Culture

A Friendly Reminder That NZ Holds A Nationwide Secret Santa And It’s So Pure

Even the Prime Minister takes part.

new zealand secret santa

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It’s nearly Christmas, and you know what that means — it’s time for New Zealand’s nationwide secret santa, the sweetest and purest expression of love and national pride of all time, probably.

And yeah, you heard that right — New Zealand has been holding a nationwide secret santa for the past seven years. People across the country sign up to send another random citizen a lovely anonymous gift, using their recipient’s Twitter account as a guide to work out what they might like. It’s run by NZ Post, and even the Prime Minister takes part. Seriously, here’s a super sweet video of Jacinda Ardern opening her present yesterday:

If you’re wishing you were in on the gift exchange right now, we’ve got the next best thing for you: over the years, it’s become customary for Kiwis to share pictures of the gifts they receive on social media.

The hashtag #NZSecretSanta is honestly the happiest place on the internet right now. It’s great to live vicariously through the hashtag while bemoaning the fact that you live in Australia where the government’s idea of festivity is a Cabinet reshuffle and the national postal service just coordinates extremely harmful polls on whether to support LGBTIQ+ people’s human rights.

But enough on that: back to the heartwarming content of New Zealand’s Secret Santa. See for example, this extraordinary gift, where some random stranger cross-stitched an iconic 50 Cent tweet.

Or this beautiful gift, which featured a gorgeous cloth map of New Zealand, a handbook on disaster survival and a pack of Russian fudge. Honestly, strangers in New Zealand are giving each other better and more elaborate gifts than I’ve been buying for my closest family members.

Are you emotional yet? No? Then check out these kids, who got to open a huge package of customised geeky presents featuring all their favourite fandoms. Their Secret Santa obviously did their homework.

Handmade gifts are a bit of a trend this year actually. Look at all the thought that went into these!

I mean, this one is a custom mug printed with a pic of the recipient’s dog. Look at these pictures of the dog opening it. What could possibly be more delightfully festive?

And while we’re on the topic of wonderful New Zealand animals, please see this memorial mug for Paddles, the First Cat of New Zealand who sadly died earlier this year.

And finally, you may be wondering — if Jacinda Ardern received a gift, does that mean some random New Zealander got a gift from their PM? The answer, friends, is yes — and here it is (she didn’t sign it, but it includes a pin given to world leaders at the APEC economic forum last month, which was a bit of a cheeky tipoff).

Anyway, if you need me today I’ll be getting emotional in the depths of the #NZSecretSanta tag. I highly recommend you spend some time there today.

And Australia Post, if you’re reading this, take note. Maybe 2018 is the year Australia’s national secret santa takes off.