The Best 18 Ideas for Secret Santa Gifts - Christmas 2021

From superb Secret Santa gifts under £10 to proper good prezzies over £20, this gift guide has got you covered...

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! And we ain’t talking Christmas - we’re talking Secret Santa season! We love this annual tradition more than Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and National Rubber Ducky Day combined!

Yeah, Rubber Ducky Day really is a thing.

Whether Secret Santa is between you and your colleagues, your family or your friends, it doesn’t have to be met with reluctant responses - the moans, groans and the inevitable “I’ve got no idea what to get that tw*t!”

Secret Santa doesn’t have to be observed solely by families that dislike each other, cash-strapped friendship groups or employers attempting to encourage their workforce to find their colleagues slightly less repulsive.

You can actually extract a lot of joy from this annual gift-giving experience.

Look how much fun they're having!

Sure, it’s a game of potluck to a certain extent. But that’s where the fun lies: you could draw someone you don’t even know, someone you know really well, someone you fancy, someone you love, someone you hate, or even your boss (although those last two could be one and the same).

And each of those possibilities provides endless scope for buying a thoughtful or heartfelt gift, a funny gift, a rude gift, a crude gift, a deliberately shit gift, or a massive piss-take gift (one of us at Bubblegum Stuff received lubricant last year).

The drama provided by the anonymity and reactions to opening these gifts is a gift in itself. There’s nothing better than a bit of workplace banter, or a falling-out fallout that lasts well into the new year.

But we especially love Secret Santa because it does not discriminate. Within this tradition, everyone is equal. What could be fairer than one gift each??

We’ve decided to continue our own tradition and publish a list of our favourite Secret Santa gifts. Sure, there’s a lot of ours in there, but why not pat ourselves on the back for a job well done this year?? It is Christmas after all!

Under a tenner

Mini Plant Life Support - £9.95

This one is perfect for that forgetful plant parent in your life. It’s an IV drip that fits into pretty much every indoor plant pot, and it’ll keep plants sustained for a few days until their owner remembers they exist!

Radical Rainbow Veg Grow Kit - £9.99

Sticking with the green-fingered theme, the Radical Rainbow Veg Grow Kit is fantastic value if you’re looking to get a gift for someone who aspires to grow and eat their own produce. This kit provides a simple starting point for growing some seriously vibrant veg in a garden or on a balcony.

Houseplant Care Tags - £9.95

Indoor plant care made easy. If you draw someone that is absolutely hopeless at keeping their domestic jungle alive, get them these handy little tags. They slot into the soil and display everything they need to know, including personality, and watering and shade tips.

Grow Your Own Hairy Beaver - £9.99

Yet another one for the plant parents (it’s good to have options!), the Grow Your Own Hairy Beaver is a bit cheeky and a bit fun - it’s great for your mate that loves an innuendo. You know, the sort of person that’ll love saying to guests when they come over, “Want to see my hairy beaver?!?”

Name That Bumhole - £9.95

Drawn a mate or colleague that lives for rude or crude jokes? Get them Name That Bumhole. Animals’ anuses are presented in flashcard format, and it's players’ jobs to name the animal that it belongs to and then answer the species-related trivia question. This one is sure to “crack” them up come Christmas day.

Sloppy Synopsis - £9.95

One for movie lovers, Sloppy Synopsis features 56 cinematic classics. But there’s a catch… The plots are so poorly described it’s almost impossible to know right away what movies they are - unless you’re a regular Robert Rodriguez that is. This quick-play game will bring a bit of night at the movies glamour to their festive season.

£10-15

Plant Life Support - £12.95

A step up from the Mini Plant Life support, this houseplant IV drip is perfect for the catastrophically forgetful plant parent. In addition to that, it’s great for especially caring green-fingered indoor gardeners that can’t trust you or anyone else to keep their plants watered when they’re away. This is our best-selling product!

