Creative Yankee Swap Gift Ideas

November 16th, 2006 by David Weliver

Looking for some creative Yankee Swap gift ideas or Secret Santa gift ideas that will help you stick to your holiday budget this Christmas? Here are three gifts to share and three to shun:

Good Secret Santa

Cookbooks - Everybody I know living alone or with roommates struggles with cooking. It’s cheaper, it’s healthier, but gosh-darn-it, it’s hard to cook for one. Scoop up a book on cooking for one or one dish meals for a gift that’s practical and delicious.

Liquor - Unless you’re tagging along to a Mormon present exchange, a small bottle of quality alcohol is a nice way to encourage your recipient to start the holidays off right. Check out a favorite site of ours, Liquor Snob, for some of the latest haute liqueurs.

Magazines - Annual magazine subscriptions can be great gifts, and many monthly magazines can be had for $15 or less. Care to spread some financial advice? Give the gift of SmartMoney. Or, let them choose. For $19.95, Giftscriptions: The Magazine Gift Certificate allows the recipient select any subscription from dozens of popular magazines.

Bad Secret Santa

Candles - Honestly, I have known a candle-collector or two in my life, and I feel for their disease. Normal people, however, already have more candles than they will ever burn and will probably wish you had not wasted a perfectly good $20 bill on a jar of stinky wax.

Lotto Tickets - Sure, a lottery ticket makes a nice gift for a family member (let them keep dreaming but save their money), but not so much for the office party. This especially holds true if you’re the boss. Think your employees are going to share if they hit the jackpot? Doubtful. But will they call every Monday morning from their new condo in Cabo “just to say hi?” Count on it.

Gift Cards - Gift cards are double-edged pieces of plastic. An obvious choice for Yankee Swaps or Secret Santa’s, but choose your card carefully. Gift cards are only useful if they allow the recipient to purchase something he or she wants without spending anything. Yankee Swap limits of $10-$25 can pose a problem. To avoid this, choose gift cards from places everybody shops: grocery stores, drug stores, and gas stations come to mind. Giftscriptions: The Magazine Gift Certificate allows your recipient to get their choice of light reading for the next year.

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2. Financial Gifts: The Etiquette of Giving and Receiving Money
3. Cheap Halloween Costumes: Get Creative for Some Frugal Frights
4. Alternatives to Store-Bought Christmas Presents
5. Two Radical Ways to Spend Less