The Lazy Gift Giver
December 18, 2012 12:48 PM
This is a question about giving gift cards at a work Christmas get together.
Tonight I am meeting my boss and three other co-workers (our department is small) at a restaurant for our annual Christmas get together. Last year we started to do a Secret Santa thing. We each bought one gift worth 25-30 dollars and passed it to our left. Last year I bought a gift box of luxury shampoo/conditioner/hair stuff. The person it was passed to loved it, and without being an ingrate, I would say it was one of the better gifts that night.
This year I bought a $25 dollar Amazon gift card, attached it to a beautifully wrapped bar of luxury soap and wrapped it in Christmas paper.
I am now second guessing myself and feel like the gift card thing is not fun or festive. I only bought it because 3 out of the 4 people there love to read and I thought that would be a good gift. Picking out a novel probably would have been more thoughtful but I didn't do that.
Would you give a gift card at a Secret Santa thing with co-workers? Is it the most boring thing ever? I have time to stop by someplace to give more imaginative gift. We are all women, ages 40-65. We are a pretty frugal bunch.
Tonight I am meeting my boss and three other co-workers (our department is small) at a restaurant for our annual Christmas get together. Last year we started to do a Secret Santa thing. We each bought one gift worth 25-30 dollars and passed it to our left. Last year I bought a gift box of luxury shampoo/conditioner/hair stuff. The person it was passed to loved it, and without being an ingrate, I would say it was one of the better gifts that night.
This year I bought a $25 dollar Amazon gift card, attached it to a beautifully wrapped bar of luxury soap and wrapped it in Christmas paper.
I am now second guessing myself and feel like the gift card thing is not fun or festive. I only bought it because 3 out of the 4 people there love to read and I thought that would be a good gift. Picking out a novel probably would have been more thoughtful but I didn't do that.
Would you give a gift card at a Secret Santa thing with co-workers? Is it the most boring thing ever? I have time to stop by someplace to give more imaginative gift. We are all women, ages 40-65. We are a pretty frugal bunch.
At my previous workplace you may as well have called the Secret Santa event the Equivalent Value Gift Card Exchange because I shit you not, everyone got everyone else gift cards.
At least the Amazon ones you can spend on basically anything.
posted by griphus at 12:51 PM on December 18, 2012
At least the Amazon ones you can spend on basically anything.
posted by griphus at 12:51 PM on December 18, 2012
I *love* gift cards, especially to one-stop-got-it-all kinds of places. I'm a woman, but if you gave me "typical" "women's" gifts I'd be nonplussed (but polite). Gift cards are given and happily received at my work.
posted by rtha at 12:52 PM on December 18, 2012
posted by rtha at 12:52 PM on December 18, 2012
Honestly, given that my office's culture is to give food and sweets I can never eat, an Amazon giftcard for any denomination would be the best thing ever. I don't care if people think gift cards are tacky -- they are damn awesome for me.
posted by These Birds of a Feather at 12:52 PM on December 18, 2012
posted by These Birds of a Feather at 12:52 PM on December 18, 2012
I love Amazon gift cards, I would rather get one than almost any other present.
posted by insectosaurus at 12:59 PM on December 18, 2012
posted by insectosaurus at 12:59 PM on December 18, 2012
A gift card is a thing that lets someone choose the gift they want, rather than the gift you want them to have. I would much rather have a gift card than almost anything else.
posted by Solomon at 1:02 PM on December 18, 2012
posted by Solomon at 1:02 PM on December 18, 2012
I agree with everyone above that an Amazon gift card would be much preferred. I hate getting stuff that I won't use and I don't really re-gift very often...so stuff just takes up space until I finally donate it to Goodwill. What a waste.
I wish I felt comfortable re-gifting but I don't. If I feel lukewarm about something, I don't typically want to give it to someone I like...and if I don't like them, I certainly don't want to give them a gift.
posted by victoriab at 1:08 PM on December 18, 2012
I wish I felt comfortable re-gifting but I don't. If I feel lukewarm about something, I don't typically want to give it to someone I like...and if I don't like them, I certainly don't want to give them a gift.
posted by victoriab at 1:08 PM on December 18, 2012
I think the giftcard is a much better present than trying to pick out a novel for someone, but if you want to make it feel more personal, then you could focus on the presentation: do something that says 'here's a giftcard for books!' so it conveys that you thought about it, without actually limiting the use of the card. Like a cardboard box shaped like a book with the gift card inside it, or similar.
posted by jacalata at 1:12 PM on December 18, 2012
posted by jacalata at 1:12 PM on December 18, 2012
I think you've done it exactly right by getting the gift card but attaching it to a modestly festive, lovely item. I think it's perfect.
posted by Linda_Holmes at 1:16 PM on December 18, 2012
posted by Linda_Holmes at 1:16 PM on December 18, 2012
This situation was why gift cards where invented, my own Mom gave me a gift card this year and I didn't blink. Nice Soap is like the ur totally acceptable neutral gift.
Amazon gift cards are great because, as noted, they can used for almost anything.
posted by The Whelk at 1:19 PM on December 18, 2012
Amazon gift cards are great because, as noted, they can used for almost anything.
posted by The Whelk at 1:19 PM on December 18, 2012
Thanks everyone. I am glad to hear the gift card is a good and appropriate gift.
rtha, I know what you are saying about typical women's gifts. We are a pretty non-girly bunch -- athletes in the mix who wear no makeup, etc. -- but we are all into our hair. ha.
Thanks again for the answers.
posted by Fairchild at 1:22 PM on December 18, 2012
rtha, I know what you are saying about typical women's gifts. We are a pretty non-girly bunch -- athletes in the mix who wear no makeup, etc. -- but we are all into our hair. ha.
Thanks again for the answers.
posted by Fairchild at 1:22 PM on December 18, 2012
A gift card plus a small consumable thing is a perfect gift: anyone can find something they like with the gift card, plus the soap gives the recipient an immediate nice-to-have thing and prevents the whole package from going into boring gift-card-exchange territory.
And if this is the sort of gift exchange where you don't know who your recipient will be (if I'm interpreting the pass-to-your-left rule correctly), then a gift card is especially good.
posted by Metroid Baby at 1:22 PM on December 18, 2012
And if this is the sort of gift exchange where you don't know who your recipient will be (if I'm interpreting the pass-to-your-left rule correctly), then a gift card is especially good.
posted by Metroid Baby at 1:22 PM on December 18, 2012
It went well, although the person (43 years-old) who received my gift did not know what Amazon.com was.
posted by Fairchild at 7:11 PM on December 18, 2012
posted by Fairchild at 7:11 PM on December 18, 2012
She lives on the planet Earth, too. I couldn't believe it.
posted by Fairchild at 12:19 PM on December 19, 2012
posted by Fairchild at 12:19 PM on December 19, 2012
Well congrats, you just gave the easiest (legal) mind-blowing gift that $25 could buy.
posted by barnone at 9:30 AM on December 20, 2012
posted by barnone at 9:30 AM on December 20, 2012
This thread is closed to new comments.
I've found that the gifts people like the most are those that they find useful. If they personally don't want it, they can easily re-gift it.
Although I LOVE Amazon gift cards because they sell EVERYTHING!
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 12:51 PM on December 18, 2012