You were all so extremely helpful on the Co-Worker Holiday Gift post that I am STILL not entirely sure what to get for all my co-workers, because there are TOO MANY WONDERFUL IDEAS. I have jotted down my favorites, and will save this year’s non-used ideas for future years.
I found out today that there is a WORKPLACE HOLIDAY PARTY with a YANKEE SWAP. This should not have been a surprise to me, since this is my fourth holiday season at this workplace. But the first year, the party was for the same night as a friend party I’d already agreed to go to. And the second and third year there was a pandemic on, so I didn’t go. This year there is still a pandemic on, but I am going to go to the party.
I don’t know what THEY consider the rules of the Yankee Swap. I don’t know if MOST people typically bring joke gifts, though I know there is typically at least ONE joke gift (one year it was a Men in Kilts calendar; last year there was something no one would tell me about, saying “What happens at Work Party stays at Work Party”). There is no price range given for the gift. I am thinking…$30? $20? $25? Something in that vicinity.
William worked for the library before I did; and the two years he went to the party, he didn’t care what gift he brought, whereas I was extremely keen to choose for him. One year I sent him with one bag each of like six or seven different Pepperidge Farm holiday (CHRISTMAS) cookies, and I wrapped them in a long line (but side by side, not end to end) so the gift would be an intriguing shape; I liked how those were festive, but wouldn’t go stale anytime soon, so could be kept for after the holidays—or, if not wanted, could easily be handed out to others in a festive manner. The other year, I sent him with a big container of chocolate Christmas tree ornaments (SORRY NON-CHRISTMAS-CELEBRATING CO-WORKERS, I WAS NOT THINKING). I asked him just now what other gifts he could remember people bringing; he remembered a big gift pack of assorted Ghirardelli chocolate squares, and that’s it.
As with the small individual gifts, my main priority (now) is that it not scream CHRISTMAS, as there are KNOWN non-Christmas-celebrators among my co-workers. And once again, I am not taking into account food allergies, scent sensitivities, etc., as there are NOT any known issues among my co-workers. I am not ruling out book-related ideas, but on the other hand I feel like this group has already covered all the book-related ideas. Oh: and I need it in a week and a half, so it can’t be something I should have started on last week/month.
My real goal, my secret goal, is to WIN. However we define “win.” I want to WIN.
This does not, however, have to be a discussion just of “What Should Swistle Bring as a Workplace Yankee Swap Gift.” I would be JUST AS if not MORE interested in hearing what YOU bring and/or are bringing and/or have brought as a workplace-or-non-workplace swap gift; or about what OTHER PEOPLE have brought to your workplace-or-non-workplace gift swaps. ANYTHING you remember about what people brought, and what other people thought. What were the gifts people FOUGHT over? What were the really MEMORABLE gifts—good or bad? What were the good sturdy options? TELL ME EVERYTHING YOU REMEMBER
To add my own anecdote: the two gifts I’ve seen fought over at previous Yankee Swaps were BOTH throw blankets.
My department had our own white elephant swap this week. We were asked to regift or bring a gently used item with a value of about $20. The most popular gifts were (1) a bottle of wine with a box of crackers and some cheese, (2) a bottle of wine, (3) a pack of fancy beer along with fancy nuts. Clearly there is a theme among my coworkers. I was delighted with the gift I received, which was chocolates and a pine scented candle. Despite the instruction to bring something used or regift, lots of people bought some kind of food item.
I have tried three strategies for White Elephant gift swaps, which I think are basically the same thing…I don’t if any of them count as winning though:
1) A Charity Gift Certificate (https://www.charitygiftcards.com/) – this was a good I didn’t have time to go shopping option, and I think certain kinds of very particular people are grateful to have a way to participate in the gift swap that doesn’t actually involve bringing something home with them. My boss ended up stealing it.
2) Sardines – the theory is that gift swaps are disappointing if no one steals anything, and I am willing to steal the sardines from whoever opens them up because my family eats sardines – which comes as a huge relief to the person who first opened them, and sets of a cascade of stealing after that, and I am actually the kind of very particular people who are grateful to not bring anything home from a gift swap. But there is a risk that I won’t get a chance to steal them. And also nobody every understands my logic. So I’m not 100% sure I recommend this one.
