A funny gift for a colleague: what works in the office and what you should leave at home
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by Verpakkingdeals.nl
7 min reading time
Drew a colleague you barely know for a Secret Santa? Here's how to choose a funny gift that's office-appropriate, with concrete examples under fifteen euros, including the wrapping.
In mid-October, the note lands on your desk: draw names, budget fifteen euros, unwrap on the last Friday before the Christmas holidays. You've drawn the name of someone two desks away with whom you mainly discuss parking spaces. And then the search begins: something funny, but not too much. Something personal, but you barely know the person. Something for fifteen euros that doesn't look like it cost five euros.
That's harder than it seems, because an office gift has an audience: it's unwrapped with ten people watching. Below is a guide to categories that almost always work, where to draw the line, and how to create something presentable on a small budget.
The rule of thumb: the joke should be about the situation, not the person
Gifts that go over well in the office make a joke about work, a shared experience, or nothing in particular. Gifts that go wrong make a joke about the recipient: their body, relationships, drinking habits, age. This distinction is more useful than a list of forbidden products, as it also works for borderline cases.
A second rule of thumb: if the recipient immediately has to put the gift in a bag because it can't sit on a desk, you've missed the mark. Anything that can be placed on a desk or taken home without explanation is safe. We sell a significant portion of our range with a clear wink — precisely why it's useful to say that much of it is intended for a bachelor party, not the office Christmas party.
What almost always works: something that stays on the desk
The category with the highest success rate is small, functional, and with a touch of humor. A mug is the classic example, and for good reason: it's used daily, it's visible, and the joke is in the print rather than the shape.
Mugs with a reference. The Squid Game Mug 325 ml and the Crypto Meme Mug 300 ml both cost €8.00. Works well if you know what someone watches or talks about, and less well if you're guessing.
Something heavier. The Black Pistol Coffee Mug at €24.95 is already at the top end of an average Secret Santa budget and is more outspoken in shape; choose it only if you're sure the style fits.
With a budget of five to ten euros, you quickly end up with keychains and anti-stress items. This category has one major advantage: it's small, flat, and light, so you can easily send it or give it in an envelope if your colleague is working from home that day.
If you want something more people can enjoy, a game works better than a gadget. The Mini Poker Playing Cards with 54 cards cost €1.95 and are a good addition to another gift; the 99-in-1 Game Set (€14.95) with dice, checkerboard, and score pad is a complete gift for lunch breaks.
Prank items: fun, but decide beforehand who will unwrap it
Prank items are a separate category, because the gift itself is the joke and not something you use afterwards. The Prank Items Package with 6 different jokes costs €9.95 and works best for someone who also enjoys playing pranks — you're essentially giving them ammunition, not a gift.
Two objections to weigh beforehand: a prank item tried out on someone else turns your gift into someone's problem, and fake dirt or fake damage is rarely a good idea in a customer-facing workplace. This is different for a private team afternoon than at a reception desk.
The packaging does half the work
An eight-euro gift in a nice box looks considerably more expensive than the same gift in its original blister packaging with a price sticker on it. This counts extra for Secret Santa in the office, because everything will be laid out side by side on the table.
Measure your gift before choosing a box. A 470 ml mug is taller than you think: 9.5 x 9 x 10 cm will be tight, the 12 x 12 x 12 cm cube will be more spacious.
If your colleague works from home or is at a different location
More and more often, the person whose name you drew won't be in the office that Friday. Then the gift becomes a package, and different rules apply: it must be able to withstand impact and preferably fit through the letterbox.
For small, flat gifts, a bubble envelope measuring 22 x 17 cm (€0.90) works well: it absorbs impacts without extra filling. A recycled letterbox box measuring 180 x 115 x 28 mm is sturdier, though you buy them in bundles of 100 (€17.95) — interesting if you're arranging it for the whole team. You don't send a mug in an envelope, but in a box with bubble wrap around it (roll of 500 mm x 500 m, €12.95).
In summary
Joke about the situation, not the person. When in doubt: don't do it.
Choose something that can stay on a desk or is used daily.
Between five and ten euros, keychains, squeeze toys, and mugs are the safest categories.
Allow one to three euros extra for a box. That's the difference between a little gift and a proper gift.
Are you sending it? First measure the thickness, and use a bubble envelope or letterbox box instead of a regular envelope.
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