What's your best work gift exchange haul?
0So my work gift exchange just ended, and I'm kind of disappointed. It was the yankee-swap/white elephant type of exchange where you can steal gifts.The gift I gave was a grab bag including:
- Meh-procured Iogear Pocketable Powerbank
- Meh-procured cutting boards
- Meh-Fuku-procured Flintstones mug
- 2 bottles of Sam Adams Boston Lager (Darn seasonal inclusion)
- A unicorn mask
I left with a gift certificate to a local deli. I guess I should have stolen my gift back.
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I have worked from home for the last 6 years. My anti-social coworkers and I haven't done a gift exchange in as many years.
I don't think I've ever come out ahead. I always ended up with gaudy Christmas decoration or candles. I mean, that's fine if you're a middle-aged and up woman (I guess anyway), but I'm not.
@capguncowboy Boy do I wish I'd gotten you in the exchange. You'd love all the decorations and candles and tutus I'm sending out. lisaviolet - "and up woman".
We haven't done a gift swap at work in a few years. The last one I can remember was mostly gift cards. People were too busy/lazy to go shopping for "real" gifts. A couple of other gifts were from extreme cheapos or had a huge "ick" factor attached to them. No one was sad to see the exchange go away.
My favorite was probably a full bottle of Jameson. Nothing else has been good enough to stick in my memory at all.
I've never had any of my workplaces do gift exchanges, but @dis_member, I got burned in one of those steal-a-gift exchanges too- It was at a gardening group party. I gave a gorgeous garden statue, and I wound up getting a few crappy little Tupperware containers. I'm guessing they were the freebies that you get for hosting a Tupperware party. :/
I got a bottle of Connemara, which I had never heard of. Turns out it's one of the few peated Irish Whiskeys.
2 years ago, i got 2 lbs of bacon. it's how we discovered our current butcher.
@carl669 you win!
@JonT actually, i think the butcher won. we've spent ridiculous amounts of money there over there last 2 years. i really need to just buy my own livestock. although, i'm not sure how the HOA would feel about it.
Our vet clinic does the gift exchange/steal thing. Sometimes I get something ok, but the staff almost always gets me a bottle of whisk(e)y. Last year I got a bottle of Glenlivet 18yo. There are benefits to being the guy who cuts the payroll checks.
First time in many years I've done one. $15 card to the liquor store included (price cap was $20). There were 4 of the little bottles.
We did ours yesterday. I entered for my mom and for myself, so I put in one of the tablet bluetooth cases from Meh and the IPhone speaker dock that came in my fukuburo. I left with a glass beverage dispenser like the one below and 6 glasses. I stole it from my boss. My mom ended up with some Christmas decorations I didn't think much of but she liked a lot. The speaker dock was a hit because someone with an IPhone stole it and was very happy to get it. But a tech-illiterate coworker I am friends with ended up with the keyboard so I took it back and promised her something she'll like more. Now I need to find something nice for her.
I think the best we've ever received was a three-pack of various-lengthed Stanley tape measures. And we got some coolish flashlights once.
My wife and I are kind of legends at my work gift exchange. Or pariahs. I'm honestly not sure which. Probably both. But we try to make it fun. At least one of the gifts we contribute is either somewhat used, bought but never opened or ostentatiously regifted. But we make a point of exceeding the suggested value ($10-$15) without (usually) actually making much if any specific cash outlay. Some samples:
A mostly unused hugeass (Costco-sized) and expensive bottle of conditioner to which my wife had a severe allergic reaction. We included photos from the Emergency Room visit (we were there all night) and her smiling underneath her "fivehead."
The year of my celiac diagnosis, we bought a big grocery bag full of flour and other verboten products, which I generously labeled with wheat-themed skull-and-crossbones, Mr Ick symbols, etc. Most of the stuff was unopened, but we topped it off with a box little Christmas tree cakes, just to make up for any gross factor. It was a great conversation starter for a few months and got people sort of onboard with not throwing gluten at me.
