Name: Secret Santa 2025
Start: 2025-12-13T10:00:00-05:00
Location: 112 Kilmayne Drive, Cary, NC

Welcome to Hangar 18’s 1st Secret Santa!
For those of you who know me from the GW store, then you know I’ve been running Secret Santa for nearly a decade now - and I’m incredibly hyped to bring it here! This is a HUGE event (the last one I ran was 211 participants!), and a ton of fun. Not to mention it makes holiday gift buying even easier when you send your friends and family to see your wishlist here at Hangar 18!
How it works:
- This kicks off on Saturday, Nov. 1st, and you can join anytime through Friday, Dec. 12th.
- On Saturday, Dec. 13th we start passing out presents! (There’s also a big party on this day - see below for more details)
- Participants fill out a wish list (this list will also include your first name, last name, and telephone number) of items they’d like from Hangar 18 (these can be in store items or order-able items through H18). At least 1/2 of the list needs to be products usually available in store - just in case a list is pulled too late to get ordered items in store in time!
- All participants MUST include at least 30 items on their list! 10 of which must be $30 or less. Wish away! You never know who is going to pull your list, but family loves it when you have ‘stocking stuffers’ and other lower-cost items on your list. Not to mention, Secret Santa participants often like the option to possibly throw in that little bit extra simply because it wasn’t too much more!
- When participants are ready to make purchases they come in and randomly select someone’s wishlist. (Note: wishlists do not leave the store!) Then participants spend a minimum of $70 (before tax) purchasing items from the list.
- And that’s it! From that point, we take over, wrapping ALL the Secret Santa gifts, and nothing leaves the store until participants collect their gifts beginning Saturday, Dec. 13th!
- At 10am on Saturday, Dec. 13th, we’ll open the store and host a massive Christmas party! We’ll have hot chocolate and treats throughout the day (while supplies last!), and we’ll be packing 80+ people in the paint/gunpla room to kick off passing out presents! If you can’t make it to the party (or don’t want to be that close to people 😂), then simply come in a little later to collect your gift(s), and we’ll hold presents for up to 1 month (Jan. 13th).
- Beginning around Dec. 1st, we’ll be calling participants to see if they plan on attending the 10am party kick off on Dec. 13th. That way we’ll have all presents for those present ready to go, and another table prepped for people who will be coming later. This just makes the whole process far more streamlined!
- Participants also have up to 1 month (Jan. 13) to exchange any Secret Santa gifts they receive. So, should you get something you impulsively bought already (we’ve all been there!), or grandma gets you the same thing (that’s why you send friends/family to Hangar 18 to see your list!) then you’re able to get something else you still want. Simply exchange for an item, or items, or equal or greater value, and you’ll just have to pay the difference on the latter.
EXCITING EXTRA:
- ‘Secret Elves’
- Secret Elves are especially wonderful people who help ensure that EVERYONE has a great Secret Santa experience. ANYONE can be a Secret Elf, and the usual ways are as follows:
- You don’t wish to receive any gifts but you would like to purchase a gift, or gifts, for 1 or more people who are under the monetary average people are spending on each other.
- You have already purchased gifts for someone and you’d like to help out someone else, by doing something extra for someone below the monetary average people are spending on each other.
- There is no list left to draw! Some generous people like to pull multiple lists during the time frame, which leaves people at the end without a single list from which to purchase gifts - these people automatically become Secret Elves, and can spend their budget on one list, or spread across multiple!