3) Play tickets for the Making of the Star Wars Christmas Special – This isn’t something anyone else can copy, because it was an original play put on in my hometown in 2020 and will probably never be put on again. But it was funny watching the divide in the room between people who absolutely knew what the Star Wars Christmas Special was, and the people who had no idea. And I ended up stealing it because it didn’t seem like the person who got the tickets actually wanted them, and the play was actually pretty awesome.
Oh and one time my husband brought this: https://www.squattypotty.com/
Our friend ended up taking it home and loving it. His wife has never forgiven us.
My [former] office did this every year and it was so much fun. Our budget was around $20-25.
Some things I have bought: insulated wine bag w/corkscrew, some fun looking office supplies (basically fancy post-its and notepads), jigsaw puzzle and some city-themed snow globes.
Some things I have received: lottery tickets, wine glasses, fancy snacks, portable phone charger/extra cord.
It really is fun to package it so it looks like something else entirely. You can’t judge a book by it’s cover and all that!
Can’t wait to read all about it!
No recollection of what, if any, gifts were big hits at previous gift exchange/Yankee Swap style parties (other than miserable grade-school experiences). However, I have been to a couple of different ornament exchanges, done Yankee Swap style (I’m assuming this is the term for when everyone takes a number and then chooses to either open a gift or take an already opened gift from another person, yes?), and the most memorable was a glass ornament shaped like the leg lamp from A Christmas Story (my husband ended up with it, but I recall everyone wanting it). I feel like that says something about nostalgia-based gifts or gifts that straddle the line between joke and genuinely appealing, but I’m not sure how to extrapolate that to non-ornament gifts.
For the exchange I’m involved in this year (the PTA executive board), I had narrowed it down to two possibilities:
-the real wax/electric bulb candles you recommended in a previous post, which I went ahead and ordered because they were on sale
-a drinking game I stumbled across at the World Market called “Shoots and Ladders” (haha, get it?) which is basically a glass game board and some shot glasses. No booze included. Both gifts at or near the $20 limit.
It’s essentially a choice between “would *I* want this?” (yes to the candles, no to the game) vs. “will this be appealing/entertaining to this particular group of PTA moms?” (yes to the game, maybe, maybe not to the candles).
When I sent my friend and fellow board member a picture of the game, she sent back a cry-laughing emoji and said if I didn’t get it, she would, so that’s what I’m going with, because (a) she’s way more attuned to what gifts people might like than I am, and (b) the candles would be a lovely gift for anyone who likes that sort of thing, but if there is a way to WIN with this particular group, I think the drinking game will be it. Because I too like to WIN these sorts of things – as I kid, my mom always picked out GREAT gifts that were in high demand and stolen a lot, yet I always ended up somehow with the saddest offerings, which was sort of winning AND losing, but I definitely prefer to be a better giver than getter as an adult.
The Squatty Potty is unequivocally one of the best things I own.
And I think the concept of bringing something you yourself would be willing to steal is a great one, especially if you have a mixed group where some would find certain gifts great/funny while others would feel stuck with something they didn’t want or need.
Haha, I have replied to my own comment rather than the one I meant to, lovely.
Anyway, that should read “when I was a kid, my mom …”
Throwing up my hands in complete defeat and embarrassment and logging off now.
People fought for two kinds of gifts: consumables (popcorn bucket with a redbox gift card, a couple bags of microwave popcorn, a candy and a few fun popcorn flavor toppings), and usables (post-it notes of assorted sizes and a set of pens in a variety of colors).
The gift nobody wanted (and I got stuck with) was a golf putt kit designed to be used while sitting on a toilet. :-(
OMG! I saw one of those at goodwill and thought it was absolutely hilarious, but no. I would not want it.
Squatty potty, though? They are the best. I love mine.
I am thinking of gifts I would never choose to buy for myself but that I would still actually use: wine stoppers (for cork bottles) and something like a cheese cutting set for hosting (not that we host much). Love hearing all the answers!
