For Reddit, 2012 has been a banner year, with highlights including a live question and answer session with Barack Obama at the height of the election battle and a whopping 3.8bn page views in October, not to mention one significant trolling scandal.

But all this may pale by comparison with the site's latest achievement – smashing its own previous world record for the largest "secret Santa" ever held.

Redditgifts.com harnesses Reddit's greatest strength: a critical mass of people, many of whom are longtime users of the site.

In 2011, 30,250 of them from 115 countries took part in the exchange, earning the site a place in Guinness Book of World Records. To put that in context, the previous holder of the record was the ITV television network in the UK with 1,562 participants.

But this year, as Reddit moves further into mainstream public view, the secret Santa has exploded, with 59,742 people from 125 countries signed up to participate in the gift exchange.

On the secret Santa message board, known to redditors and 'redditgiftors' alike as a subreddit, participants are swapping trinkets, including Tardis cookie jars, Mythbusters DVDs and customized coffee mugs.

And, unlike traditional Christmas, bland tube socks or ill-fitting wool sweaters won't pass muster in redditgifts (unless, of course, either is a specific interest of the recipient). On Reddit, the rule seems to be the more thoughtful, the better. Redditor ZineZ, who mentioned his love of books to his 'SS', received a Kindle with the accompanying message: "I wasn't sure if a book would be enough, so I give you all the books in the world. Enjoy". Another user received a miniature bonsai tree, a childhood wish.

A map shows that users on six continents are participating in the exchange, including two in Tehran and 192 in New Orleans. According to Santa statistics, redditgiftors have spent $695,354.97 in gifts, with a median gift price of $23.98. The maximum amount spent, shipping included, has been $2,864.98 – no word if that amount was spent on one of the number of laptops spotted by this writer, or the slab of bacon that was the size of one redditor's torso.

If any redditors missed the secret Santa deadline, redditgifts has created a marketplace where users can peddle such wares as Reddit stickers, vanilla almond soaps and actual "awesome sauce" (which, as it turns out, has a hot garlic flavor).