-old girl in Ha Nam.
This is the fourth year Nguyen Son has participated in the "Secret Santa" program. The 22-year-old man from Hanoi said he enjoys reading letters sent by strangers on Christmas the most. This year, after graduating from university, Son is stressed about his future career direction, so he looks forward to sharing and comforting letters from others.
"The best wishes at the end of the year and the sincere encouragement even though we don't know each other make me feel a little relieved," Son said. He often confides in strangers about his life and experiences through letters every year.
Truc Truc, 25 years old, representative of the organizing committee, said that "Secret Santa" is an initiative of the administrators of the Reddit Vietnam forum with more than 200,000 followers. "Secret Santa" started taking place in 2017, attracting thousands of registrants each year.
"Most of them are young people between 18 and 25 years old. They want to experience a peaceful and meaningful Christmas season when they prepare gifts themselves and receive surprises in return," Truc said.
The program opens for applications every October so people have time to prepare and send gifts before Christmas.
This year, the registration portal opened in less than 20 minutes and the number of participants was full. "Each batch only accepts 800-1,000 people to ensure progress," said a representative of the Organizing Committee.
Truc said that the participants do not know each other, and the information of the giver and recipient is kept confidential. The organizers will send each person a private message with instructions and suggestions on how to prepare a suitable gift for the "secret baby". When the gift arrives, the recipient will post a thank you letter to the group.
Despite being given suggestions on what gifts to give, there were still cases during the event where the recipients were not satisfied. Some even sent gifts but received nothing in return. To comfort the players, the Organizing Committee encouraged them to participate in the spirit of "pay it forward - give to be compensated at another time".
"For the past two years, we have organized events for people to register to meet, open secret gifts and share their feelings. Thanks to that, it also helps young people from all over the country connect with each other and also has couples find love," Truc Truc said.
Minh Chau is studying abroad in Germany but this year she is determined to "hunt" for a place to participate in "Secret Santa". The 21-year-old girl from Hanoi said she prepared a scarf to give to the "Secret baby" in France and received a teddy bear and chocolate from "Secret Santa" in Belgium. The most surprising thing was that she discovered that the person who gave her the gift was a classmate, a few years older in high school.
"From the sender's information on the postcard, I searched and responded to thank them. Having more connections with new friends, I felt happier and warmer when studying abroad," Chau shared.
TB (according to VnExpress)