How much to spend on office holiday gifts

December 7, 2005 12:22 PM

How much should I spend/what should I buy for support staff/secretaries at work for the holidays?

There is no collective gift given by my department, and I'm not in a position to organize one. I work in a professional environment, the admin staff are (predictably) very good and not very well paid. There are two to whom I should give a gift, and one doesn't drink. Suggestions? Gift certificates (good, bad, how much, what stores)?
I'm especially interested in how much it is appropriate to spend.

posted by cushie to work & money (11 comments total)

as a current admin asst/starving grad student, i would be thrilled to get any sort of gift from my employers. how much to spend would be entirely up to you, your budget, and how many people you have. a $5 gift card to a coffee shop would be just as appreciated as a $25 gift certificate to amazon.com or a nice local restaurant. i wouldn't really recommend giving booze because it's tough to know someone's taste and it seems not entirely work-appropriate. i also wouldn't recommend food basket type things, because again, it's difficult to know someone's taste and sometimes people have dietary restrictions or preferences you might not know about.

another nice idea, if you didn't want to give a gift certificate, would be personalized stationary or a monogrammed desk accesory or photo frame to spruce up their workspace.
posted by booknerd at 12:28 PM on December 7, 2005

Man.. talk about unsung heroes. Our department's assistants are so amazingly resourceful and hardworking. I don't know what we'd do without them.

As far as an appropriate gift: If you're getting something for each of them, a gift certificate might be best. It's hard to say how much money is appropriate to spend without knowing more about how big the company is, how many you're buying gifts for, etc.. I would think that $20 or so is enough, and more certainly wouldn't be frowned upon.

A $15 or $20 gift card to a nearby restaurant would make for a nice gift... I often see things like a nice pen, etc, recommended as gifts. I think those things are nice gestures, but are a little too corporate-snooty for me. I wouldn't really enjoy a nice pen all that much. Don't get me wrong, I'd appreciate the thought, but as far as how much enjoyment I'll get out of it... not much :-)

I hope you find the right gift, and that karma hits you back for acknowledging the great work your assistants do. The token of appreciation will be a big gift in and of itself... they're underappreciated everywhere...
posted by twiggy at 12:31 PM on December 7, 2005

It's really the thought that counts, but as for the monetary value, anywhere from $15-25 is fine. Some ideas:

- Movie passes - if you buy them in large amounts you can get a discount, and give 2-4 passes a person for the price of 1 movie ticket. You can also bundle them with a few lottery tickets. It COULD turn into a really big gift!
- Bookstore gift cards that they can also use ONLINE
- Take them to a NICE company dinner, with a draw for a few nice gifts.
- Really good chocolate truffles and some candy canes (to add that festive theme)
- Monogrammed scarf/vests/sweaters/jackets/blanket - one company I worked for gave those.
posted by Sallysings at 12:46 PM on December 7, 2005

From an earlier post, most of these ideas are in the $25 range: metro tote bag, flower tote, giselle vase, postcard mobile, butterly notecards, bloom notecards, olive notecards, kate's paperie stationary (buy in all colors, let your recipients choose), time tags, notepaper roll holder, goldfish notecard set, itunes prepaid card, amelie, the autobiography box, paint-by-number calendar, blooms in a bag (better than the herbs!), 50 jobs worse than yours, dumb dares for the workplace.
posted by cior at 12:48 PM on December 7, 2005

When I was an unpaid intern last year, the company gave me a $50 gift card to Macy's, which practically knocked me over ($50! I'm rich- hehe, oh to be young again). Something in the $25-$50 range should be fine, and the more stuff the store has, the better (I used my gift card to get a pair of nice jeans, which I desperately needed).
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 12:52 PM on December 7, 2005 [1 favorite has favorites]

The amount of your gift should depend on the type of industry you work in. I used to be an admin in the financial industry, where generous gifts were the norm. The best Xmas present I ever received from a boss was a $500 spa gift certificate and the day off to use it. Can't beat that!

If you're not all collecting together and giving a nice sum of cash, I'd recommend one of the following:

- Nice bottle of wine/champagne (around $25-30) - even if they don't drink, they can bring it to a holiday party and it's always welcome (unless you know they're in AA or something!)
- An extra day or half day off, if you're in the position to give it
- Gift certificate to a good local restaurant (should be at least $30-40 so they can actually get a meal w/someone w/out having to pay for anything other than drinks)
- Spa gift certificates are always welcome (see above!)
- You can't go wrong with an Amazon gift certificate, and this doesn't need to be too expensive - $20-25 is fine and will buy a book and/or CD
- Movie gift certificates

(on preview: I'm too slow!)

Not that I think you would, but do not give anything w/the corporate logo on it. Those should be freebies, not Xmas presents IMO.
posted by widdershins at 12:55 PM on December 7, 2005

How about a movie gift card? At one of my first jobs, my employers gave the staff (among other things) movie passes. It was very appreciated.
posted by Morrigan at 1:03 PM on December 7, 2005

The thought counts but some thoughts are better than other thoughts. I liked gifts that made it clear that my bosses understood my likes and dislikes. The $50 Borders card was very welcome and came out of a discussion of the books we'd been reading. The fabulous and carefully chosen flowers were equally welcome and were the result of another discussion. You are buying for two people about whom you must know something. And good for you for trying to make the thought count beyond the purely cerebral.
posted by firstdrop at 1:28 PM on December 7, 2005

The best gift I ever got from a manager was a card with a handwritten message thanking me for my contribution to the company. It wasn't a generic message, but one that made it clear that she knew who I was and knew what I did. It wasn't long, but it was sincere.

The attached chocolates were also appreciated, but they are long gone. I still have the card.
posted by luneray at 2:51 PM on December 7, 2005

5 lb. bags of pistacios.
posted by wsg at 4:37 PM on December 7, 2005

Thanks for all the suggestions- more still welcome.
posted by cushie at 7:14 AM on December 8, 2005