Oh, man. I wish workplaces would be more clear on their rules for Yankee Swap, because it can go wrong in so many ways. (Visit askamanager.org for some AMAZING horror stories, if you’re interested. One of my favorite sites.) I think the slightly jokey but not too inappropriate gift is the way to go. One of the most popular gifts that I remember was a gift card to a burrito place (Chipotle, Moe’s, whatever is around you) and a bottle of beano/pepto bismol. Practical but also funny. I’d say about $20 is usually the limit, but I work for the government, so we tend to be pretty strict.
At one holiday party, I know a giant bucket of Mr. Potato Head with parts was frequently stolen. Maybe some sort of f
My husband brings a bunch of lottery scratch-off tickets to my family’s yankee swap every year. They’re stolen back and forth mercilessly and fought over every time.
Another one that went over nicely was a very nice cheese board with a set of cheese knives. I once ended up with an electric griddle that I use regularly. Another year I got an electric omelet maker and that one was a bust. This year I think I might bring a waffle iron or a breakfast sandwich maker because I’ve had my eye on those for awhile.
When my friend group did a yankee swap a long time ago someone brought a huge gift bag – like one of those enormous ones – full of $30 worth of stuff from the dollar store: ramen, toilet paper, paper towels, hangers, a salt & pepper shaker, you get the idea. And in 1999 you could buy a lot in a dollar store with 30 bucks. It was amazing and everyone wanted it. He definitely won the yankee swap.
My best advice is to try to bring something you wouldn’t mind bringing home again.
In my pre pandemic office, wine and chocolate were always popular. But one year, a game of bananagrams was the most stolen gift.
The last couple of times I went to one of these, in one a popular item was a mini cast iron skillet which someone got very angry at my SMALL CHILD for keeping. Another similar story of a winter themed Mickey and Minnie Mouse pair of stuffies which again my small child kept and people were angry because they wanted it for their grandkids. We… don’t hang out with those people anymore. But a cast iron skillet may be a good idea???
I am still embarrassed about my yankee swap flop from 15 years ago. I was in college, I didn’t have a car, it was before online shopping. The college store had a slinky. I thought it was kind of funny, quirky, nostalgic. Huge FLOP. person opening it looked visibly disappointed opening it. No one stole it. I will admit, I didn’t think to steal back to be kind. Good tip to tuck away!
I think a slinky would be fun. People are so weird. You can at least find a child and wow them for a while. Until they inevitably pull on it and stretch it.
Haha, yes, I think a slinky would be a fabulous choice, actually.
One of my favorites in the office is this mug, paired with a bottle of Baileys. The mug is actually a non ce one, 15oz and heavy made. World’s Okayest Boss Employee – 15oz Double-Sided Coffee Tea White with Black Inlay Mug https://a.co/dOcR9dg
Alcohol is always the most sought after in my office. Especially those “gift sets” where you get a bottle and a cup or something like that.
I got a mini leg lamp night light (from Christmas Story) last year.
I gave dinosaur taco holders. My person didn’t seem happy.
Biggest flops I’ve seen: fake, Halloween (purple/orange) eyelashes. safety goggles.
Who would be unhappy with dinosaur taco holders? You work with monsters
I love to give these with the Dinosaurs love Tacos book!
I was going to say that you can never go wrong with a super soft blanket (and this time of year, Costco usually has gloriously plush ones for really good prices!). One year for a gift exchange at my uncle’s we brought a MONSTER sized toilet paper roll (you have to get them from Charmin, not the store, and they sell out pretty quickly. But it was MASSIVE, like the size of a really big Christmas wreath). Everyone thought it was an okay present, but when the pandemic hit right afterwards and nobody could buy toilet paper, I BET HE WAS PRETTY STOKED TO HAVE IT! ;) My mom likes doing movie themed baskets (it might be a bit harder in this era of streaming, because she’d usually include 2 DVDs with some popcorn and movie theater boxes of candies, but it could still be reworked somehow for these more modern times!). If it’s all adults, boozy drinks can be fun (like little bottles of yummy things to add to some fancy hot cocoa, maybe?). I feel like CVS or Big Lots might be the kind of place you could wander down a random aisle and find, like, a cheap S’mores making kit! Or some other super random thing that COULD be fun to try, even if you wouldn’t usually set out to find or buy such a thing for yourself. So yeah, I’d probably head to Big Lots to see if there were any random treasures, and if I didn’t stumble on anything, hit the grocery or liquor store on the way home and package something up ;)
The most heated steaming in a yankee swap I’ve ever seen was over a squatty potty 😂
Yankee Swap at my old job was consistently 85% fancy booze, with lots of aggressive stealing from those who received less boozy presents. Well, lots of stealing in general. My first swap there I got tag-teamed by two of my co-workers who really wanted the bourbon. The last swap we had pre-pandemic I had first choice (picked #1 out of the hat) and everything I opened was stolen, including a dust buster, See’s candies, a couple of gift cards and a LEGO set.
