Gift ideas for older female colleagues

[LongWalkShortPlank]

I started a new job in September and I work with 4 other ladies. I'm the youngest by 20 years and I'm a little stuck on something lovely I can get for them that fits in with the budget they have of around £5-10 per person. I dont know them well enough yet and I'm stumped! Help!

What's "older" I'm 46...that's probably older is it?

I like nail polish the same as I always did! Also nice hand cream. Other than that, a mug with a Cafe Nero voucher? Or just a nice travel cup.

Candle (asda do yankee under tenner), molton brown hand cream, nice bubble bath and face mask, starbucks giftcard, nice mug and some shortbread,

Id say the same nail polish is always a winner with me & mugs cant go wrong.x

Bottle of Presseco

Single bar of chocolate from a proper chocolatier. (Preferably not Hotel Chocolat.)

Token gifts on such a tiny budget do seem a bit of a waste of time and effort though. Surely better to all go out for a glass of wine? Get to know them better ...

The oldest will be 60-70, I'm the youngest at 28 myself. We will be having a Christmas meal in the New year, we pushed it back due to circumstances of health. I'm usually fantastic at gifts and was thinking something along the lines of a nice hand cream each, some little chocolates and in a nice cup or pot of some kind. I just wondered if there was something a bit nicer I was forgetting about!

Thing is OP - lots of women over what - 40? 50? - don’t actually care for ‘nice’. And we have expensive tastes. Nothing I’m likely to buy for myself would be within your budget (other than maybe a magazine or emery boards!) and I wouldn’t be terribly grateful for random bits and pieces for the sake of Christmas ritual.

What are they like? Have a proper look at them all, listen to what they like.
Then buy the best quality thing you can no matter how small.
Or even a lovely Christmas bauble?
Or a small orchid plant?
Or a lovely bar of soap....TKMaxx have high end soaps at good prices.
Ask them their favourite smells at Christmas and buy a candle to suit them.
HTH.

I'd rather a scratch card or a coffee shop gift card than most of what you've said. It's a lovely idea but I think more and more the tide is turning against 'stuff'. If you want something more festive then consumables - a couple of lovely boxed minced pies if you have a nice farm shop or fancy bakery, a single bar of great chocolate as someone else said, even a jar of fancy jam (but in a normal flavour!).

I am 52 and don't have expensive tastes. I think I would like pretty much the same things as a 30 year old.

Nice office Christmas presents could include nice stationery or office supplies of all kinds, magnets, coaster, photo frame, packet of fancy tea, small plant (poinsettia)? (as well as other suggestions mentioned above).

I would hate nail polish.

I would love a fake chill bottle to keep drinks hot and cold £6.99 to max

Tk max

I would buy a l'occitane hand cream set and give one each along with a mug and a nice card.

I would buy a l'occitane hand cream set and give one each along with a mug and a nice card.

Wow, where do you shop that you can get all that for £5-10 per person?

Indeed ...

(I know about TK Maxx - great place - but I’d much rather rummage there myself than have someone else choose bargains for me.)

I'm older - early 50s, I don't have expensive tastes but I don't drink tea or coffee or paint my nails - I'm a pain to buy for! I'd just concentrate on getting to know them. Are present obligatory? I wouldn't expect anything at all.

Our office is quite dry so hand cream/lip balm does come in very handy.

I have this one and I love it:

www.feelunique.com/p/Eos-Smooth-Active-Pink-Grapefruit-SPF30-Lip-Balm-7g?gclid=CjwKCAjw0oveBRAmEiwAzf6_rAsINPidVLCubfVTcd8TTaMyaOiyPa1f8xh-UfCaiEVrrqSBGWKeRRoC3HcQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Are you sure you 'do gifts' in your office? Our office has a secret santa - £20 and no tat/joke gift rule.

Sainsbury's have lovely boxed candles down to £2.50 at the moment. I would rather something I can use than stuff if you know what I mean.

They have those lip balms in different varieties. One of those with a little hand ceam would be lovely.

They have this one at £1.50 on the same site:

www.feelunique.com/p/Bubble-T-Bath--Body-Hand-Cream-in-Lemongrass--Green-Tea-100ml

Also never paint my own nails.

No to mugs, cheap handcream etc.

If you want handcream, Aveda Hand Relief comes in a mini version and is about £8. That and a bar of decent choc or TK Maxx Nesti Dante soap would be a nice gift for a tenner.

Or a small box of 'posh' local chocs.

Or one of these

Or a pretty bauble for the Christmas tree.

Or a bottle of Prosecco.

See it's silly! I'd hate a bauble or a magazine. I don't drink alcohol either.

I'd love a mug or a nail polish!

"Older" is like saying "Younger". We're all different. Just get them all chocolates.

And as for that Fiorelli bag! No!

Candles, luxury hand cream, photo frames, scarf, or even just flowers 💐 or a nice plant pot for a plant 

if you are gift giving in january everyone will be on a diet by then, so not chocolate or biscuits. They will also be alcohol free.

I would just get each a bunch of flowers on the day that you meet up.

I've got one of those fold-up bags, and also got my daughter one - they are really useful. Ours are plain black though.