It all began with the Secret Santa game, but due to some technical glitches—well, to be honest, due to my illness—I was not able to make it happen on time. But that never stopped my spirits. I put a twist on Secret Santa and turned it into a New Year Secret Buddy. Now, instead of ending the year with gifts and laughter, we began a whole new year with it. Last year, we wrapped up the year with a Secret Santa game, and if you’re curious, you can read all about it here: Our Secret Santa Tale.
Before I proceed any further, let me tell you something about how it went down. There are some twists that you’d never even see coming, and believe me, when you read it, you are going to have stomach pain for hours just laughing at it.
Fixing (and Moving) the Big Reveal Date
While all of this was happening, we also had to fix a date for the big reveal. Initially, we had planned it for January 6. However, due to the unavailability of most of the team members, we later moved it to January 8. It felt a little ironic, given how the entire game itself was already running a little late—but by then, we had accepted that timing was clearly not going to be our strongest point this year.
The “Happy Memory from 2025” Twist
When I announced the big reveal date, I also added one small request. Along with revealing who their secret buddy was and the gift they received, everyone had to share one happy memory from 2025. The idea was simple—if we were starting the year with gifts, we might as well start it with some good memories too. Little did I know that this would add another emotional layer to what was already turning out to be a very eventful game.
Assigning Buddies
We wanted to be impartial, and so we decided that instead of people picking other people, we let the algorithm do the honors. We used the same site, drawnames.in, for this game. It basically has it all—assigning buddies, choosing the gifts, adding the postal address, and even anonymously assigning tasks to your buddies can be done using the site.
The only tweak I did this year was to make sure to apply a rule stating that whoever got assigned last year was not assigned the same people again. These are the names drawn by each member.
Address confirmation
There were some minor changes made to the site, and it made it a little tricky for me to set it up. The main challenge was that last year, adding the postal address on the site was a default field, but this year it had to be enabled—which, ironically, I only found out after it was too late. So, I sent out an email asking everyone to confirm the addresses where they wanted their gifts delivered. Once everybody did, I consolidated them and shared them with the team in the same email thread.
The Wishlist
Another thing about this website is that we can add items to our wishlist, and our secret buddy can order from it. So while we were all sharing our addresses with our buddies to send gifts, we were also filling our wishlists with items. Well, most of us had around 3–4 items, while Geetha was determined to get a portable iron box and added only that. Meanwhile, Prithi added 14–16 items like it was a grocery list, as Sandeep pointed out during the big reveal call—and we all had a good laugh about it too.
Orders were made and gifts were delivered
Once the addresses and the wishlist were confirmed, we all started placing orders. Now, all the fun begins here. Sainath was one of the first people to receive his gift from his secret buddy. This trickster blasted out an email informing everyone, specifically seeking his secret buddy, that he was thankful for the gift, but the product was defective. Every one of us was panicking after seeing the email, but it made his secret buddy even more worried—so much so that he called Sainath to check.
Now, Sainath, even before the big reveal, knew that Mahesh was his secret buddy.
Later that day, when I called Sainath to check on the situation, that was when he told me that it was a prank meant for Mahesh, and the rest of the team getting punked was just an added bonus for him. Such a devious guy he is. Don’t you think so?
I Don’t Know What to Do
Now it was Umayal’s turn to panic. As you all know, she had drawn Sandeep’s name, but he was going out of town on a vacation. Umayal, who was worried about the delivery, called me and asked, “What do I do if the person I am supposed to send the gift to is out of town?”
This was funny to me because I already knew who she had drawn, as I had confirmed with everyone that we didn’t have any duplicates. But she is a task-oriented person, and she was laser-focused on ordering the gift; she forgot all about it. So, to put her at ease, I just rang Sandeep and confirmed that his gift delivery would be collected.
His buddy was his buddy
Now, it was Mahesh’s turn. The poor guy, who had already gotten pranked by his assigned buddy, was about to get tricked again. Turns out his actual buddy, Abhigyan, was also his secret buddy.