I learned later that the employees who have been there forever make a pact to target one co-worker’s gifts to ensure active swapping is happening, because Yankee Swap without swapping is No Fun.
Swap is a weird word.
Oooh, a dust buster! I’d want that! Practical items can be awesome!
Some Yankee swaps turn into booze swaps, but I find that boring. Some of the more fun gift items included:
– Flingshot Flying Monkey Plush Toy
(We worked in cubicles and it was hilarious when the boss would send them flying)
– Fart Machine with remote (great stocking stuffer for grandkids)
– Pooping Unicorn Popper Toy (they have these in holiday theme poppers too, but the unicorn is just better)
– Pimple Pete Board Game
Food was always safe, whether it was the giant Toblerone or homemade fudge in a holiday dish. Oddest? A boss once wrapped a bag of fire ant killer. But the most fun was the year I popped a can of Spotted Dick into a gift bag. World Market carried it, I bought it, and throughout the exchange could be heard cries of ‘Get your hands off my dick’ and things went south from there. Perhaps not the best choice for work, but a fine, fine choice at an adult gathering.
Another vote for a posy of lottery/scratch tickets- I just saw this recommended at Cup of Jo and I thought it was brilliant. You could wrap them in a mason jar to throw people off. Or get yourself to HomeGoods/Marshalls and let the retail gods guide your hand.
My favourite gifts were chocolates or wine, but the most memorable was when I was in an office, back in the early 2000s. There was a tie that was silkscreened with a photo of one of our VPs, who was photographed wearing a clown nose. This tie was passed around for years, and was an extremely coveted item. Whoever ended up with the Ron Tie would display it for the year. Then the trade floor got too big to do the Yankee Swaps, and whoever had the last one was the owner of the tie for life, I guess. I wonder whatever happened to it.
I got a mini Lego Wonder Woman light up key chain one year at our office Yankee swap, which has been on my work desk every year since then.
One thing I tried that I thought was a good idea, but was not coveted: a small glass pickle dish and some kind of weird pickles from Whole Foods.
One thing I tried that was well received: a Bob Ross chia pet! I found it at Walgreen’s, I think.
Like other people, I’ve seen spirited fights over lottery tickets.
This year: I’m doing one with a friend group and we have a “no purchasing” rule. I’m still thinking about what I can possibly dredge up to use.
Part of me wonders if you have a shelf/bin you could pull a Library Discard (fully discharged) book from for free and then slip a bookshop.org or local bookstore or even Barnes and Noble gift card in? Bonus points for the book being one that *no one* would want upon first opening; a tech book from 30 years ago, etc., or a ridiculous book.
Foods that people want *right then* seem to get stolen a lot; secondly, yes, super-plush throw blankets (I feel like some people want them for themselves, and others see them and go “that would be a perfect gift for [hard to buy for person in their extended family]”); then gift cards (ideally with a tiny themed object that is $1 or so) or other cash equivalents.
The Target site has a $10 mug that says “I ❤️ Meetings.” I want it very much but would not buy fit for myself. I think it’s the type of thing that would go over well at many workplaces.
I often bring scratch tickets + something else small like a Starbucks gift card or a treat. No fun to only get scratch tickets if none of them are winners IMO!
My favorite ever yankee swap gift was Snoop Dogg’s cookbook (titled “From Crook to Cook”) along with a potholder that said “there’s weed in the food.” Probably not good for all workplaces of course but we all tried to steal that one.
