White elephant gift ideas
Gifts that get stolen, grouped by budget. No gag socks, unless they're very good socks.
The best white elephant gift ideas are things everyone wants and nobody buys for themselves. Funny is fine, but funny and useful gets stolen three times. Pick your budget below.
White elephant gift ideas under $10
- 01
A big bar of good chocolate.
Food gets stolen first. Every time.
- 02
A pair of cozy fuzzy socks.
Nobody buys them, everybody wants them in December.
- 03
A lottery scratch ticket (or three).
The only gift that might be worth more than you paid.
- 04
A tin of fancy hot cocoa mix.
Winter in a tin. Pair it with a candy cane.
- 05
Novelty ice cube tray.
Skulls, dinosaurs, giant spheres. Silly and used all year.
- 06
A good pen.
Pen people will fight for it. Everyone else learns.
- 07
Reusable silicone food bags.
Practical in a way that surprises people.
- 08
A desk plant that's hard to kill.
A small succulent or snake plant cutting in a pot.
- 09
Phone stand or pop-up grip.
Cheap, small, and everyone has a phone.
- 10
A deck of playing cards with a twist.
Oversized, glow-in-the-dark, or a card game you can teach in a minute.
- 11
Microwave popcorn popper.
Turns a $10 gift into a movie night.
White elephant gift ideas under $25
- 01
A soft throw blanket.
The single most stolen gift in the history of office parties.
- 02
An insulated tumbler.
Keeps coffee hot through the morning meeting. Universally wanted.
- 03
A mini waffle maker.
Small, ridiculous, and it actually makes waffles.
- 04
Puzzle (500 to 1,000 pieces).
A quiet weekend in a box. Pick a pretty picture.
- 05
A bottle of nice olive oil or hot sauce.
Food again. A good bottle feels like a treat.
- 06
Heated hand warmers, rechargeable.
Everyone who commutes in winter wants these.
- 07
A board game for 4 to 8 people.
Pick one you can explain in two minutes.
- 08
A tiny bluetooth speaker.
Shower, kitchen, camping. Always useful.
- 09
A nice candle.
Steals well as long as it isn't the only candle at the party.
- 10
Cast-iron skillet, small.
Heavy, cheap, and lasts a lifetime. Big laugh on unwrap, then everyone wants it.
- 11
A bag of specialty coffee beans.
A gift that disappears in a week and is remembered.
- 12
Kitchen torch.
For crème brûlée and for feeling like a chef.
White elephant gift ideas under $50
- 01
A weighted blanket.
The grown-up version of the throw blanket. Expect three steals.
- 02
Noise-canceling earbuds (the budget kind).
Open-plan offices make this one easy.
- 03
An electric kettle with temperature settings.
Tea people and pour-over people will trade anything for it.
- 04
A milk frother.
Coffee-shop foam at home. Small, fun, used daily.
- 05
A cordless hand vacuum.
Crumbs, car seats, keyboards. Not glamorous, always stolen.
- 06
A sunrise alarm clock.
For everyone who hates the dark mornings.
- 07
A good chef's knife.
One great knife beats a block of bad ones.
- 08
Heated eye mask or neck wrap.
Spa night for the price of a dinner.
- 09
A smart plug set.
Lamps on a schedule. The kind of thing people never get around to.
- 10
A nice bottle of something.
Whiskey, a special wine, or a fancy non-alcoholic spirit. Check that everyone at the party is fine with alcohol first.
- 11
A streaming or audiobook gift card.
A bit boring to unwrap, but nobody hands it back.
- 12
Massage gun, compact.
Loud to unwrap, and then half the room wants a turn.
Have the gifts sorted and need to pick who goes first? The white elephant rules page has a turn timer and steal counter.
Doing Secret Santa instead? Draw names in a minute.