It’s a tricky thing, buying gifts for a co-worker, never mind if that co-worker is your boss.
You could go tried-and-true with a gift card, or pick up a fancy box of chocolates, but those are so impersonal. And what if you get a gift card for a store or service your boss doesn’t like? Or if that box of chocolates has lots of nougat selections and your boss just lost a filling and can’t eat sticky stuff?
Plus, you don’t want to look like the office suck-up and spend way more than colleagues on a gift. You want to get something inexpensive, but not cheap, if you know what I mean. Problem is, there’s so much stuff out there that trying to separate the wheat from the chaff can be rather time-consuming.
So I scoured the Internet, asked friends, and perused gift lists from a huge number of publications to bring you this list of practical yet memorable gift items that won’t break the bank.
Touchscreen gloves
The thing about winter is that you can never have too many gloves. You especially can never have too many touchscreen gloves. There are so many options, some super-cheap, some rather expensive. Just like any kind of gloves. So I went back to the beginning: Agloves. Said to be the first touchscreen gloves, the entire glove works on the screen—the silver thread is woven throughout the whole thing.
At the time of this writing, they’re on sale, too, for $14.99 (or $19.99 for the Polar Sport version). They usually retail at $29.99. The price on Amazon is even cheaper. Given how many gloves I’ve lost in my life, this one’s a no-brainer. Brb, buying gloves.
Floppy disc coasters
For the geeky boss, these are a really fun option. Some are made of actual floppy discs from back in the day; some are just designed to look like it. You can find tons of different options on Etsy, ranging from $5 to $30. I perused them, and my personal favorite was a set of four genuine discs with a cork backing to prevent slipping for $3.99. Alternately, there was a set of four actual discs coated with acrylic matte and hot glue on the bottom to prevent slipping for $7.
iPhone dock
The Fuse Chicken Bobine is a bit pricier than most options on this list, but if you really love your boss, and she or he owns an iPhone, it’s a terrific gift. The Bobine is a flexible cable that will plug in and charge your phone, make it stand up for conference calls, or even double as a tripod if you want to take a photo. It started with an extremely successful Kickstarter and is on most “Under $50” gift lists. It costs $35. Even better, if your boss has an Apple Watch, they have a watch dock for only $25.
Bluetooth speaker
If your boss loves listening to music anywhere and everywhere, Brookstone’s Bop H2O speaker is a great option. The suction cup base attaches to the back of your phone to turn it into a speaker stand, or on the wall in the shower so you can get down while you clean up. Because it’s waterproof, you can take it anywhere, plus it’s on sale at the time of this writing for $19.99, though its usual $29.99 isn’t crushing.
Best of all, you can even use it for conference calls or just to go hands-free if you’re driving, so it has an actual work purpose too. You know, because you work together.
Drone
I know what you’re thinking: “Drones are super-expensive and totally seems like a suck-up gift.”
Not if you’re looking at the Aerius, dubbed the “world’s smallest quadcopter.” It’s slightly larger than the width of a quarter, and comes in four colors, though all but orange are sold out right now. If your boss has been talking about wanting to buy a drone, but his or her partner has put the kibosh on that, this is the perfect gift. It’s a little pricier than most on this list, at $35, but I guarantee your boss isn’t gonna forget about this one.
So, yeah, it’s still sort of a suck-up gift.
VR headset
The nice thing about Google Cardboard is that it’s inspired a whole slew of other inexpensive VR headset options. No surprise that my favorite was from View-Master, as I grew up amazed at the 3D views I had on my device. I had an entire box filled with View-Master discs and never tired of looking at them.
Now View-Master has gotten into the VR game, with a set of goggles you can slip your smartphone into. And it comes with “reels” too. It’s usually $29.99, but there are lots of sales at various places—Mattel doesn’t sell it directly, but links you to a variety of places you can buy it, including Amazon, Target, and the Apple Store.
Blackout light
No, not black light. This light will help you when the power goes out. Eton makes a couple, but the one that first caught my eye was the American Red Cross-endorsed water-activated emergency light. They cost $9.99, but you can buy a set of three for $25 or less. The water-activated Blackout Buddy H2O can last up to 72 hours if you just refill it with water once a day, and you can even shut it off while you’re sleeping or put it in night light mode. It’s a one-time use (i.e., after the 72 hours, it’s done), however.
If you want something that can be used time and again, the more traditional Blackout Buddy costs $14.99 and sits in an outlet, charging, turning on when the power goes out (and also has a night light option).
If your boss is concerned about being without power, whether due to another Hurricane Sandy or other concerns, these are a thoughtful gift.
Bonus: gift return app
This doesn’t really have anything to do with buying gifts for your boss, but ReturnGuru is a brilliant app concept. You take a picture of the receipt (works with gift receipts too!) with the app, and it keeps track of the return policies of the stores you’ve bought from. You get notifications before your window to return the item ends.