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Office Secret Santa: a photo gift for a colleague you barely know

You've drawn a colleague's name, the budget is fixed, and you know very little about them. A mug with the right photo solves all three problems. Mug $23.00, t-shirt $23.00, shipping included.

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−10% off your first order*BIENVENUE10Copy*From €35 (about $40) · enter it at checkout · once per customer · not combinable

Mug from $23.00 shipping included

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What fits the budget

Secret Santa budgets are usually small and fixed in advance. Here is what we make at the bottom of the range, shipping included, with nothing added at checkout.

• The mug, $23.00: the gift that gets used from Monday morning. Ceramic, dishwasher and microwave safe. The cheapest thing we make.
• The t-shirt, $23.00: for a colleague who likes a slogan tee, adult sizes S to 2XL. A little more than the mug, and you have to guess their size.
• Beyond that: the set of ten postcards ($26.00) or the A4 calendar () usually go over a Secret Santa budget. Keep them for when the group agrees a bigger one.

To be honest, if the budget is very tight, we have nothing below the mug. It remains the cheapest item in the studio.

You don't really know the person

This is the most common case: the draw gave you someone from another department, or a new starter. An in-joke is risky if you don't really own it. Bet on what you have in common instead.

• The team photo: from the away day, the end-of-year drinks, the after-work outing. Everyone has a group photo somewhere in a group chat.
• The office itself: the coffee machine, the plant nobody waters, the view from the window. The whole floor gets it.
• Their pet, if they've already shown it on a call or as a desktop background: a dog or cat on a mug rarely misses. Ask a colleague who is close to them for the photo, quietly.

In the studio, the Team theme and the thank-you theme (« Merci ! » in the studio) dress up the photo in one click, and the text ideas by occasion save you from the blank page. If the group photo is small, the sharpening button (“Make the photo sharper (AI)” in the studio) helps.

If you know them well: the in-joke

Then you can let go: the phrase they repeat in every meeting, their face in the after-work photo, the nickname everyone uses. Keep one simple limit: the mug will sit on a desk, in full view of everyone, including their manager. Nothing hurtful, nothing that makes them uncomfortable.

For ideas, our in-joke gift guide has plenty. The free background-removal button (“Remove background (AI)” in the studio) cuts out their head so you can drop it onto a Christmas scene with the Christmas theme (« Joyeux Noël » in the studio).

Staying anonymous to the end

Secret Santa only works if nobody knows who gave what. A few precautions:

• Have it delivered to the office, in your name or the organiser's: shipping is included, and the parcel arrives like any other.
• Don't sign the mug. "From the elf on the third floor" is enough.
• Borrow the group photo from a chat everyone is in, not from your own phone if you were the only one who took it.
• Order early: printing to order and delivery take 5 to 10 working days in the UK, Europe and the US, up to 15 elsewhere. Allow two weeks before the exchange, and for Christmas, order before Thursday 10 December in Europe; outside Europe, aim for early December.

Shipping included, no minimum order. Printed to order near the delivery address, delivered in 5 to 10 working days in the UK, Europe and the US, up to 15 elsewhere.

Questions people ask us

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Read next: finding the right in-joke · a birthday gift for a colleague · when to order for Christmas