At a friends annual yankee swap party where the same people come every year we spent about five years exchanging a giant canned cheddar cheese that my husband’s grandmother had sent us. It became a grand tradition of trying to wrap it in some way that no one would expect it was the can of cheese.
HAHAHA, the Snoop Dogg one is hilarious! I saw a gift set of a wine collaboration he is doing with Martha Stewart, so that’s kind of funny, too!
The last Yankee Swap party we went to we brought one of those kits (I guess that’s the right word) where you can make your car look like an elf (the ones I usually see on the road are with a red nose for the front bumper & antlers on the windows to look like a reindeer; I went with the elf because it was different and something I’d never seen before). Let me tell you, that thing was the most stolen gift. I think I found it at Walgreens, of all places.
I still remember the grad school swap where the most stolen gift was a used copy of Helen Gurley Brown’s Sex and the Single Girl. (My husband has a PhD in physics, and most of the attendees were physicists. I think that may explain the popularity of that particular gift, as there weren’t a lot of girls in those boys’ lives, and certainly no single ones). I don’t think I’ve participated in a swap since then!
Swap gifts people fought over, in my actual lived experience, despite some of them being things I had zero interest in:
A squatty potty
Home-roasted coffee
A road sign from the Autobahn meaning “no speed limit”
A fruit basket
A silicone microwave popcorn popping bowl filled with various popcorn flavoring… Powders?
A variety of socks
Multiple times: cozy baskets of chocolate/baked treats and sometimes slippers or socks or an eye mask or something
Some popular you Yankee Swap gifts I have seen in the past:
– a local sports team beach towel – these are available on Amazon for about $20
– Yeti water bottle – around $30 (depending on size)
– Lands End tote bags – around $25
I would do a party game (or bundle). A recent popular one is *Just One*, a very pretty one is *Hues and Cues*, and some funny ones are *Throw Throw Burrito*, *Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza*, and *Taco vs Burrito* (which I think is some combination of the previous ones?)
Games go over well in my friend group, as does silliness in general. I would avoid kitchen gadgets – even cute cookie cutters and tea infusers have been duds, in my experience.
Sightly different circumstances as my workplace doesn’t do a gift exchange but my daughter’s soccer team is doing a blind exchange with a $20 limit. Yesterday we got a very soft, fuzzy blanket with snowflakes on one side and sherpa type fleece on the other for $15 at Target. She got a tube of m&ms shaped like a candy cane and put it in the middle of the rolled up blanket. I thought was a good gift because it doesn’t scream Christmas, it’s nice and warm, and doesn’t really involve a lot of food that someone might or might not enjoy.
I feel sheepish suggesting this to the Calendar Queen, but funny ones in our gift swaps have been calendars like “Nature’s Butts” or “Big Cocks – A Classy Collection of Rooster Photography.” This also feels a tad mean-spirited, but I also saw a “People of WalMart” adult coloring book and a set of colored pencils get stolen a lot one year. But neither of those might be the right tone for your work group.
One year we did a four-opening picture frame with a pic of each member of our family holding a gift card, and we had four small-amount gift cards behind the pics. Do you have popular or notorious patrons that would consent to having a pic taken? That could be funny.
I also see nostalgia gifts being stolen a lot – deck of Uno cards, Clue game, etc.
A book with the insides cut out to make a hidey-hole with a gift card or lottery tickets could be fun.
I’m no help with funny gifts, but I do love taking home something I actually like. I took towels to a white elephant party that were originally a wedding present for a wedding I never attended. They were (in my opinion) a sickly pale golden yellow color, but my friend seemed to love them. I’d likely bring a really cute houseplant–I bet that would be a hot item especially if it had a funny pot.
We do this at work and we have a $15 limit. The thing I really remember people fighting over is a mini sledgehammer. ???? Baffling. But people kept on stealing it.
I’ve taken lottery tickets – a surprising dud! I thought people would want them. But I’ve also taken mini bottles of booze and had those traded a few times.
I have to confess…when I saw the title of this post, my brain went an entirely different direction. And until I read about 3 paragraphs in, I was thinking, “oh how lovely! Her workplace does a Yankee Candle exchange! That’s a great idea and you get to come home with an awesome candle!”