Recently, Mahesh had moved to a new place, and because this new place was remote, his delivery would have been delayed. So Abhi gave me a call and asked me how we could resolve this. I then contacted Mahesh, and without revealing who his buddy was, I told him the situation. Immediately, he said, “Ask my secret buddy to send the gift to Abhi, and I can collect it from him later. Just make sure Abhi knows.”
I was out of words because I definitely didn’t see it coming. So I mumbled the words and told him, “Yes, I will inform Abhi that your secret buddy will order your gift to his address,” and disconnected the call.
I quickly called Abhi and told him, and we both thought it was so funny that we started laughing. We also said that this was going to be one of the most epic reveals in history. Little did we know that someone else was going to surprise us.
When the Wishlist Worked Perfectly
Abhi’s wife was planning to order a watch holder box for him. However, Abhi asked her to wait, mentioning that a watch was one of the items on his wishlist for the New Year Buddy game. As luck would have it, Prithi ended up ordering the watch box for Abhi. When he received his gift from Prithi, it felt like one of those moments where everything worked out perfectly without anyone planning it that way.
Oopsie Daisy Kousi
As the big reveal day was nearing, everyone was receiving their gifts. It was then that I received a call from Kousi—and that too on one of my “off” days. She told me that she and her family had to go out of town and that if her secret buddy had ordered her gift, she would not be there to receive it. But unfortunately, it was too late. By the time I called her secret buddy, Ankita, she had already placed the order, and Kousi had already left town. Oopsie daisy…
Finally — The Big Reveal
Finally, the day we had all been waiting for arrived—the big reveal. After moving the date once and surviving all the twists along the way, we gathered on a zoom call at 2 pm in the afternoon on January 8, excited, curious, and more than ready to see how everything had played out.
One by one, everyone revealed who their secret buddy was and the gift they had received. There was laughter, disbelief, and a lot of “Ohhh, now it makes sense” moments. Some of the coincidences were so unexpected that even the explanations sounded unbelievable at first. The pranks, the delivery mishaps, and the accidental hints suddenly all fell into place.
A couple of us, including myself, still didn’t know how to place an order through Amazon without adding our own billing address. It was a dead giveaway and ruined the surprise for our assigned buddies.
The Big-Twisted Reveal
Remember that earlier I had hinted about the biggest reveal of all—it is now time to tell you what it is. I would call this the mother of all big reveals. Unni was revealing to the team whose name he had picked and even informed everyone that he had ordered a bag for Umayal. It was then that Umayal informed us that she had never received the gift.
While we were all trying to figure out what we should do, suddenly, Unni called out my name and said, “Annya, remember last year, you ordered the gift to my assigned person because I didn’t have an Amazon account? I think you may have to order on my behalf this year. I think I didn’t order the gift to Umayal.”
The whole team squealed, laughing at the entire scenario. Wait—do I hear a squeal from you too? I can see you…
After a few minutes of laughter, I agreed to order the gift and informed Umayal to check in with me about it. I also connected with Unni after the call and placed the order for the gift he had originally intended to send.
And Then Came the Memories
Everyone’s gifts and buddies had been revealed, and for the final moment of the call, I asked the team to share their happy memories from 2025. What followed was something far more meaningful than I had expected. We heard about new homeowners and new car owners, milestones that marked years of hard work paying off. Geetha shared how she had been invited as a judge for an event at her daughter’s school—an absolute honor and a moment of pride. Sanjitha expressed her gratitude for her job, and many others shared moments that mattered deeply to them.
Listening to these stories, it became clear that the game had turned into something more than just a gift exchange. It reminded us that behind deadlines, calls, and daily work, everyone is quietly building a life filled with milestones, gratitude, and growth. We ended the call not just with laughter, but with a sense of appreciation for how far we had all come—making it a perfect way to step into a new year together.
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