Office Gifts – The Goods

How to buy gifts for the team

September 22, 2021

“Great news – The company wants to get appreciation gifts for the staff, and you get to run with it! Oh and by the way, we need it done in two weeks. Have fun!”

That kind of news can be as stressful as it is exciting. This is supposed to be a good thing, right? Finally, you can get something nice for the folks who keep your company running, but now you have to figure out how to make that happen.

You probably have some unanswered questions: What do you do first? How do you come up with something for a whole team that makes everyone feel appreciated? And how is this all going to fit in your office (and your calendar!) while you’re organizing it?

This might seem a little daunting at first, but don’t worry, you can handle it. And it’s well worth the effort when you see how a thoughtful gift to your coworkers brightens their day.

We put together this brief guide to help you through the process, reduce your stress and give your coworkers a thoughtful gift that they’ll appreciate.

A wellness kit to give your team a spa day at home.

Gift Guides

Best Secret Santa Ever: Gifts for Your Coworkers

November 10, 2015

One day very soon, you may arrive to work and find a fun diversion to your morning ritual: one of the women in Marketing approaches your desk and asks if you want to pick a name for your office’s annual Secret Santa. In the spirit of the season, you agree and reach your hand into a pile of small papers filled with names of your colleagues. Anticipation is rising as you wonder who will travel through your fingers, and who may have already picked your name. When you open your final selection, you learn that you picked that new guy in Accounting. And then you realize you know absolutely nothing about him.

The art of fulfilling your duties in an office Secret Santa can be complicated, whether or not you know your co-workers well. You might have to buy a gift that fits a particular price range, or you may have to recall every interaction you’ve had with your giftee in order to spark one good idea. On top of all of this, there’s the pressure of keeping your identity a secret until the final reveal. Since you might get a call from HR if you start snooping around your co-worker’s desk for hints, we’ve created this gift guide to inspire that perfect Secret Santa find instead. (As for how to keep your gift a secret, we can only suggest that you fess up if you end up picking your own name out of the hat.)

Gift Guides

Top Picks from a Tech Guy: Our Systems Admin’s Favorite Goods

September 24, 2012

Greetings! My name is Jonathan, and I am currently on the Sysadmin team here at UncommonGoods. Around this time of the year, my team and I work extra hard to make sure your gift giving and receiving experience are the best you have ever had. But in the midst of all this preparation we still manage to play with the some of the many cool toys and gadgets we carry. Here are a few of my favorites.

Cube LED Alarm Clock
In Technology you can find just about anything to fit your needs even if your needs are to just to be woken up on time. This alarm clock keeps things simple. It serves its main purpose as an alarm clock and it’s aesthetically pleasing to boot. This battery powered box can be placed anywhere! No, really, you can put it anywhere without the worry finding a power source. So far this little box has woken me up out of my bed and onto my favorite part of the morning, the coffee part.

Mini Wooden Speaker
I like to listen to music at work, and usually I just go with my earbuds. But sometimes the whole tech team agrees that we need some background music. In that case, this little speaker is great.

MaKey MaKey
Even if you’re a beginner to the world of microcontrollers, you should be able to grasp the concept of this little device. Anything can be turned into a controller (no really, anything) with just a little bit of creativity. So far we have made buttons and triggers from simple objects such as marshmallows, fruit, doormats, doorknobs, cups of water, ink, and just about anything else we could find lying around. This is a great tool for children and adults alike who want to tinker with electronics without the risks of real power or breaking the device itself. I recommend this product to my fellow gamers, tech enthusiasts or anyone who likes to play with well, anything.

Message Stamp Kit
Let’s face it, birthdays are happening all around us. So if you have a stamp to say happy birthday for you–why not?! If you’re like me and have trouble finding the time (or space on the card with those good-wishes-packed company birthday cards going around the office all the time) to scribble a little something for someone on their birthday then this gift is for you. Sure, it would be easy for me to just send an email from my desk–but this feels a little more personal and it is just as easy. This handy box has helped me with greeting cards for birthdays, anniversaries, bar mitzvahs and those monthly letters to the in-laws. This kit contains the all-in-one emergency sentiments you could ever need; it can even go as far as calling it a Swiss Army sentiment box.

Mushroom Kit
Another non-gadget pick, but perfect for many tech department offices. We aren’t quite in the basement, but we don’t have a lot of natural light. I’ve been meaning to get one of these, because windows or none, it will be nice to get something to grow in our work space. (Especially something we’ll get to eat in a few weeks!)

