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Christmas present swap ideas
In lieu of individual presents this year, my family is doing a present swap/steal. What are things you may want to get in the $50-$75 range?
Flying so all my typical ideas would be difficult. Looking for inspiration. Also a chance that it comes back home with me...
- Chefs knife
- Bottle of booze
- High quality version of something common
- Flashlight
- Scissors/kitchen shears
- Blanket
- Simple tools
- Pocket Knife
A custom box of 200 Lindor truffles
No, this is not an ad.
Yes, I have done this before for a gift exchange. 😁 I left some extra room in my luggage in case I ended up with it. I am a little sad that I didn't.
The physical stores where one can go and fill the bags are fun :) samples are nice as well. I would be very pleased to get this gift and Woah 200 would last me all year
All year? Give me 5 days.
My advice? Go to a store like Target and just walk around, see what catches your eye.
Last year, my mom and I bought a Magic 8 ball, I think a Rubik's Cube, and tins of some nice hot chocolate. Someone else got an Amazon Echo Dot, and someone got a raunchy board game. Then years before that, I bought a foot care/spa thing (I think it was a dremmel drill?). I've also gotten fairy lights (which, come to think of it, I should find because we're moving next year and they could be fun).
A big part of the fun of the dirty Santa exchange is just the stealing. So get something you think would be fun or nice enough to cause people to "fight" over it!
Side-note, one of my favorite memories: someone brought a snow shovel... And wrapped it in wood. Was very fun watching them try to pry it open to see what it was!
Browsed online for a bit earlier and my current leading idea may be one of the botanical Lego sets? That or some random board/card games. Still debating...
For similar work events (albeit lower budget), I typically get something high quality but consumable so that it's easy for the recipient to quickly use / doesn't end up as clutter in their home. A food hall at a department store or a speciality bottle shop are good places to look.
Some examples:
After getting a moderately expensive bottle of balsamic vinegar, one idea I had was a bottle of the good stuff. There was such an improvement in flavor from a $4 to a $20 bottle, that I'm tempted to try a really expensive bottle.
Along those lines, a good bottle of soy sauce and mirin combo would be very lovely for me
Olive oil too in addition to what chocobean said! Expensive olive oil in a salad is soooo good
I just learned about these neat 3D laser cut wooden contraptions you can buy to put together; I bought one for a friend of mine, and my sister bought herself the printing press.
https://rokrpuzzles.com/store/
You can get them on Amazon as well.
Something I got once that was fun was a pile of science fiction and fantasy magazines. Analog, Asimov’s, Clarkesworld, and a few others.
I have an EDC kit I always carry around with me with a few of the things you mentioned in it, for below your price point even, which I can wholeheartedly recommend:
The LUMINTOP Tool AA 2.0 ($20) is the best tiny flashlight I've ever owned. It's insanely insanely bright for its size, and the battery life is excellent if you use a 14500 Li-ion battery instead of AAs. But since it can also use AAs it's easy to swap them in if your 14500 dies. It also comes with a glow-in-the-dark diffuser cap which is great for when you need to light up a whole room at once, or need a light source for an extended amount of time. Just pop the cap on, turn the flashlight on for 30s and you have 10-20min of diffuse green light. I love it so much I bought 4 more for around the house and in our cars for power outages and emergencies. :P
And the Roxon S501U Knife Scissors multitool ($32) is super handy too since unlike any other multitools with scissors, these ones are full sized and can actually cut through even thick nylon cordage, plastic cables ties, and such. The knife blade is also replaceable, and there is an alternative utility blade set for it which uses standard Stanley utility blades. I absolutely love it and use it almost daily.
In general, I totally agree. A good dependable flashlight is great to have on hand. And while I love a good multi-tool, the TSA is a little less accepting haha.
Ah, I missed that part of your post. Whoops! But hey, the knife is still a good gift request idea for later when you're home. :P
Certainly! How would you compare Roxon to Swiss? I have never had issues with the Swiss tools but always open to competition.
I've only ever used a tiny vintage Swiss Army knife, and it was pretty shit, IMO. The scissors were basically nail clippers in size so completely useless, and the tools were minuscule and a PITA to pull out. But I'm sure that's not indicative of most modern Swiss/Victorinox stuff.
I also have the Leatherman Surge pliers multitool though, which is absolutely awesome but deceptively heavy, and insanely expensive at $200 CAD. Its scissors are decent but still way too small for most of my needs, so that's why I got the Roxon with the full-size scissors and utility blade replacement to supplement it. I carry both in my EDC kit, and together they can do pretty much everything I need to get done.
As far as quality goes Leatherman is undeniably king, with Swiss not far behind them (I presume), but Roxon is solidly up there with them too. And the S501U soundly beats any other multitool I've ever owned of the same price. So I would definitely buy from them again.
Depending on the crowd, I like ifixit driver/bit kits for that kind of thing.
This one wouldn't work with your flying situation, but the funniest gift idea I've encountered in a white elephant game was a huge, Costco-sized package of toilet paper. People were really eyeing it and it got stolen a lot (we didn't unwrap until the end). We all laughed our heads off when it was finally revealed
That's honestly hilarious. Would have been even better if this was right after the 2020 craze
My family always fights over lottery tickets and gift-cards for the amount stated.
I like providing the odd gift of utility like you've stated. Go to home-depot and buy bucket, a roll of duct-tape, some epoxy and a multi-screwdriver.
I'd take that gift all day long.
Grab a gag gift that no one wants to get, like an old worn boot. Put a gift card under the insert if you want to play fair, but a gift that no one really wants to get adds a fun layer of strategy to your white elephant game.
Those are always good. For a previous year (only $30) I went to the bank and got a random assortment of coins. The tellers had fun with it.
I'm also fairly certain someone will show up with $75 in scratch offs/lotto tickets...
Two of my go-to gag gifts:
Both are under your budget, but you could pair either with something "good" to soften the blow.
The dog with 50 $1 taped into a line would be awful 😂
Search your heart. You know this to be the answer
I like your style!
uncut currency and a book on paper airplanes!