Secret Santa gifts for a coworker you barely know.

You pulled a name out of the hat, and it belongs to someone from finance you’ve spoken to twice. You know they drink coffee, probably. You think they have a dog, or maybe that was the other person from finance. And the budget is $25.

That’s the normal Secret Santa situation at work, and it’s why the best office gifts are a bit different from gifts for friends. They need to be useful to almost anyone, nice enough that nobody feels shortchanged and safe enough that nothing gets weird when it’s opened in front of the whole team. The 28 ideas below are grouped by budget and type, with a note on who each one suits. After them there’s a section on running the exchange so it goes smoothly, a list of gifts to steer clear of, and an idea for the one thing everyone can sign together.

Do a little detective work first

Even a minute of looking around gives you more to go on than a guess. Glance at their desk, if you share an office. Is there a plant that’s clearly loved, a water bottle covered in stickers, a pile of notebooks? Scroll back through the team chat to see what they talk about. Ask the person who sits next to them, casually, without making it obvious who you drew.

Say you drew Marcus from IT. You don’t know him, but his teammate mentions he’s always charging his phone off his laptop and complaining the battery is dead by four. Now you have a gift, and it took one conversation by the coffee machine.

If you find nothing at all, go for something edible or something every desk can use. Those are the two safest corners of the list below.

Under $25 and good to eat

Food is the classic office exchange gift for a reason. It gets used up, so it never becomes clutter, and very few people are disappointed by good chocolate. Just check for allergies or dietary rules if the organizer collected them.

1. A box of truffles. A Lindt Lindor truffles gift box is about as safe as a gift gets. It looks like a present without any extra wrapping, and it’s easy to share with the team if they’re that kind of person.
2. Coffee beans from a local roaster. Better than supermarket coffee and more personal than a chain gift card. Ask the shop for something crowd-pleasing, not the experimental single-origin that tastes like grapefruit. If you’re not sure whether they have a grinder, get it ground.
3. A hot chocolate kit. A tin of good cocoa, a bag of marshmallows and a candy cane, tied together with ribbon. It costs very little and looks like you put thought in, which you did.
4. A gift card to the café near the office. If there’s one place half the team goes every morning, this is a gift they’ll use within the week. Put it inside a card so it doesn’t feel like a receipt.
5. A small hot sauce or spice sampler. Good for the person who brings interesting lunches or covers everything in chili flakes. Skip it if you have no idea how they feel about spice.

Under $25 for the desk

These suit the person you know only from work, since work is the one part of their life you’re sure about. They also hold up well in a white elephant, because nearly everyone can find a use for them.

6. Pens that make notes more fun. A 24 pack of Paper Mate Flair pens is a quiet hit with anyone who takes notes by hand or color-codes their calendar. They tend to get borrowed by half the team, which is sort of the point.
7. A desk plant that’s hard to kill. A golden pothos copes with office lighting, long weekends and people who forget it exists. It’s a good pick for a bare desk, and it grows enough that they’ll think of you when they trim it.
8. A lip balm and hand salve set. Office heating in winter dries everyone out. The Burt’s Bees Classics gift set is small, unisex and useful, which matters when you don’t know someone’s taste.
9. A desk calendar or a page-a-day puzzle calendar. Crosswords, sudoku or a daily fact. It gives them a two-minute break every morning for a whole year.
10. A nice card game. A compact game that works for two to six people is great for the coworker who has kids, roommates or a regular game night. It also tends to come back to the office for lunch breaks.
11. Instant film for the office camera. If someone on the team always brings an instant camera to parties, a twin pack of Instax Mini film is a thoughtful pick that shows you noticed. It’s only a good gift if you know they use an Instax Mini, so check before you buy.

Under $25 for home

Some people would rather not add anything to their desk. These go home with them and still feel personal enough for a gift.

12. A seasonal candle. A Yankee Candle in Balsam & Cedar smells like a Christmas tree without being sweet or heavy, so it’s a lot safer than vanilla cupcake. It’s a gift for home, though, so don’t expect them to light it at their desk.
13. Cozy socks. One size fits most, everyone wears them and nobody has too many good pairs. Stick to plain or wintry patterns and skip anything with a slogan.
14. A jigsaw puzzle. A 500 or 1000 piece puzzle with a nice picture is great for the quiet days between Christmas and New Year. It’s also one of the few gifts that suits people of nearly any age.
15. Homemade cookies or fudge. If you bake, a tin of something homemade often goes down better than anything you could buy. Label it with the ingredients so anyone with allergies can check.

Under $50 when the budget is higher

With a bigger limit you can move from small treats to things people use every day. These are worth it when you want the gift to stick around past January.