If you like Jonathan’s picks, don’t forget to check out our other gadgets and tools.

Gift Guides

Uncommon Gifts for the Whole Office

December 12, 2011

You work so hard all year and just when it’s almost time to check out for a much anticipated holiday vacation, you are tasked with the toughest job in 2011- finding a gift perfect for the entire team. Let’s face it. Some of the previous company gifts have been epic fails- the embarrassing umbrella with the company logo, the creepily life-like wooden duck sculpture, the tin of unidentifiable cookies.

This year will be different because UncommonGoods offers a collection of office-appropriate gifts nice enough that recipients will want to take them home or spruce up their work space.

A quirky Face Mug is a great reminder for your team that everyone deserves a cookie break and a chuckle at their desk or after a long day. However, we can not be held responsible for the guy in the next cube who talks with his mouth full.

Stories of vacations in lands far away can now be documented with the Scratch Map, a beautiful visual for the avid travelers and those dreaming of an escape.

Desktop clutter is a dangerous pandemic that leads to over a million work-related paper cuts a year. But it can be stopped in its tracks with the Unzippered Glass Zipper Bag, the functional and stylishly designed alternative candy jar that is perfect for housing office supplies or a stash of sweets.

If your office leans more to the sentimental side, remind your office-mates to stay true to themselves with a Be Yourself Paperweight. If your office is not so sentimental, might we suggest something not as easily thrown.

Some single-items orders totaling over $1000 may be eligible for a discount. Our customer service representatives are available 24/7 and are happy to discuss pricing and options for your order. Corporate Sales can be contacted by calling 1-888-365-0056, or by e-mailing corporateorders@uncommongoods.com.

The Uncommon Life

World’s Greatest Boss?

October 13, 2011

Boss’ Day is coming up, but there’s still time to find the perfect gift for the excellent executive in your life.

Before the proclamation of this special day you could only show your boss how much you cared on his or her birthday, during the holidays, and at mandatory company events. Then in 1958 Patricia Bays Haroski, an employee of State Farm Insurance Company, decided that bosses should have their very own day each year.

Aiming to not only create a day to show bosses that they are appreciated, but also to improve employer-employee relations, she registered Boss’ Day with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Thanks to her admiration for her great boss, we’ve been celebrating this annual national holiday for more than 50 years!

Mark your Perpetual Calendar

Usually, Boss’ Day is on October 16, which Patricia chose because it was her Boss’ (who was also her dad) birthday. Since that happens to be a Sunday this year, you can show your boss they’re a superb supervisor by celebrating on Monday the 17th.

In honor of this managerial Monday, we’ve created a collection of our favorite gifts for bosses inspired by our fantastic boss, UncommonGoods Founder Dave Bolotsky.

Dave is a great boss because he values our opinions, puts employees first, and makes UncommonGoods a fun place to work.

Do you have a great boss? We’d love to hear why!

The Uncommon Life

Say What?

August 29, 2011

Know a happy new employee? Copywriter Nina Mozes offers tips for how to congratulate that special someone entering the workforce.

In THIS economy? Celebrating a job?! That’s a big deal.
(In this economy, saving money by writing your own card? A big deal, too.)

Your objective:
To encourage aspirations and deliver the cold hard facts. No skills required! Par exemple:

The tiresome job search is over, hooray! Now you can relax and get to work.

You worked so hard in college! Now work harder. It doesn’t pay off until it’s literally paid off.

Or add your wisdom to the profound stuff:

Asha Tyson: “You never stop earning when you do what you love.”
But don’t quit your day job just yet.

From parent to child:
Robert Brault: “Treat a difficult child the way you would your boss at work. Praise his achievements, ignore his tantrums and resist the urge to sit him down and explain to him how his brain is not yet fully developed.”
Think about how I raised you and you’ll do great!

And of course, for those who are lazy but require poignancy:
Dana Stewart Scott: “Learn as much as you can while you are young, since life becomes too busy later.”

I think I just got a little misty-eyed.

Here are a few congratulatory gifts to pair with your eloquent card.

For the desk:
What Would You Attempt Paperweight

For the suit:
Math Symbol Cufflinks

For the technology:
Patterned Macbook and iPad Cases

For the money:
Yiddish Proverb Money Clip