The next year we brought our old waffle iron, which I had mostly cleaned up but we were never gonna use again (because of the flour) and some other used appliance with other stuff. This gift was actually stolen twice.
A fairly large box full of pens and other IT event swag that I'd accumulated over the years, accompanied by a bunch of (unopened, but they'd been lying around the house--from the first wife--for years, and we still have too many, according to current wife) Post-Its and DayTimer products. This gift was also stolen.
We gave a decent collection of meh fuku leftovers this year; kindle case, Scissorhands CD case and several other items. The lovely onomatopoeia mugs (which I so wanted to keep) went to a snazzier gift exchange.
The wife sees the work gift exchange as an opportunity to unload crap that's sitting around the house. She hates crap sitting around the house. But we're mindful to make it something that someone might want.
TL;DR? Here, smile and take our excess crap.
The work gift exchange has been advertised as potentially gag gift--and there's a recommended cash limit that somewhat precludes anything super nice. My philosophy is that the gift should be somewhat odd and you shouldn't go into it expecting anything useful or even necessarily moderately desirable; it's more about the experience. One of my buddies was lamenting that he contributed a $25 Starbucks card (it was a prize from another event) and got some crap candle. I think it's a little silly to be disappointed by the exchange. It is what it is. Have fun, goddamnit.
Which, I think it's cool to give something awesome, but kinda silly to expect something awesome in return, because that assumes that everyone is awesome. They're not.
@joelmw I usually aim for something I won't immediately discard. Something entertaining is better than something useful, and both trump something 'valuable', since then there is a guilt factor. Booze was encouraged for the work exchange--I think there were 19 participants, and about half brought alcohol, a quarter did gift cards (Dunkin Donuts, mostly) and the other gifts included candles, a blanket, a sports duffel bag, and scratch tickets.
@Mavyn I would love it if our work exchange allowed for alcohol and other adult gifts. But it doesn't; I work for local government. And, well, many of the people in the office are conservative Christians anyway, so that could be very awkward. Oh, yeah, and it's sort of a family thing. Sometimes there are a few kids. That could be really awkward.
@joelmw Exactly the same here.
@joelmw This is the first time I've worked someplace that did an exchange where booze was allowed. I work for a hospital. HA!
The all-time best gift that I've seen at our work exchange: One of the guys found an old Wal-Mart gift card while cleaning out his car. He had no idea what was on it. Might have been $100, might have been 50 cents. He put the card, together with the nicely typed up story, in a lovely frame. No, I don't know what was ever discovered about its value.
Ooh, I got one of these once. We don't eat cereal much, but it's still an awesome bowl. My favorite use is to put caramel or peanut butter in the upper compartment and apple slices in the lower, larger one.
@joelmw I've been wanting one of those bowls for years!
@Pony Ha. I had too. And I don't use it often, but I still smile every time I see it or think about it. It's technology; or innovation at least. It is so cool. Buy it. Totally worth it, IMO. Or talk someone else into buying it for you. BTW, they're huge.
@joelmw I put it on my Amazon wish list. I'll buy one after the holidays. :)
Last night I walked away with 12oz of Ghirardelli chocolates. The expiration date is 12/31/2014.
Yes. That is my best haul from a work exchange. Ever.
The important thing is I had fun... and the satisfaction of seeing the gift I contributed being stolen enough times to hit the limit and go out of play.
A fax machine. Well, strictly speaking it wasn't part of the office gift exchange, but the office gift exchange did provide the distraction necessary to get it out of there.
@Starblind This is a lot funnier to me than it should be.
I am on my way to a work party now. They specifically said real and gag gifts are both acceptable, so we'll see what happens...
@Kleineleh
@Starblind Even funnier because the party tonight was at a Putt-Putt/bowling/arcade place
I got this bearded hat this year - Pretty happy with it - You can just see my massive curly hair hidden behind the yarn.
@Quazie Awesome! Aside from the bacon i think this is the best thing I've heard of being in a company gift exchange.