16. A water bottle they’ll carry everywhere. The Owala FreeSip water bottle has a built-in straw and a spout, and it doesn’t leak in a bag. It suits the coworker who refills a paper cup six times a day, or the one who’s always heading to the gym after work.
17. A portable charger. The INIU 10000mAh power bank is slim enough for a pocket and holds a couple of full phone charges. It’s the Marcus gift from earlier, and it works for anyone with a long commute or a lot of travel for work.
18. A reusable notebook. A Rocketbook Core notebook lets them scan pages to their phone and wipe them clean. It’s a good fit for the person who writes everything down and then loses the paper. It needs erasable pens, and any Pilot FriXion pen works with it, so a spare pack makes a nice add-on.
19. A soft throw blanket. Offices are cold in winter and so are a lot of home offices. A fleece throw in a neutral color is one of those gifts people use every evening without thinking about who gave it to them.
20. A gift box from a local shop. Many bakeries, delis and cheese shops will put together a small box at your budget. It supports a business near the office and feels more personal than anything shipped.

White elephant gifts people will actually steal

In a white elephant or Yankee swap, people pick wrapped gifts and can steal from each other. The best gifts here are the ones that cause a small fight, in a friendly way. Fun and useful beats funny and useless, because someone still has to take it home.

21. A mini waffle maker. The Dash mini waffle maker is the gift that usually gets stolen the most in a swap. It’s small, cheap enough for most limits and makes people laugh when it’s unwrapped. And then someone really wants it.
22. A set of nice mugs. A set of Le Creuset mugs sits at the top of a $50 range, so check the price before you buy. It comes as a set of four, which makes it a good grab for anyone who hosts. It looks generous when unwrapped, and it’s one of the rare mugs nobody minds getting.
23. A giant chocolate bar. Hard to wrap without everyone guessing what it is, and that’s half the fun. It gets passed around the room more than any other gift.
24. A cozy gift bundle. A mug, a packet of hot chocolate and a pair of fuzzy socks, all in one box. Bundles feel like more than the sum of their parts and do well in a swap.
25. A party game for groups. Something quick to learn that works for eight people. If it gets opened and played at the party, it’s done its job before anyone takes it home.

Easy picks for a remote exchange

If half the team is remote, the organizer needs to set a shipping deadline early so nobody unwraps on the call while someone else is still waiting on a box. These avoid the problem.

26. Food delivery credit. Lunch for a day is a nice treat in the week before the holidays, when nobody wants to cook.
27. An e-gift card with a real note. A gift card on its own is fine but forgettable. Add two lines about why you chose it, like “for the bookstore you kept recommending in standup.”
28. Anything above, shipped straight to them. Most of the Amazon picks here can go to their address with a gift message. Ask the organizer for addresses so you don’t have to ask the person and give away the surprise.

How to run the office exchange well

If you’re the one organizing, most of the awkward moments can be headed off before anyone draws a name.

Pick the format first. Secret Santa means everyone buys for one person and the gift is meant for them. White elephant means everyone brings a gift for the pile and the game decides who gets what. They need different gifts, so say clearly which one you’re running.

Set one budget and stick to it. A single number, like “around $25,” works better than a range, because a range quietly turns into a competition. Make it a number the most junior person on the team can manage without thinking twice.

Make it opt-in. Some people don’t celebrate Christmas, some are saving hard, and some just don’t like gift exchanges. Calling it a holiday exchange and letting people sit out without explaining why keeps it friendly. Anyone who skips it should still be welcome at the party.

Collect a few hints. A short form with three questions, like a favorite snack, a hobby and anything to avoid, saves every Santa a lot of guesswork. Ask about allergies there too.

Give a date for everything. When names get drawn, when gifts need to be ready or shipped, when you open them. For remote teams, set the shipping date at least a week before the call.

If your manager joins in, they should follow the same budget as everyone else. A boss who spends three times the limit makes whoever drew them feel bad, and that’s the opposite of the idea.

What to skip

Some gifts go wrong at work more often than you’d expect, mostly because you’re opening them in front of colleagues.

Leave out anything personal, like clothes that need a size, perfume, bath products with strong scents or jewelry. Skip anything that hints at self-improvement, such as diet books, gym gear or a planner for “getting organized.” Alcohol only works if you know for sure they drink, and some offices don’t allow it at all. Crude gag gifts might get a laugh at the party, but they can make someone uncomfortable and they always outlast the joke. Religious or political items are best kept out of a mixed office. And regifted company swag is easy to spot. Everyone got the same branded water bottle at the last offsite.

Add a card the whole team signs

A Secret Santa exchange is one person to one person. A group card is everyone to someone, and that makes it a nice extra on top. Who you make it for depends on your team.

One option is the person who organized the exchange, since they did a lot of work for no gift of their own. Another is the whole team, with everyone writing a line about the year. It’s also a nice way to include anyone who’s on leave or skipped the exchange, so they still hear from everyone. If the team wants to pool a few dollars for the organizer as well, our guide on how to organize a group gift covers how to collect without making it awkward.

Dana, thank you for wrangling 22 people, three time zones and one very stubborn shipping deadline. The exchange was the most fun we had all December, and nobody got a mug they didn’t want. Happy holidays from all of us.

If people need help with wording, our list of Christmas card messages for coworkers has short, warm and funny options to borrow.

You can start a group card on LittleSurprise and drop the link in the same chat where you announced the exchange. Everyone adds a message, photo or GIF without making an account, and the person you’re celebrating opens them one by one. For the organizer, a thank-you card is a good fit, and you can send it the day of the party so it lands with the gifts.