Gift guide · 12 ideas
Secret Santa gifts under £10
Office-safe, crowd-pleasing ideas that work even if you barely know the person, and none of them are destined for the bin.
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Secret Santa is hard because you’re often buying for someone you only know from meetings. The joke gift feels safe, but most of them end up in a drawer by January. The better approach is something small and consumable, or a useful little upgrade that almost anyone would appreciate.
Every idea here usually comes in around the £10 mark, though prices move about, especially in December. Check the price before you buy, including postage.
A mini hot sauce set
Small bottles, lots of variety, and it gets eaten rather than stored. A good pick for anyone who brings interesting lunches.
Worth knowing: Choose a set with a range of heat levels unless you know they love spicy food.
See options on AmazonA hardback A5 notebook
Everyone at work uses a notebook, and a nice one feels like a treat compared with the stationery cupboard.
STATIONERY ISLAND A5 Dotted Hardback Notebook
£7.99 RRP
A black A5 dotted notebook with a faux leather hard cover and 180 pages of 120gsm ivory paper, thick enough for brush pens and watercolours. The dots sit 5mm apart, a light guide for neat tables and habit trackers without committing to lines.
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.
A closer look: Two ribbon markers keep today’s page and a running list open at once, and the expandable pocket holds receipts, stickers or spare sticky notes. An elastic band keeps it shut in a bag, so nothing falls out on the way to work or school.
- A5, 180 dotted pages
- Faux leather hard cover
- Takes brush pens and watercolours
A quick card game
Something for the Christmas break rather than the desk: a quick game to bring out with family once the office has shut.
Mattel UNO
Under £10
- Plays up to ten
- Blank cards for house rules
The classic matching game: play a card of the same colour or number as the top card, use action cards to skip, reverse or make the next player draw, and call UNO with one card left. This pack adds a Swap Hands card and blank wild cards to write your own house rules.
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.
A closer look: A full game is first to 500 points over several rounds; for a shorter game, play single rounds. Settle what the blank wild cards do before the first deal, so nobody argues over a house rule mid-game.
A hand cream set
Hand cream is one of the few gifts nobody minds getting from a near-stranger, and a tube can live in the desk drawer all winter.
Cath Kidston Orange Blossom Hand Cream Trio
£8 RRP
Three 30ml hand creams in leopard and rose print tubes, with shea butter, cocoa seed butter and vitamin E, and a fresh, fruity orange blossom scent. They’re vegan and come in a printed card box.
What owners say: Owners love the scent and the soft, non-greasy finish and think the set good value, though some find the tubes much smaller than expected.
A closer look: At 30ml, each tube is small enough to go straight into the clear liquids bag for a flight. The scent is fresh rather than heavy, so it suits daytime use at a desk, and the cream sinks in quickly enough to carry on typing or driving. The tubes are made with half recycled plastic.
- 3 × 30ml tubes
- Orange blossom scent
- Vegan and cruelty-free
Fun patterned socks
Socks with a bit of personality are the rare “fun” gift that also gets worn, and these ones suit the office bookworm.
Cavertin Book Lover Novelty Socks in a Gift Box
Under £10
Crew-length cotton-blend socks for book lovers, with a hidden message on the sole that only shows when feet go up. They come in a gift box.
What owners say: Owners find them cute, soft and comfortable with a good fit, though some think they’re a bit expensive for socks.
A closer look: One size covers women’s shoe sizes 5 to 11 and men’s 4 to 10, so there’s no size to choose. A little stretch in the yarn helps them fit across that range. They go in the washing machine, and turning them inside out first helps keep the pattern crisp.
- Cotton-blend crew socks
- Women’s 5–11, men’s 4–10
- Message hidden on the sole
Small scented candles in jars
They can keep one and share the other three round the house: a Secret Santa present the whole household gets to enjoy.
TTRWIN Soy Candle Gift Set (4 × 100g)
Under £10
- Four candles in four scents
- Screw-top metal lids
- Soy wax with essential oils
Four soy candles in glass jars with screw-top lids: jasmine and ylang ylang, sandalwood and patchouli, fir and cedarwood, and vanilla and amber. The lids keep the scent in between burns.
What owners say: Owners like how the set looks, and some find the scents fill a lounge with a relaxing aroma, while others find them faint.
