29 Best Secret Santa Gifts Under $25 That Feel Thoughtful

Good for when you drew a name and know nothing else about them. The mixed box of milk, dark and white truffles covers most tastes, the holiday packaging means you skip wrapping, and at about $15 there's room to add a card. Recipients often share it around the office, which also earns you some goodwill.

A large bag of wrapped milk and dark squares that lives in a desk drawer for weeks and gets dipped into at 3 p.m. It's a good choice for a colleague with a sweet tooth, and it's kosher-certified for exchanges where that matters.

For the coworker who always has a tea bag string hanging off their mug. This bergamot, vanilla and lavender blend is a big step up from break-room black tea, and thirty pyramid sachets in a reusable tin look much more expensive than about $12.

The squeeze bottle home cooks keep posting about. If your Secret Santa match ever talks about what they made for dinner, they'll enjoy a peppery finishing oil they might not splurge on for themselves. Tie a ribbon around the neck and it's done.

The best gift on this list at the full $25. Four raw honeys from different American regions turn a pantry staple into a tasting, which tea drinkers, bakers and anyone who builds a cheese board will enjoy. It's food, so it won't add clutter, but it feels far more considered than a box of cookies.

Four little jars of Italian jam and marmalade, about the right size for a few weekend breakfasts. It's a sweet pick for a friend who hosts brunch, and at roughly $15 you could pair it with the London Fog tea and still stay under the limit.

If your recipient's coffee goes cold on the desk while they answer email, this fixes that. The auto shut-off timer is important for an office gift, since nobody wants to be the person who left a hot plate on over the weekend. It's useful, impersonal enough for someone you barely know, and around $19.

A cheap way to make a plain gray desk look better. The botanical print covers the keyboard and mouse area, and the water-resistant top survives the inevitable coffee drip. It's a good gift for a remote coworker whose background you've seen on camera.

For the colleague who hunches over a laptop at the kitchen table or in the office. Raising the screen to eye level helps posture more than most gadgets, and it folds flat to carry between home and office on hybrid days.

A gift for the person who takes notes in every meeting. It's right at the $25 line, its elastic band and ribbon look professional enough for a manager, and the 240 pages will carry them through most of next year's projects.

The gift that turns a lifelong ballpoint user into someone with opinions about ink. The stub nib makes ordinary handwriting look more polished, it arrives in a proper Pilot box, and it pairs well with a notebook if your exchange allows a small stretch.

Stanley's popular brand at a Secret Santa price. This 16-ounce mug fits a car cup holder and keeps the morning commute coffee hot until the first meeting ends. It's a reliable choice for the commuter in your exchange.

Four small framed canvases is a lot of evenings for under $20. The colored canvas makes it forgiving for someone who claims they can't paint, and the finished flowers come framed, ready to hang or give away.

For the friend who keeps saying they need a hobby that isn't their phone. Three printed patterns and video tutorials take a total beginner from first stitch to finished hoop, and it fits on a lap during a show or a long flight home for the holidays.

The most talked-about gift at most exchanges. Open the box, mist it, and in about ten days there are real oyster mushrooms to sauté. It suits cooks, plant people and anyone who likes a weird science project, and it doesn't need soil or a sunny window.

Everything to grow basil, cilantro and two more culinary herbs on a kitchen windowsill, from seeds to soil. Give it to the coworker who brings homemade lunches; by late winter they'll be snipping their own herbs over pasta.

Three hanging glass shapes for the plant person who has run out of shelf space. The kit comes empty, so for a complete gift add an air plant or let the recipient fill them with moss and succulents they already have.

A December candle that most people will happily light. Balsam & Cedar smells like a real Christmas tree rather than perfume, so it works even for people who dislike sweet candles, and the large jar burns for most of the winter. It's a safe choice for a neighbor or a friend's partner.

A bath-bomb-style treat for apartment dwellers who only have a shower. Each tablet fills the steam with lavender, which makes a winter shower feel like a short spa break. The scent and packaging are neutral enough to give to anyone in the exchange.

If you know your match is reading something, even just because you saw a novel on their desk, this little light will get used every night. The warm setting is easy on the eyes late at night, it lets them read without waking a partner, and one charge lasts weeks of bedtime chapters.

For the friend group or office where everyone's a little bit silly. Grown-ups collect Squishmallows openly now, and Ludwig the frog usually ends up on a desk chair or as the sofa's mascot. It always gets a reaction when it comes out of the bag.

Often opened and played on the spot at the party itself. Rounds take about fifteen minutes, the rules fit on one card, and the cat art is cartoonish rather than crude, so it's fine for an office exchange or a family that includes teens.

For the friend who hosts game nights. Codenames works for four to eight or more players, teaches in two minutes, and suits word lovers more than competitive gamers. The second edition is just under $25.

Everyone already knows UNO, and this version adds Wild Draw 10s and stacked penalties that make a family game night loud. The tin survives being thrown in a suitcase for the holidays, which is when it'll get played.

A small gadget that people end up using daily. It turns on when you pull it off the magnetic cap, so finding the front-door keyhole in the dark becomes easy. Good for the gear-minded person in your group who already seems to have everything.

It sounds boring until the first winter storm turns their cheap umbrella inside out. This one is wind-tested, opens and closes with a button, and weighs under a pound. It's the practical gift people thank you for later, especially city commuters.

For anyone carrying a bulging wallet full of old receipts. This slim leather card holder fits a front pocket, blocks RFID skimming, and at about $13 leaves room to add a gourmet treat to reach your limit.

The safest tech gift when you don't know someone's phone, because Tile works on both iPhone and Android. Clip it to the keys of the coworker who's always patting their pockets before leaving, and the app will ring them every time.

It looks like a wine gift but works just as well for coffee, iced tea or seltzer, so it's appropriate even at work. The lidded, shatter-proof tumbler suits a friend who's always on a patio, at the pool or on the sidelines of a kids' game.