How much to spend on a coworker gift, with picks at every price

By GiftPicker ·

Most workplace gift questions depend on who the gift is from and how big the moment is. A birthday treat from the person at the next desk calls for something different from a farewell collection taken up by a whole department, and the budget follows from there.

This guide is organized by price. Each tier lists the occasions it usually fits, along with gifts from our catalog that suit a work relationship, meaning friendly and thoughtful without being too personal.

A rough guide to spending

There is no fixed rule, but these ranges keep most offices comfortable:

  • From you alone, for a birthday or a thank-you: under $25.
  • From you alone, for a close work friend or a bigger milestone like a promotion: $25 to $60.
  • From a small group: $60 to $150, which works out to a modest amount per person.
  • From the whole team, for a retirement, a long-time colleague's last day, a wedding, or a new baby: $150 and up.

When you organize a collection, suggest an amount per person and make it clear that any contribution, including none, is welcome. Most teams include people on very different salaries, and nobody should feel watched. Gifts for a manager are also more comfortable as group gifts, since a solo gift sent upward can look like a bid for favor.

Under $25: a birthday or a thank-you from you

At this price the goal is a small treat that feels chosen, ideally something a little nicer than they would pick up for themselves.

For the coworker who can't go a day without their latte, a gift card to their favorite coffee shop, or to Starbucks, covers a week of coffee runs. Queen Majesty's Hot Sauce Trinity is a gift box of three small-batch New York sauces, from Jalapeño Tequila Lime to Red Habanero Black Coffee. For the office cook, Jacobsen Salt Co.'s Sea Salt Slide Tin Trio packs hand-harvested Oregon sea salt into three illustrated pocket tins, including a pinot noir infused salt.

$25 to $60: a close colleague or a bigger milestone

With a little more room, you can pick something tied to what they enjoy outside of work.

Chasing Threads' Stitch Your Own Tea Towel kit is a white tea towel printed with nine gold cocktail drawings to fill in with colored embroidery, with thread, a needle, and video lessons for a beginner. A Candlelight concert gift card from Fever pays for a string quartet or pianist playing classical pieces and pop tributes in a venue lit by thousands of candles, which makes a generous thank-you after a hard stretch of work. For the tea drinker, Tea Forté's Frank Lloyd Wright Terra Teapot is a 20-ounce stoneware pot etched with an original Wright pattern, with an infuser that brews loose tea for two.

$60 to $150: when a few people chip in

Pooling a few contributions opens up gifts with real staying power, and this is the range where most team gifts land.

For a promotion or a new role, a year of MasterClass gives someone who loves to learn online classes from experts across every field. Smythson's Panama weekly journal is the pocket diary the London stationer introduced in 1908, bound in navy lambskin with week-to-view pages for the year ahead in the new job.

For a coworker's wedding, a gift card lets the couple choose what their new home needs, and a Williams Sonoma or Crate & Barrel card goes toward anything from cookware to glassware, including the pieces left over on their registry. If they enjoy a good bottle, treat them to a tasting at a winery near them, where they can try a flight of wines together and bring home a bottle they liked.

The first months with a new baby leave very little time for cooking. An Uber and Uber Eats gift card, in whatever amount the group collects, covers takeout on the nights when making dinner is out of the question.

For a farewell, pick something they can use at the send-off or during the break before the new job. The Fujifilm smartphone photo printer prints credit-card-size photos from a phone in seconds, which comes in handy at the goodbye party and afterward. A ResortPass gift card books a day at one of more than 2,700 hotel pools and spas, so they can take a real break between jobs.

When a colleague is going through a hard time, send a care package. Spoonful of Comfort's care package brings two quarts of soup, six rolls, six cookies, a keepsake ladle, and a card with your message, and the Serenity Gift Box from Loved and Found gathers natural spa products for a slow evening at home. For a coworker who has lost someone, It's OK That You're Not OK by psychotherapist Megan Devine speaks to grieving people directly, with practical help for the hardest weeks.

$150 and up: a gift from the whole team

With the whole team chipping in, you can afford something the person would hesitate to buy for themselves.

For a new baby, Upon a Box's Baby Book Library is a set of classic and bestselling board books for the first years of story time, and Coterie's diaper and wipes gift subscription sends monthly deliveries for two to twelve months, with the parents choosing the size when they redeem it.

For a wedding or a long-awaited retirement trip, Away's Carry-On Suitcase has a hard shell, spinner wheels, and an interior compression system. A gift card toward the stay itself, from Hotels.com or Airbnb, covers a night or two of the honeymoon or a farewell adventure. For a couple who loves wine, SommSelect's three-month wine club membership sends bottles chosen by a team led by a Master Sommelier, each with tasting notes and food pairings.

For a milestone birthday or a big promotion, pool the money for a splurge. Sony's WH-1000XM6 headphones block out a noisy office with adaptive noise canceling and up to 30 hours of battery. For a plant lover, The Sill's Best Sellers Duo sends a monstera and a snake plant already potted in ceramic planters. And for the coworker who spends weekends outdoors, the GoPro HERO12 Black is a rugged, waterproof action camera that records stabilized video on hikes and rides.

If the team can't settle on an object, cash in a card signed by everyone is always welcome, especially at a farewell, and an Amazon gift card works almost as well. If they would rather do some good, a TisBest Charity Gift Card lets the recipient give the money to any of about 1.8 million US charities.

Keeping it comfortable

  • Choose something neutral. Clothing, fragrance, and anything that depends on size or personal taste are risky with colleagues you don't know well.
  • Ask about food before you send it. A quick question to a teammate about dietary restrictions avoids a box of treats nobody can eat.
  • Check before giving alcohol. Some people don't drink, and some workplaces have rules about it.
  • Pass a card around. A short note from each person often means as much as the gift, especially at a farewell.
  • When a colleague is ill or grieving, our guide to what to send someone who is sick, recovering, or grieving has more ideas.

Shopping for one coworker in particular? Tell the quiz the occasion, their interests, and your budget, and it will rank gifts from our catalog. Take the GiftPicker quiz.

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