A closer look: Keep them away from vents and trim the wicks regularly, as the maker suggests, for a longer, steadier burn. The empty jars make neat storage for hair ties or cotton buds. The scents are gentle rather than room-filling, so they’re best in a bedroom, a bathroom or on a desk.
Hot chocolate stirrers
A festive treat to take home from the office party and enjoy on a cold evening, gone well before New Year.
Milk Chocolate Hot Chocolate Spoons with Marshmallows (3-pack)
Under £10
Three 25g chocolate stirrers on sticks, each topped with mini marshmallows and star sprinkles and wrapped on its own, in a Snowman and Snowdog gift box. Each one makes a single mug of hot chocolate.
What owners say: Owners enjoy the flavour.
A closer look: Heat the milk until it’s steaming, then keep stirring until the chocolate has melted away and the marshmallows float to the top. Worth knowing: they contain milk and pork gelatine, so they don’t suit vegetarians, and they may carry traces of nuts and peanuts.
- 3 × 25g stirrers
- Topped with mini marshmallows
- Snowman and Snowdog box
An adjustable phone stand
Handy for video calls, recipes and watching things over lunch. A metal one stays put on a desk.
Nulaxy Aluminium Folding Phone Stand
Under £10
A folding aluminium stand that holds a phone, e-reader or Nintendo Switch upright on a desk or worktop. Both the height and the angle adjust, and rubber pads stop the device sliding or getting scratched.
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.
A closer look: The front lip takes devices up to 18mm thick, so most phones can stay in their cases, chunky ones included. Bigger 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
A grow-your-own herb kit
Seeds to sow and look after through the long weeks of January, for a colleague who cooks or likes a bit of green on their desk.
Pronto Seed Herb Bumper Pack (24 varieties)
Under £10
Seeds for 24 herbs in four collections of six: Mediterranean, aromatic, garden and classic, from basil and rosemary to coriander, chives and thyme. The seeds are hand-packed and come in a recycled gift box.
What owners say: Owners like the variety and the easy instructions and find it good value, but germination is mixed and some were disappointed by how many seeds are included.
A closer look: Cress, rocket and mizuna are the quick wins for a January windowsill, while lavender, borage and fennel are better saved for sowing outdoors once spring arrives. Label each pot as you sow, as young seedlings look alike. The maker offers help if anything struggles to germinate.
- 24 herb varieties
- 4 collections of 6
- Recycled gift box
Heads up: It’s seeds only, so they’ll need a few pots and some compost.
or compare other optionsA keyring torch
Dark mornings and evenings make this genuinely useful for finding keyholes and car doors.
Blukar Rechargeable Mini Keyring Torch
Under £10
An aluminium torch 66mm long that clips onto a set of keys, with high, medium and low settings and up to 360 lumens on the brightest. It charges by USB, so there are no batteries to replace, and it 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.
A closer look: Switching off takes a moment to learn: hold the button for 3 seconds, or, once it’s been on for 8 seconds, press it once. The switch glows red while it charges or runs low and green when it’s full, and the torch comes back on in the last mode used. 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
Popcorn seasoning set
Christmas is film season, so it gets used over the holidays, and a bag of kernels alongside makes it a complete gift.
See options on AmazonA reusable coffee cup
Whoever turns up every morning with a takeaway coffee can bring their own cup instead, and it stays hot through the first meeting.
Contigo Byron Snapseal Travel Mug, Blue Corn (470ml)
Under £10
- Keeps drinks hot 7 hours
- Slide lid locks shut
- Dishwasher-safe lid
A simple, one-handed everyday mug: slide the Snapseal lid up to drink and back down to lock it shut. It’s rated to keep drinks hot for up to seven hours and cold for twelve, and it fits most car cup holders.
What owners say: Solidly made and good at holding the heat on long journeys, say owners; the complaints are the seal, which came away from the lid for some, and the base, which a few say came off.
A closer look: There’s no button to hold down while drinking, so a sip on a walk takes one quick slide of the thumb. With a plastic lid on a steel body, the whole mug weighs just under 300g, light enough not to drag a handbag or coat pocket down.
Secret Santa tips
- Stick to the price limit. Going way over can make others feel awkward.
- If you don’t know them well, choose something consumable or universally useful.
- Avoid anything that comments on appearance, age or weight, even as a joke.
- Order early: December delivery gets slow and prices can creep up.
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