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My office has asked everyone to contribute a small gift to a "holiday grab bag" for the office party. While I'm not against the idea of a little holiday cheer, we're limited to spending $10 and it seems like all you can get for that amount is disposable, impractical junk. I hate the idea of buying junk just for the sake of buying junk, so how can I stretch my $10 into something, I don't know, a little more practical?
Donna G, Astoria
Having been at the short end of the gift stick at our share of office parties, Ask Gothamist sympathizes. It's not that we begrudge our officemates their intentions, but scented Santa candles and Nativity scene snow globes are not exactly at the top of our wish list, no matter how festive.
If you can't buy a new CD for fourteen bucks without violating the company grab bag price limit, why not buy a gift certificate to a music store for ten? Ten dollars at a local bookstore would work, too. And if your officemates frequent a neighborhood sandwich shop, see if you can't arrange to pay for someone's lunch.
Our favorite gift of Holiday office parties past? A ten-dollar MetroCard. Practical, thoughtful and a heck of a lot easier to swipe through a turnstile than a scented candle.
Let's open the floor. What inexpensive gifts would you like to see in your holiday grab bag?
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Chocolate! Think about it--ten dollars worth of chocolates versus a ten-dollar piece of junk.
http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/for/50987492.html
Hot chocolate... The "Wicked" stuff from Jacques Torres. Or comic books. There's also this groovy Kung Fu Stationery set at Archie McPhee...
(http://www.mcphee.com/bigindex/current/11109.html)
Gift coupons to a Loews/Regal film theaters are always a good low-cost idea.
Lube. one can never have enough lube.
10 lottery tickets - the scratchable fun kind!
box of tazo tea
bottle of good maple syrup
barnes and noble gift card
bottle of wine from best cellars
food food food
a roll of quarters (for laundry!)
-a dime bag of haze
-a six pack of tsing tao
-a disposable camera
-a box of condoms
theres lots of cool stuff you can get for ten bucks. these corporate types have no fucking imagination.
There are some good champagnes for under ten bucks. Well, only one I know of, the black bottled Frixionet from Spain. Skip the brute and get the extra dry.
There was one holiday party that I fondly remember the 'informal corporate -ski bum variety’ that was a hoot. We sat around in a circle and one randomly selected person could open a gift, and the second person could open theirs but have the option to trade up gifts with to one that they preferred. I can't remember the exact rules of the game, because we had few beers or more. This would continue till the last person selected the last gift. I hazily remember you could only trade up once.
Gifts that went over well were wine, alcohol, and edible body paint? – or something along that nature, sorry the effect of beer was in the mix.
If you're the crafty type, you could buy $10 worth of craft supplies and make a gift, like holiday ornaments.
Just wondering... would you be allowed to use that $10 at a discount place, like Century 21, and buy something more valuable on clearance? I realize it's effing the rules a little, but $10 could get something pretty great at one of the many discount superstores.
why is that f'ing the rules? its $10 bucks, you can spend it anywhere you want.
"There are some good champagnes for under ten bucks. Well, only one I know of, the black bottled Frixionet from Spain."
That's not Champagne, baby. That's Cava.
On the practical side, decent kitchen implements are often welcome -- spatula, some nice wooden spoons, olive oil.
Or visit the Sock Man on St. Mark's and see what you can get for $10.
How about a pack of American Spirits Ultra Lights? You'll still have $1.75 left over, if you buy it at my local deli.
www.chocolatebarnyc.com
get the chocolate chai tea or salty pretzel retro chocolate bars... that's what I did and it's a great 10 buck gift. and it's close to so many subway trains right on 8th by 14th.
I started to write this as a comment, but it got out of hand. So I just blogged it. Warning, shameless selflinking ahead.