Secret Santa Gift Ideas That Don't End Up in the Bin (Plus What to Get Your Best Friend)

Every December the same thing happens. Someone draws your name out of a hat, panics, and buys you a mug that says "World's Okayest Coworker". You say thanks. It lives on your desk for a week and then it lives in the bin. So this is my list of Secret Santa gift ideas that people actually keep, plus a section at the end for your best friend, because that's a different job and a slightly bigger budget.

Quick note if you're in Australia or New Zealand: half of you call it Kris Kringle, not Secret Santa. Same thing. Names in a hat, a price limit, one gift each.

The bin test

Before you buy anything, ask yourself two things. Will they use it up? Or will they use it every week? If the answer to both is no, it's going in the bin, or the regift drawer, which is just a bin with extra steps.

That's it. That's the whole rule. Food passes. A good pen passes. A candle with a joke on it fails, sorry. A tiny plastic desk toy fails hard.

It sounds harsh but it takes the pressure off, honestly. You don't need a clever gift. You need a useful one or a delicious one.

Secret Santa at work (when you barely know them)

This is the hard one. You've drawn the guy from accounts you've spoken to twice, there's a price limit, and you've got until Friday. Here's what I'd do.

• The nicer version of something everyone uses. Good coffee beans or a bag of the fancy loose leaf tea. A proper hot sauce. A really nice hand cream. Nobody buys themselves the expensive version of the boring thing, which is exactly why it's a good gift.
• A deck of cards with a game written inside. Any deck. Write the rules of one easy game on a card and tuck it in the box. It's cheap and it gets played over the Christmas break. I've got a list of card games for Christmas Day if you need one to write down (Spoons is the one I'd pick).
• Chocolate from somewhere specific. Not a supermarket box. A small shop near you, or a bar from the town they grew up in if you know it. Gets eaten. Passes the test.
• Something for their car or their bag. A phone holder for the car, a little power bank, a decent keyring with a bottle opener. Dull, yes. Used every single day, also yes.
• Scratchies, if that's your office's thing. Very Aussie and Kiwi. It's basically a gift and a game at the same time and nobody's ever thrown one out without scratching it first.

A desk plant gets mentioned in every list I read. I'd only do it if you know they've got a window. Otherwise it's a slow, sad gift.

What I'd skip at work

Novelty mugs, obviously. Anything rude (it's funny for ten seconds and then someone's manager sees it). Smelly stuff like perfume or body spray, because picking someone's scent is a gamble even when you know them well. And joke gifts about someone's age, weight or hair. Just don't.

Where the price limit is low

Most Secret Santas have a limit around 20 to 30 in whatever your currency is. That's fine. It's actually easier, because nobody expects anything big.

And I'll be upfront here: our photo decks cost more than most Secret Santa limits. So I'm not going to tell you to buy one for the person you drew at work. That'd be silly. If your office wants to do something different this year though, there's an option I like better than Secret Santa anyway (keep reading).

Make Secret Santa a game instead

The easiest way to stop Secret Santa gifts ending up in the bin is to stop caring so much about the gifts. Sounds backwards. Hear me out.

Run it as a swap game. Some people call it a Yankee swap or Dirty Santa or a white elephant, and it goes like this. Everyone brings one wrapped gift under the limit. You draw numbers. Number 1 opens a gift. Number 2 can either steal that gift or open a new one, and so on. A gift can only be stolen twice, then it's locked. The last person gets to steal anything.

Suddenly the good coffee and the nice chocolate are fought over, and the novelty mug is the joke that nobody wants (which is honestly the right place for it). It turns a slightly awkward ten minutes into the bit of the Christmas party people talk about after.

Or skip it and pool the money

Bit of a tangent, but some teams ditch Secret Santa completely and put the money towards one thing for everyone. A long lunch. A bar tab. Or something for the office itself, like a deck of everyone's photos from the year for the staff room table (we do bulk pricing on 10+ decks if the whole team wants their own, just email us). It's one gift, it's shared, and nobody has to buy something for a stranger.

Secret Santa with friends (the group chat one)

Friends Secret Santa is easier because you know each other. And harder because they know you, so you can't hide behind hand cream.

The trick is to go specific. The thing they always order at the pub, but the nice version. A print of a photo from a trip you were all on. Their favourite snack in a ridiculous quantity. Tickets to something in January, which doubles as a plan to see each other after the holidays.

And if you're doing it at a bach or a holiday house or a camping weekend (which loads of us in Australia and New Zealand are, because Christmas is 28 degrees), lean into summer. Beach towels, a good water bottle, a cheap waterproof speaker, a card game for when it rains. All passes the bin test, all get used that same week.

Christmas gifts for your best friend (not the Secret Santa)

Your best friend isn't a Secret Santa situation. They're the person you'd actually be sad to give a mug to. So this is where I'd spend a bit more.

A deck of your photos together. Okay, this is the one we make, so take it with a grain of salt. But friendship decks are some of my favourite ones that come through. You send us 14 photos (the embarrassing ones are the best ones) and we design them into a real 54-card deck for you, no online editor, with a name or a line on the back. Put an inside joke on the back instead of your names. That's the bit that gets the laugh. It comes in a tin and it gets played at every catch up after that. Here's the deck if you want a look.

A camera for the friend who's always taking photos. Ours has no screen at all, so you don't see anything until you plug it in with USB-C when you get home. 12MP, 8 film looks, about 800 shots a charge, and everything comes out grainy and flash-lit on purpose. Great for the friend who's on their phone too much at parties. I wrote a whole thing on screen-free digital cameras if you want to know more before you decide.

Recreate an old photo. Find a photo of the two of you from years ago. Same pose, same place if you can, same terrible outfits if you still have them. Frame the old one and the new one side by side. Costs almost nothing and it will make them cry laughing.

A day, not a thing. Write a plan on a card. Breakfast somewhere you used to go, a walk, a movie, whatever your thing was. Best friends who live in different cities especially love this one, because the gift is actually seeing each other.

The boring bit: timing

Work Secret Santa you can do the week before. Anything personalised, give yourself time. Our decks are made in 2 to 5 business days and shipped free with tracking. Most decks arrive 10 to 17 days after ordering in New Zealand and Australia, 12 to 20 days in the US and Canada, and 14 to 24 days in the UK and Europe. So order by mid-November and you won't have to think about it again. The FAQ page has the details for each country.

And whoever you drew, good luck. Just not the mug.

FAQs

What's a good Secret Santa gift for someone you don't know well?

Go for something they'll use up or use every week. The nicer version of an everyday thing works best: good coffee or tea, quality chocolate, a nice hand cream, or a deck of cards with the rules of a game tucked inside.

How much should you spend on Secret Santa?

Most groups set a limit of around 20 to 30 in their local currency. Stick to it. Going way over makes the person who drew you feel bad about what they bought.

What's the difference between Secret Santa and Kris Kringle?

Nothing. Kris Kringle is just what a lot of people in Australia and New Zealand call Secret Santa. Everyone draws a name, there's a price limit, and each person buys one gift.

How do you make Secret Santa more fun?

Turn it into a swap game. Everyone brings one wrapped gift, you draw numbers, and each person can open a new gift or steal one that's already open. It makes cheap gifts fun and the useful ones get fought over.

What should I get my best friend for Christmas?

Something only they would get. A deck or print of photos of the two of you, a recreated old photo framed next to the original, or a day out planned around things you used to do together all work better than anything off a shelf.