office holiday presents
 

Is anyone else having this dilemma.......:confused:

Apparently everyone in my office is buying small gifts. (ie. lotto tickets, godiva chocolates, ect.) and i have no idea what to get these people. I am somewhat poor right now and really don't feel like spending much money on people that i pretty much can't stand!

Any ideas?

here's an idea...
 

Hi Maggie,

For how many people do you need to get gifts? If less than 15 or so, one inexpensive suggestion is to bake cookies and put them in a decorative container for each person. A woman in my office did that last year. She went to Olde Time Pottery and bought several of the small clay flowerpots -- you can get them for about 49 cents each. She painted each flowerpot and then stuck the cookies inside wrapped in colored saran wrap.

The cookies were a hit, the flowerpot could be used later, and the cost was really low.

Good luck! :)

Or even quicker than making cookies, you can do the "Jar of Coookie ingredients"

Basically, you take a mason jar, and layer the ingredients for chocolate chip cookies so it looks pretty, then tie a recipe printed on a pretty card to the top. Quick, easy, and pretty cheap :)

That sounds cool, and then for the people you cant stand, just put in a layer of exlax.

The office where I work over breaks is mostly women so things like pretty scented candles are a big hit. If you do a secret santa thing where you only buy one gift, a gift basket of candles would be nice.

Is this a "secret Santa" type of thing? My former company did that one year - scratch-off lottery tickets were very popular for some reason :confused: People also gave things like candles, a mini foot massager, etc. Price limit was $10 - I'd kill to know where whoever bought the massager got it :)

My office is medium sized (about 70 people) and we don't do a Secret Santa thing, so I usually get a box of chocolates and put it in the break room with a "Happy Holidays" note. Believe me, they're gone within the hour :)

I know the answer to this one!!
 

Lots of people are allergic to bubble bath, chocolate, scented whatever, so I have come up with what I think is a pretty darn good solution. I get everyone stationery. No one is allergic to it, and good writing paper is always a classy gift. You can also go funky with this present and get a pad of black paper and some bright gel pens.

I also agree with the earlier post, the jar of cookie ingredients is a very cute idea...when I was student teaching one of my students gave me a "cookie jar"...too bad I'm the world's worst baker, heehee.

Another cheap idea is Christmas ornaments...if you can find the right place. There is a cool store here in Knoxville, that has the cutest and coolest ornaments, for like 3 bucks a piece.
I have a similar dilemma...I have a ton of people to buy for at work, but I really do like them and hang out with most outside of work.
Cookies are a great idea, like in little pots or gift bags. Candles are kind of expensive, the ones that are worth buying. In expensive I mean over 7 bucks...lol...for people you dont even like...stationary is too...the stuff that looks cool.
If there were a few people you were close to, or even your boss, I would sugest buying something for them, within your budget. For everyone else I would go for something home-made like cookies. Oh yeah, I dont know if you have a Kohl's there...but they are having a 70% off all picture frames right now :)