Gift ideas for a software dev team
September 15, 2011 5:58 PM Subscribe
Gift ideas. Want to send about 50 small gifts to a software dev team that has done an excellent job. Ideally, there's something for everyone, rather than a few things that have to be shared. I don't have much money -- maybe $50-$100 total to spend. Ideas?
A few dozen Krispy Kremes (or your local equivalent) are rarely unwelcome in any office setting.
posted by argonauta at 6:04 PM on September 15, 2011
posted by argonauta at 6:04 PM on September 15, 2011
Response by poster: What about lottery tickets? Tacky or no?
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 6:05 PM on September 15, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 6:05 PM on September 15, 2011 [1 favorite]
I vote tacky.
posted by jacalata at 6:13 PM on September 15, 2011 [5 favorites]
posted by jacalata at 6:13 PM on September 15, 2011 [5 favorites]
I don't know about tacky, but I'd rather have, say, a really good box of Belgian truffles shared between the team than get a lottery ticket. I never play the lottery; and maybe I'm a horrible person, but I don't think I'd feel great about it if one of the other 49 tickets turned out to be a big winner.
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 6:13 PM on September 15, 2011 [6 favorites]
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 6:13 PM on September 15, 2011 [6 favorites]
Tacky. I would show up with a few boxes of donuts and a lot of coffee and thank everyone personally. Being thanked personally for doing good work is worth an awful lot more than $100.
posted by mhoye at 6:13 PM on September 15, 2011 [5 favorites]
posted by mhoye at 6:13 PM on September 15, 2011 [5 favorites]
For $20, you can buy the Archie McPhee super awesome surprise box. They claim it's got $75 worth of stuff in it that's been randomly selected. For another $20, you can also get the candy mystery box. The site says it's worth double that. That would probably get you up to 50 individual items.
posted by Gilbert at 6:21 PM on September 15, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by Gilbert at 6:21 PM on September 15, 2011 [2 favorites]
Yeah, $1-2 per gift is going to end up tacky. I can't even think of anything tacky-cool under that price point where there would be one for everyone. That being said, if it's a laid back dev group, you could always get several nerf guns for that price - that would totally go over well with me and my teammates.
Failing that, food is always good. Pizza, donuts, heck even a giant candy bowl. We were once thanked by a client with boxes of cupcakes - that was awesome!
posted by cgg at 6:21 PM on September 15, 2011
Failing that, food is always good. Pizza, donuts, heck even a giant candy bowl. We were once thanked by a client with boxes of cupcakes - that was awesome!
posted by cgg at 6:21 PM on September 15, 2011
Give a nice thank you card for each person, with a handwritten message thanking them for their contribution (be specific). Spend the remaining dough on coffee and donuts. These people probably make enough money that your $1-$2 per person will go unnoticed or even get laughed at unless it's something really meaningful. If you aren't willing to put in the time to make it meaningful and you don't have the cash to get something classy, then forget about it.
posted by Simon Barclay at 6:34 PM on September 15, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Simon Barclay at 6:34 PM on September 15, 2011 [1 favorite]
A case of Young's Double Chocolate Stout and a big vanilla cake with a list of the last N bugs that were fixed printed on it.
The cake shop should be able to print the image onto the cake, and this also assumes you can get said bug list. I'm a developer, and this would make me happy.
posted by hanoixan at 6:35 PM on September 15, 2011 [3 favorites]
The cake shop should be able to print the image onto the cake, and this also assumes you can get said bug list. I'm a developer, and this would make me happy.
posted by hanoixan at 6:35 PM on September 15, 2011 [3 favorites]
(er, a couple cases, and a bigger cake--forgot this was for 50 people)
posted by hanoixan at 6:36 PM on September 15, 2011
posted by hanoixan at 6:36 PM on September 15, 2011
Is this for developers in the company you work for? I'd try and requisition some money for a night out or something better than $1-$2 gifts.
posted by TheBones at 6:43 PM on September 15, 2011
posted by TheBones at 6:43 PM on September 15, 2011
You worked together as a team to deliver the project - so celebrate as a team. Use the money for a celebratory afternoon tea / morning doughnuts / end of day pizza - whatever works for your team. Make it an occasion. Make a speech. Make a cake! Make your team feel that the work they've put in has been recognised - as a team effort.
Enjoy!
(There is a place for recognising outstanding individual contributions, but that can be done without gifts and outside the team celebration)
posted by finding.perdita at 6:46 PM on September 15, 2011 [3 favorites]
Enjoy!