Note to self: Finish coffee before reading blog posts.
I’ve only participated in two swaps before. One was for my workplace and I did a big, supersoft fuzzy throw, CRAMMED into a teeny-tiny box to throw people off (it was the kind of swap that you steal without knowing what you’re taking and then everyone unwraps at the end). Big hit! The second was at an in-laws extended family get together and I bought a bunch (10 maybe) of small hand lotions with the idea that everyone can use extra lotion and this way they can try a bunch of kinds and figure out what they like best and it was the biggest flop. It kept being given away (I don’t remember quite how the rules worked) and eventually my fiancé ended up with it and we just took it home again and we haven’t been invited back again.
Some super popular items over the years: de-icer gadget for the car, fancy flashlight, multi-tool thing (kind of like a Swiss army knife). At a former job there was a sequined bra that got regifted year after year. At my current job, a passive-aggressive person contributed a book of angry feminist poetry as a not-so-subtle dig at office culture.
I have done very well with little fidget type toys that people love. One year I gave a rubics cube, a mini-Simon toy, and another one of those adult type fidgets and it was stolen at least twice.
Wine. Wine. Wine. But one year we got the snoring cracker barrel plush pig and for some reason, this was the gift that was fought over the most. I am giving blankets to my staff this year. Macys had $30 blankets for $10 on black friday and they are lush and beautiful and not necessarily christmas patterned. I love them!
The top thing I saw battled over at the last white Elephant I went to was a 1lb box of See’s.
Alcohol and chocolates are the things that get stolen most.
One of the smartest swap gifts I’ve ever seen was a cast iron waffle iron (about $10 at the time), waffle mix, and a tiny bottle of good maple syrup. That got stolen lots too.
The year that Snuggies were big, those got stolen a lot.
I was part of a yankee swap (we call it White Elephant, probably because yankee is like a swear word in the south) and someone had once gotten this very weird thing which re-appeared every year. I will try to describe it. Imagine a small plank of wood, say 5 inches by 10 inches. Onto that plank was mounted crocheted bre@sts (probably size DD or so). The n*pples were wooden pegs. I have literally no idea its origin or use, but one could mount it on a wall.
This got brought year after year and in different packaging to hide it. Then it disappeared for a few years and then re-appeared, just wrapped.
When it was finally opened, we all laughed so hard at how much time had been spent “feeling up” the return gift.
I remember attending something like a Yankee Swap with one of my brothers’ friend groups. There was an odd jug that was a hot commodity– I was told that it was a growler from a local beer place. The guy who ultimately won it was Very Intent on winning it, though others wanted it, too. After it was all done, he was prevailed upon to pour some out, and he did so under pressure… which is when it was revealed that the person who’d brought it had refilled the jug with water.
Wouldn’t be appropriate for work, most likely, but it was funny for that group.
The few Yankee Swap/White Elephants I’ve been to, I tend to go in with something I would legitimately like to win myself. Mostly because I find it so tiresome to have some dumb thing I would never want visited upon me, that I want to increase the odds that there will be actually nice things in the mix.
My coworkers have fought over a set of cheese spreaders that were themed, a bobblehead, and a murder mystery game. We did a white elephant where you bring an item to give away, not necessarily new. My sister has had good success with a cherry pitter (no one seems to have one and they come in handy), gift cards, or a decorative item from Marshalls/TJ Maxx
The name for this type of gift swap seems to be very variable here – white elephant is only for ones that are supposed to be regifts, and I know my Francophone colleagues have their own term, but I can’t remember what it is – but I’ve never heard the term “Yankee swap” and had to look it up to make sure it’s the same thing I’m thinking of. It is.
Some years we’ve had themes like “food”, and I remember that an Italian food kit containing a bag of very colourful pasta was one of the most stolen items. Others were maple syrup/honey the gifter had made/harvested themselves and a certificate for frozen venison the gifter had hunted. (I know; can we get any more Canadian?) As a photographer I used to make small calendars and sometimes gave those and people seemed to like them.
All that being said though, the items most reliably stolen were often alcohol – wine, beer, spirits. Even if someone like me who doesn’t drink got one, it was always stolen from me anyway.