Gifts for colleagues

This pack adds a Swap Hands card and blank wild cards for writing your own house rules, and it plays with two to ten, so it suits a big family gathering. A full game is first to 500 points over several rounds, or play single rounds when time is short.

What owners say: Owners love it for hours of family fun and say children and adults pick it up easily. Durability is mixed: some find it lasts through endless game nights, others that the paper box wears out quickly.

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Long metal tips run neatly along a ruler or stencil; keep the pen upright so the tip follows the edge. The pigment ink is lightfast as well as waterproof. Staedtler builds in pressure equalisation so the pens won’t leak on a flight, handy for a sketching holiday, and they keep writing for up to 12 hours with the cap off. They’re made in Germany.

What owners say: Owners find them excellent for technical drawing and general artwork, and good value for money.

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Air moves through the open mesh underneath, which helps a warm laptop breathe through a long afternoon of video calls. Keep the laptop centred and the stand on a flat desk, which Amazon Basics advises because an off-centre laptop is less steady at the steeper settings.

What owners say: Owners rate the build and the value, like how easily it moves between heights, and say the pads underneath stop it sliding on the desk.

Soil doesn’t stick to the stainless heads, and the narrow transplanting trowel is the one for bulbs, plug plants and seedlings in tight spaces, where a broad trowel would disturb the plants around them. Spear & Jackson guarantees the set for ten years, so keep the box and receipt; the firm was founded in Sheffield in 1760 and is still based there.

What owners say: Owners say they’re very strong and durable, with comfortable handles, and admire the stainless heads.

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It charges by USB and copes with rain. Switching off takes a moment to learn: hold the button for 3 seconds, or press once after it’s been on for 8 seconds. The switch glows red while charging or running low and green when full, and on low a 2-hour charge gives up to 5.5 hours of light.

• 360 lumens on high
• USB rechargeable, no batteries
• Copes with rain

What owners say: Owners find it small enough for a trouser pocket and handy on keys or in a bag, like the three brightness settings and the solid build, and say a charge lasts up to three days.

There are 180 pages of thick 120gsm ivory paper, enough for brush pens and watercolours. Two ribbon markers keep today’s page and a running list open at once, the expandable pocket holds receipts or sticky notes, and an elastic band keeps it shut in a bag on the way to work or school.

• A5, 180 dotted pages
• Faux leather hard cover
• Takes brush pens and watercolours

What owners say: Owners like it for bullet journals and tracking, find the pages thick enough to stop gel pens and highlighters bleeding through, and like the look and colour choices.

Each port runs at 5Gbps; there’s no HDMI, just data, on a 20cm cable. Keep it for the things that still use the old rectangular plug: a mouse receiver, a printer cable, a memory stick or an external drive. Put the chunkiest stick on an end port so it doesn’t crowd its neighbour. Anker covers it for 18 months.

What owners say: Owners say it works straight out of the box, feels solid and takes up little room; the cable length divides them, handy for some and too short for others.

The 750ml tin holds about three drinks, so a round for three needs only one shake, and the cap holds exactly one ounce, about 30ml, a handy second measure when the jigger is busy with another spirit. A recipe guide comes with it. With no muddler or stand, mojitos call for a bigger set.

What owners say: Good quality, easy to use and good-looking, the pink especially, say owners, who rate the drinks it makes; the lid gets mixed reports, with one owner finding it stuck.

Rubber pads stop the device sliding or getting scratched, and the front lip takes devices up to 18mm thick, so most phones can stay in their cases. Screens between 6 and 8 inches sit more steadily sideways, while smaller phones are fine either way up. Folded flat, it slips into a laptop bag for the office or a hotel room.

• Holds phone, e-reader or Switch
• Adjustable height and angle
• Folds flat

What owners say: Owners find it sturdy, well built and versatile, like how far it adjusts and say it works with tablets as well as phones.

At 907g it sits solidly on the table while it brews, and KICHLY says it’s sturdy enough for restaurants or hotels; it won’t rust and goes in the dishwasher. Warm the pot with a splash of hot water while the kettle boils, then tip it out before the coffee goes in. Steel hides the brew, so set a four-minute timer rather than judging by colour.

What owners say: Owners say it keeps coffee hot and has lasted them years, with a plunger that works smoothly, room for about four cups and a pot that’s easy to clean.