Favours for work Christmas meal

[SouthBeachDreams]

Looking for some cute and fun ideas for some favours/small gifts for our work Christmas meal. Probably up to about £5 per person spend. Just a token thing. They’re a quite classy and difficult to please bunch who work in media so can’t be anything too tacky 😬 not necessarily food as a few have allergies, eg I’ve been looking at mini craft kits eg make your own Christmas decoration type of thing. Any other bright ideas that will surprise and delight on a budget?!

I agree with 2 or 3 posh chocs, even though you’ve said no food. Almost everything else that has been suggested I would either lose or leave.

I’d suggest a combination of £1 lottery scratchcard per person along with a £5 donation to charity. Either food bank or homeless charity etc.

It’s a lot of trouble for people that aren’t close friends, but in the past for family I’ve bought a few different types of lovely wrapped chocolates and put some of each in clear Xmas cellophane bags with ribbon etc. I would be VERY excited to be given that at a work meal! Could add a scented tea light or two. Maybe.

Or this- I would love this!

Stick a Ferrero rocher on each side plate and give the rest to charity

Christmas socks. Can be regifted and no worry about allergies, dietary etc.

Totally agree that the money should be put to better use given to charity. Are you able to go back to your boss and say that you have absolutely no idea what to get and that's a better idea ?? If they insist on something then I would either get a scratch card or lottery lucky dip ticket for each person.
This is yet another example of how Christmas has become a wasteful, overly commercial time of year and we should really think twice about meaningless tat and buying stuff for the sake of it.

Last year my work Christmas lunch had crackers with bamboo Christmassy socks inside. Great fun & we all wore them to work in the last few days. I think a % went to charity, too

Can I ask why it’s your least favourite charity?

Look at the Oxfam website for £5 you can donate to one of their projects such as affordable food for all. Make a donation in each individuals name and give them each the certificate. Alternatively make one single donation in the team’s name. You can do it online so no rushing around the shops and no one gets tat to take home / throw away they don’t want anyway. The certificate can be put in the recycling bin ! Many charities do these type of Christmas gifts from £5.

So bat it back to you boss, unless this ridiculous idea is part of your job description.

For £21 you can get these 12 Christmas socks, and they come packaged in 4 packs each with 3 pairs, so for £5.25 you can get each person a set of 3 Christmas socks, which would at least get used.
https://www.debenhams.com/product/sock-snob-12-pair-multipack-christmas-design-socks_p-45c08218-6521-4623-9392-0a58db2e9f61?srsltid=AfmBOooRjAMv8pmdsbSnK9O9ede9RwI6E0oriroUu3aPELGsNMvSRKiN&colour=Multi

The last two years I’ve done something similar as I’m the Christmas party planner at work. I’ve bought a variety of gifts ranging from £1-20 (gift vouchers, scratch cards/lucky dips, chocolate coins, Christmas socks etc) and asked local businesses for prizes (we are a company that serve the local community so they’re always happy to oblige). Everyone collects a golden envelope on their way in to discover their prize. That’s always gone down really well but this year we are a much smaller group so I’m just going to get everyone a scratch card. The difference is this has always come out of my pocket, not the company’s 🙈

How about...

Decorate your own gingerbread man kit.
Scratch cards for everyone.

Christmas mug.

Christmas decoration.

Fir tree sapling (in gift bag)

£5 in an envelope with instructions to 'pay it forward' and do something positive with it. Get them to email in what they did - bottle of champagne for the winner a week later?

Not quite a favour, but whenever I’ve scattered table crystals as decorations and they always get scooped up and taken home. Usually 50% of favours get left behind.

Or, a pair of socks each, use one sock of each pair as a mini Xmas stocking, fill with the other sock, a net of nice chocolate coins and a Burt's Bees lip balm (cheapest as multipacks on Amazon).

Posh Christmas crackers. They have some on Amazon with scented candles.
Baileys miniatures. Again, you can buy in bulk from Amazon 20 for £40
Mini chocolate boxes Lindor etc or Terry's chocolate oranges

Ok no offence but wtf are most people going to do with a fir sapling? Unless you know they all have huge gardens and are looking for extra trees this is kind of crazy.

Charming...! It was just one of several thoughts.

I think the scented candles crackers are a nice safe bet. Or go for the posh chocs.

Don’t donate to charities in other peoples names , or as a team, unless it’s your company’s chosen one as this is a minefield .

One year at a works do we had little jars of local honey on the tables. They were loosely related to one of our projects. Nice touch!

I wouldn’t do too much as it will be left, especially if people go on elsewhere. No one wants to be carrying stuff around all evening.

I think I’d go along the lines of a small chocolate and a scratch card or lottery ticket.