(There is a place for recognising outstanding individual contributions, but that can be done without gifts and outside the team celebration)
posted by finding.perdita at 6:46 PM on September 15, 2011 [3 favorites]
If the team will be humoured by your miserable miserly stinginess, then a mixed selection of these might go down well.
posted by the fish at 6:49 PM on September 15, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by the fish at 6:49 PM on September 15, 2011 [1 favorite]
Definitely food.
posted by carter at 6:53 PM on September 15, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by carter at 6:53 PM on September 15, 2011 [1 favorite]
Nthing cake, doughnuts or bagels, or pizza. Most of us don't need more stuff, but food makes people happy. And your $100 will go a lot further on food than on trinkets.
posted by aabbbiee at 6:54 PM on September 15, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by aabbbiee at 6:54 PM on September 15, 2011 [1 favorite]
+1 food. For that price range I would try candy, or cupcakes.
posted by ceribus peribus at 7:02 PM on September 15, 2011
posted by ceribus peribus at 7:02 PM on September 15, 2011
Maybe a newspaper or magazine subscription for the whole office?
posted by cestmoi15 at 8:44 PM on September 15, 2011
posted by cestmoi15 at 8:44 PM on September 15, 2011
They are superheroes - ergo, superhero pez.
posted by selfmedicating at 8:58 PM on September 15, 2011
posted by selfmedicating at 8:58 PM on September 15, 2011
Bag/box of Whoppers for each with a little tag attached that reads, "You did a WHOPPER of a job! Thanks!"
Bag of microwaveable popcorn with a note attached: "Just 'popping' in to say thank you!"
Can of soup with note: "You're 'souper'"
Small potted flower/plant with note: "So glad we picked you for the job!"
I could go on, but I think it only gets worse.
I asked a similar question last year - only it was regarding Christmas. But you could still tailor the ideas toward your purposes. And many of the ideas were not holiday-specific. Here it is.
posted by Sassyfras at 9:08 PM on September 15, 2011 [2 favorites]
Bag of microwaveable popcorn with a note attached: "Just 'popping' in to say thank you!"
Can of soup with note: "You're 'souper'"
Small potted flower/plant with note: "So glad we picked you for the job!"
I could go on, but I think it only gets worse.
I asked a similar question last year - only it was regarding Christmas. But you could still tailor the ideas toward your purposes. And many of the ideas were not holiday-specific. Here it is.
posted by Sassyfras at 9:08 PM on September 15, 2011 [2 favorites]
At my last job, we cut out early one day to do a post-work wine and cheese tasting for a job well done.
Coscto has a 1.5 liter of acceptbale Pinot for $7.99. You could ensure that everyone could have at least one glass and then spend the rest on Costco brie.
No one needs more tacky plastic keychains or stress balls.
posted by Ostara at 9:28 PM on September 15, 2011
Coscto has a 1.5 liter of acceptbale Pinot for $7.99. You could ensure that everyone could have at least one glass and then spend the rest on Costco brie.
No one needs more tacky plastic keychains or stress balls.
posted by Ostara at 9:28 PM on September 15, 2011
You can bring great joy to some offices by just breaking down and buying them some new whiteboard markers already.
posted by ceribus peribus at 10:00 PM on September 15, 2011 [4 favorites]
posted by ceribus peribus at 10:00 PM on September 15, 2011 [4 favorites]
Yep, stop work an hour early today and provide beers and snacks. A bit of sneaky time off makes everyone feel great if they've been working hard, and the beer and snacks will make sure everyone spends the hour together celebrating rather than just going home early. I have happy memories of the company I worked for who did this every time we won a big contract (although at least we got champagne there, not just a dollar's worth of beer...).
posted by penguin pie at 5:09 AM on September 16, 2011
posted by penguin pie at 5:09 AM on September 16, 2011
I agree with others that trying to spend less than $100 on 50 individual gifts isn't going to result in the gesture feeling meaningful. It'd probably be better to get the team something they could all use. Maybe a K-cup coffee maker for the office? (Yeah, it's a bit higher than your price range. Shop around, you might be able to do better. Try eBay?)
posted by Vorteks at 2:48 PM on September 16, 2011
posted by Vorteks at 2:48 PM on September 16, 2011
Drinks or snacks. I like the wine and snacks idea. Or a variety of six-packs.
Giving lottery tickets to people who likely have knowledge of statistics is not going to please them.
posted by orangejenny at 4:58 PM on September 16, 2011 [2 favorites]
Giving lottery tickets to people who likely have knowledge of statistics is not going to please them.
posted by orangejenny at 4:58 PM on September 16, 2011 [2 favorites]
To get gifts in this price range you need to go "intentionallly tacky" and make that part of the fun. Yeah, nobody needs another stress ball but ...
Thinkgeek has some fun stuff for $2 on clearance. Singing monkey balls. PC Case badges with "meh", "no", "RTFM" etc. Monkey mints. Could be fun.
Or you could fill some tiny Chinese takeout boxes ($.50 ea) with some chocolate covered espresso beans ($8.49/lb) and add a nice note of thanks.
Personally, I hope to never see another office pizza party. Ice cream, on the other hand... heck yeah! Make it a make-your-own sundae bar. $100 might be enough.
posted by evilmomlady at 4:01 PM on September 17, 2011 [1 favorite]
Thinkgeek has some fun stuff for $2 on clearance. Singing monkey balls. PC Case badges with "meh", "no", "RTFM" etc. Monkey mints. Could be fun.
Or you could fill some tiny Chinese takeout boxes ($.50 ea) with some chocolate covered espresso beans ($8.49/lb) and add a nice note of thanks.
Personally, I hope to never see another office pizza party. Ice cream, on the other hand... heck yeah! Make it a make-your-own sundae bar. $100 might be enough.
posted by evilmomlady at 4:01 PM on September 17, 2011 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 6:02 PM on September 15, 2011 [4 favorites]