Help needed for £20 secret Santa presents for family please

[Swifey]

There will be 7 grown ups, both sexes!! The children are exempt, and will get proper presents! My family is coming back from Sweden to spend Christmas with us, so flights are around £900, so expensive already. We will go to the carol service, and shopping in Bath, and lovely walks etc, so decided that presents are just an expense that we don't really need! The budget is £20 each, but nothing tacky, as in no novelty items, so, any ideas ladies? We have also agreed on a £5 present per person, I had thought a miniature perfume/aftershave but any other ideas greatly received too! Thanks in advance ladies xx

I'd ditch the £5 per person idea if you are doing Secret Santa (I thought that was part of the point, to avoid having to do lots of presents?). It's quite hard to do decent £5 for adults (kids are a doddle) without resorting to Boots 3 for 2 shower gel sets etc

For £20 I'd do things like:

• hard back books
• Gap jumpers (in the sale)
• wine glasses (try TK Maxx for eg Dartington Crystal)
• baking stuff (Lakeland , TK Maxx )
• gloves with finger pads so you can use smart phones
• big box of Hotel Chocolat

Any good?

Brilliant Families I like the idea of the books, and the gloves, especially the gloves, as they live in Sweden and its blooming cold out there!! The jumpers could be tricky, as its for both sexes!! ??

I'm a bit confused about your comment "it's for both sexes", Swifey. When we do a Secret Santa we know which individual we're buying for!

Sorry, I didn't explain myself properly! We all but a present for £20, without knowing who it's for, they go into a pile, and then we play a game with dice, and that's how you get your present!??! It's a Swedish thing, but it makes it much harder!!

I usually suggest fleece welly liners for stuff like this. They have revolutionised my winters and you can usually pick up Hunter ones for around £15. But I imagine the Swedish people already have pretty sophisticated winter outdoor wear.

Do they drink alcohol?

If so, a nice bottle of wine or port and a box of Lindor.

If not, a book token or WHS voucher.

I love this range of mugs for cheap but interesting presents. They are massively well packaged and I'm sure they could trav back to Sweden in hand luggage easily.

Boots 3 for 2 has some selections of perfumes in miniature sizes but you do need to choose a men's or women's set. Do you have the option to swap/steal gifts as part of the secret Santa? Also Boots (and other places!) have nice cooking sets eg tagging plus spices and recipes for £20.

The Tate has a great shop.

How about this brooch reduced to £3.75 from £7.50

Or these soap crayons are fun.

Here's a selection of their gifts for under £25

Here's their Clearance & special offers

The Nice makeup sets are always brought out at christmas so you could try those. some are £20 and under. eg ive seen a benefit one.

if anyone likes mugs i think the dunoon ones are nice. you can get specific ones for certain hobby types etc or they just have some real colourful ones.

i like evosolo cups.

Molton brown hand cream or hand wash.

You could try Bettys in harrogate. They have some hampers or luxury biscuits and you can buy online. you can probably get something for £20. The tea is lovely.

boxset of novels from the book people.
small food hamper put together by you.
dvd and some treats in a basket.
bargain dvd box set.
nice pen.
soft fleecy throw.
adult board game.
fondue set.
some high class christmas decorations.

a cocktail set and some vodka or gin?

My family do secret Santa (traditional style). This year we have my dad & my bro. Both t-total & no real hobbies so hard to buy for-tho just remembered my bro now reads biographies so any recs gratefully accepted!

I'll probably get them both a hamper of stuff & throw in some socks & maybe a scarf. Chutneys & jams always feature in my hampers but I do find it hard to buy for people who don't need or want anything so would rather get them something they'll actually use.

For unisex presents in the past I've bought bits to put together, e.g. mini Filofax & scratchcard & box of maltesers. Tk maxx is good for candles, baking stuff, mugs, bedding, loads of stuff! Also, can you swap presents with someone at the end? I'm just thinking if there's something one or 2 people would really like can you get that as a present & leave it to the fates to see who receives it?!