What do you do if you’ve looked up what your Secret Santa recipient and you can’t make heads or tails of what they want. S/he requested (as an example) something specific, but I don’t know what it is.
Probably, I’ll take my best guess and get them something along those lines (I have a fair idea of the typeof thing it is), but I’d like to know if anyone else is having this problem.
Google it and see what you get, besides porn.
I can’t speak for everyone, but I suspect that many people would agree with me when I say my wish list was just a guideline, offered if the giver was utterly stumped. I wouldn’t care if my Secret Santa got something else entirely.
If my own Secret Santa is reading, I’ll also remind him/her that large amounts of cash are always welcome chez Cranky (albeit this bends the rules a bit)
I know exactly how you feel. We have a secret santa every year at work, where the employees age from 15-70. Its very hard to find a gift when you know nothing about them. the best thing to get this kind of person is a gift cetificate to the local mall. Or if you have an idea but aren’t sure that they will like it, make sure that the place where you bought the item is clearly marked somewhere so they could easily exchange it.
Good luck
Personally, I just like getting gifts, and as long as I can open it in front of my 16 y/o daughter and not have to ship her off to a convent afterwards… It’s s’posed to be fun, right?? Have fun with it!! Have as much fun as you can with $10! That’s what I plan to do for my giftee! 
I’ve already said that if anyone gets me a cutesy-wootsey little Hallmark Keepsake ornament I’m going to burn it. Other than that, I just think the concept is sort of neat, and I’ve only done a secret Santa thing once in my life (in college…ew ew ew), so I thought it’d be fun.
Fortunately, though I’m forcing mine to have to actually THINK, my recipient was reasonably specific, so s/he will be easy to buy for.
wicked cackle
Well, my recipient didn’t even post in the Secret Santa wish list thread. So I’m really flying blind.
Do a search on their name to get an idea of their personality.
Mine hasn’t posted to that thread(yet), but I have a reasonably good idea of what his or her personality is, so he/she should think the item that I am getting is pretty cool.
When we have Secret Santa at our workplace, I buy a christmas ornament that can be hung on the christmas tree, or placed on a tabletop. A single ornament rarely costs over ten dollars and is a reasonably good gift. I do it because for me it’s a no-brainer gift.
galen ubal
One thing you could do is email me and any other person (assuming that it has to do with the SDMB Secret Santa thing) that isn’t a part of it to see if someone else can help you out.
You can email me if you’d like, just put SDMB in the subject line and I will see if I can come up with a small idea of what the person is saying. Ou don’t have to tell me who it is, if it is a post, I haven’t read the thread because I am not part of it, and I promise not to say anything.
Sometimes, two or more heads are better than one. 
I dunno what to get my person either. 
I’m going to have to keep reading past posts I guess…
You know, it’s kind of interesting that my first successful thread is “help! I’m clueless.”
Thanks for all your suggestions. I certainly got some interesting hits on google, though none of them useful in this particular case (I hope!).
techchick68, thank you for the kind offer. Fortunately, I’ve got a line on somebody who knows the recipient, though they don’t know what the item is either! It seems I was correct on the style of item, anyway.
alice, if your recipient is interested in women, I know what they’d like. 
Thanks, folks!