On the first day of Christmas, my Secret Santa gave to me: a little key chain and some jewelry.

At least, that's what Lindsey Serres could sing after the annual Secret Santa gift exchange at Headlines Academy.

Serres, a student at the beauty school, had a pretty good idea who held her name in the 10-day gift-giving game, even though the identity of each student's "Santa" was supposed to be a secret until the group's big Christmas party last Thursday.

The secrets were pretty much out among the Headlines students, who exchanged a small gift each day or every other day during the first 10 days of December. On Dec. 10, the students held their Christmas party, where they revealed their identities to their gift recipients with a larger present.

"I think it's fun because we know who we have and who has us," said student Amanda Bauhs.

Keeping the secret was tricky, especially when the students all work in the same area all day. Hiding a gift on someone's work station without getting caught was nearly impossible, Bauhs said.

"It's kind of hard to put something on each other's stations when we're here every day," she said.

But knowing the identity of her Santa hasn't taken any of the fun out of the exchange, said Bauhs, who received a scrapbook and hair spray from her Santa.

"It would just bother me more (if I didn't know)," she said.

Headlines has done a staff and student gift exchange for the past four or five years, said owner Peggy Sproat. The staff members will continue to exchange small daily gifts until their Christmas party on Dec. 23. They hide their gifts in stockings hanging in the building, so they are a little better about keeping their identities secret.

"You're always trying to figure out who's got who," Sproat said. "They've got stockings out to put stuff inside, so you're always looking out to see who's out in the hallway."

Instructor Dana Hoffman wasn't sure who her Secret Santa was, and was trying not to give it too much thought and spoil the surprise.

So far, Hoffman has received candy and a shot glass inside her stocking, among other small presents.

The tradition is fun and helps staff and students bond with each other, Sproat said.

"(The fun) is in that secret … putting strange things in their stockings and making people wonder who it is," she said.

Many area groups hold gift exchanges and Secret Santa-style giving around the holiday season. Among them is the Society of Economic Geologists at South Dakota School of Mines & Technology.

Each year, the club of geology students exchanges what the group is most passionate about: rocks.

Brandon Lampe, a senior in geological engineering, said the Christmas rock exchange is a tradition in the club, which has about 15 to 20 members who participate.

Through the year, as students travel or participate in internships and jobs across the globe, they collect rocks from their journeys, Lampe said. They try to find specimens that are unique to the area they were working and then bring them to the exchange.

"It's just a gesture of the gift, I suppose, in the Christmas spirit of things," Lampe said. "It's a chance for people to get rocks from crazy places all over the world."

Rocks have come from Turkey, Alaska, Nevada and Chile, he said.

Over his four years with the group, Lampe has collected fluorite, gypsum and serpentine rocks in the exchange.

The School of Mines student government group also does a Secret Santa exchange, said president Marcus Bartlett, a senior studying industrial engineering.

The group sets a $15 limit on the gifts, which were exchanged at the Student Association's last meeting of the year.

The association always has some sort of gift exchange, Bartlett said, but the style varies from year to year. Last year, everyone brought a wrapped gift and then drew numbers to pick a present, he said. This year, people drew a name of another member and bought a present for them specifically.

"In general, everyone has fun with it," Bartlett said. "Sometimes you get a person that's hard to buy for. It's really kind of light-hearted; you don't have to put a lot of thought in to it."

Contact Savannah Cummings at 394-8434 or savannah.cummings@rapidcityjournal.com.