If you run a business or work as a manager, the Christmas season can be a time to spread cheer and joy in the workplace. However, you must consider your position and the needs of your employees when organizing any Christmas events. Maybe your desire to integrate your team for Christmas isn’t exactly well-received among all of your subordinates. In some workplaces, the very idea of a Christmas party or secret Santa event at work is cause for general mutiny. Hopefully, that’s not the case in your office.
This article is intended to help employers and managers choose Christmas gift ideas for employees. Christmas gift ideas for employees should be relatively cheap and inexpensive, but should convey good wishes and bring cheer to the atmosphere at the workplace. Whether you are throwing a Christmas party at work and are looking for small gift ideas for your employees or are just looking for good gift ideas for the employee for whom you are designated as secret Santa, this article has some great suggestions for you. Just because some Christmas gift ideas are inexpensive doesn’t mean they aren’t unique and can’t cheer your employees up for Christmas.
Here, you will learn about some great Christmas gift ideas for male and female employees, inexpensive and small gift ideas for secret Santa events or Christmas parties at the workplace. As the owner or manager of your workplace, you can be appreciated, not hated, by your subordinates for your handling of Christmas at work. Christmas at work does not have to be a rigid and unpleasant affair. Both you and your employees can have a little fun and relax in each other’s company, so you can all go home and spread the Christmas cheer to your families afterwards.
If you’re an employee looking for a Christmas gift for your boss, check out the article on “Christmas Gift Idea for Boss”. You won’t go wrong with the great Christmas gift ideas and suggestions there, so make sure to check it out.
Christmas Gift Ideas for Employees
Christmas gift ideas for employees, given by an employer or manager, are inexpensive by definition. This is because, considering your position, every employee must be treated equally. Most commonly, if gifts are handed out to every employee at a workplace, everyone receives the same gift. For the same reason, Christmas gifts for employees are typically rather inexpensive, gender neutral, and practical or fun in nature.
Some great Christmas gift ideas include gift cards, which are the top choice of every corporate gifting program, books - every employee can even request a book of their choice, up to a certain budget limit, coffee mugs personalized with your employees’ names, family board games, noise cancelling earphones, chocolate gift boxes, and personalized notebooks. But at the very top of the list of Christmas gift suggestions for employees lies that irreplaceable staple of Christmas gift-giving: the Christmas gift basket. A timeless classic, both thoughtful and not requiring too much thought, the Christmas gift basket contains items that are of interest to practically any human living on this planet, which cements its position as a superior Christmas gift, in both private and workplace settings. One could write paeans and hymns to the Christmas gift basket and the simplicity it brings to gift-giving during Christmas. Think about it, wouldn’t you rather receive a Christmas gift basket than, say, a set of erasers? Your employees will definitely appreciate such a gift, and there are Christmas gift basket options that don’t cost too much either. There will be a whole section on Christmas gift baskets further on in this article, so if you’re interested in learning about the litany of benefits afforded by Christmas gift baskets, read on.
Meanwhile, here are some more interesting Christmas gift suggestions for employees. They are relatively inexpensive, but all above $10. For example, you can buy a desktop vacuum cleaner for $26. There’s also a Himalayan salt lamp for $12, a faux fur throw for $35, a bamboo charging station for $36, and coffee beans called Valhala Java Bean from a company aptly named Death Wish Coffee Co., for just $16. One reviewer says it’s “darker than the night before the coming of Ragnarok,” and one would assume this is a good thing. For $40, you can get your employees a bonsai tree starter kit, which is a really cool Christmas present. Or you can go the practical route and get a thermos flask for $25. A thermos rarely goes unappreciated.
Christmas Gift Ideas for Employees under $10
If you are looking for inexpensive Christmas gifts for your employees, you might want to do a quick search online with the title of this section as your search term. Some brief browsing will yield results like an elephant pencil holder and desk supplies organizer, a deck of cards with inspirational quotes and advice, cell phone stands, hot sox - which are novelty socks, if you’re wondering. Other gift ideas under $10 include a box of 101 encouraging messages, a Christmas ornament kit, and a desktop boxing set. The last of these options definitely seems cute, fun and might actually help your employees relieve stress. You can also find a beer glass with “World’s Okayest Employee” on it.
Hopefully, you won’t be the boss who receives the mug bearing the inscription “These are the Tears of My Staff”, but if you do, have a laugh and don’t take it personally. It probably wasn’t intended to be taken personally. Unless it was. And there we have an exemplification of the problem of Christmas gift-giving at the workplace. A lot depends on the personal rapport you have with your team and each individual member in it. In some workplace environments, it’s perfectly OK, and even desirable, to have a laugh at somebody’s expense, as long as no lines are crossed, but in others, you might be stepping on a land mine with even good-natured humor. All it takes is for one person to take a joke the wrong way.
There are also a lot of nice, keychains engraved with truly inspiring inscriptions, like, “No one can ever fill your shoes” or “Never forget the difference that you’ve made” or “Never forget how wildly capable you are”. Words like these are sure to motivate and inspire.
As you can see, there are many, many Christmas gift ideas for employees that are under $10, and you can find much, much more online. So there’s no reason not to be creative and get a unique Christmas gift for your employees even if it’s cheap and inexpensive.
Christmas Gift Baskets for Employees
There can never be enough praise lavished upon the immortal Christmas gift basket. With options ranging from about $20 to $100, you can select the Christmas gift basket that best reflects the financial commitment you are willing to make as a gift for your employees this Christmas. The best thing about Christmas gift baskets is that they contain a wide variety of products, and some retailers even make it possible to customize their contents. You can put everything from chocolates and candies to socks and fruit in a gift basket, and everything in between. There are even gift baskets with soaps and sanitary products wedged in alongside wines, snacks, and pretty much anything you can think of as a suitable Christmas gift for your employees. The types of Christmas gift baskets, according to theme, include Bath and Body, Chocolate, Coffee, Cookie, Fruit, Gourmet, Kosher, Nut, Snack, Tea, Wine, Organic, Champagne, Brownies, and more.
There’s a reason the Christmas gift basket has survived throughout the ages (or at the very least, the last couple of centuries) as a shining paragon of virtue among the myriad Christmas gift ideas one can have for their employees, family members, friends, managers and significant others. Not only is the Christmas gift basket suitable for every occasion and social setting, it is also quite desirable as a gift, even if it does come across as rather non-committal. But let’s face it, you’re probably going to get the same Christmas gift for all of your employees (because that’s how things are usually done at the workplace). Regardless, no matter who you are, you will always find something desirable in a Christmas gift basket. One thing to take note of, however, are nut allergies among your employees. You do not want to get people with nut allergies a nut-themed Christmas gift basket.
One subset of the Christmas gift basket is the Christmas gift tower. Typically manifesting as a set of stacked boxes, numbered according to the 12 days of the Christmas, the Christmas gift tower is a great, gift basket-like idea. Note that the Christmas gift tower options can be significantly more expensive, with options ranging from $100 to $300.