Pawsome Socks Gift Box - £12.99

The product listing might say “Women’s Pawsome Socks”, but we can’t see why anyone, regardless of sex or gender identity wouldn’t love these puppies. Most people have feet, and most people love dogs - so we’ve certified this gift a sure-fired Secret Santa crowd-pleaser!

Cat Whisperer - £11.95

Because we’re only ever a whisker away from a cat lover… Cat Whisperer is a fantastic Secret Santa gift to have in your festive arsenal. It’s a repeatable meowing sound button that’ll get your colleague’s cat’s attention for groom time, mealtime or any other time they want to call their kitty.

TikTok Challenge - £12.99

Need a gift for a social media addict? TikTok Challenge has got you covered. There are over 200 crazy challenges for them to film and upload, from lip syncs, dances and dares to ridiculous pranks. They can choose to go solo, or they can assemble their friends and family and play competitively to determine the best TikToker.

£15-20

Penis Puzzle - £19.95

Who doesn’t love a dick doodle? The Penis Puzzle has given the flaccid old jigsaw a stiff reboot to bring it into the modern era. So for your pal or partner that loves penis pics and puzzles, there really is no better gift. They’re unlikely to complete this thing on Christmas Day alone, though, as it’s definitely harder than it looks.

Throwing Shade - £19.95

Throwing Shade reflects the Gen Z art form of dishing out subtle slurs - often without the target even realising they’re being insulted! So if you draw someone from this young generation in your Secret Santa, get them this party game so they can sharpen their shade-throwing skills while having fun with their friends.

Santa Banter & Don’t Get Got Gaming Bundle - £18.00

You’ll seriously impress your Secret Santa recipient if you get them this double bubble gaming bundle from Big Potato. Santa Banter is a rhyming charades game, and Don’t Get Got is a secret missions party game, so they’ve both got Xmas party season written through them like a stick of Brighton rock! 

Gamophobia - £19.95

Landed someone who loves word games? Then you can’t go wrong with getting them Gamophobia. It’s a three-round team game based on phobia names. There’s a trivia round, a mime round and a memory round. It’s a super fun but smart sort of party game that’ll get their grey matter going over the festive period.

£20 +

British Royals Murder Mystery Game - £24.99

If you’re in a big group of mates that loves games nights and you’ve drawn someone who loves to host, get them the British Royals Murder Mystery Game. Up to 12 players can get around a table for an evening of shock, scandal, death and deceit - which is familiar territory for the British monarchy!

Brick Yourself Mini Figures - £34.99

This one may well be at the very upper end of most Secret Santa budgets, but you can’t beat it for personalisation. When you order, all you’ve gotta do is give them info on the recipient’s character, their hobbies and their fashun sense - these brick model professionals will do the rest. They’ll be immortalised forever as a tiny yellow plastic figure in a wooden frame. Who wouldn’t want that?!?

Plant-Based Riot - £25.00

If you’ve gotta get a gift for someone with children, they’ll really appreciate Plant-Based Riot - a set-collecting, card-matching card game for families. There are gangs of terrible edibles, there’s thieving fruit, and there’s tons of card-based carnage. It’s a winner no matter what your age. Plant-Based Riot was fully funded on Kickstarter.

Go super high-end: Terrarium Art - £110-310

If money is no object or you’re just in the mood to go super luxe, these creatively comedic terrariums are fantastic. Depending on who you’re buying for, you could get one depicting tennis players, cyclists, an astronaut, naturists, or even a nudist beach. Or our personal fave, the “crime scene”.

Secret Santa doesn’t have to be a drag. In fact, it should never be! And we hope this handy gift guide has given you food for festive thought on what to buy.

So whether you’re planning an IRL Christmas party, a virtual Christmas party, or a secret and highly illegal Christmas bash we won’t find out about till next year, we wish you a sensational Secret Santa season and a very Merry Christmas!

All the best,

Everyone at Bubblegum Stuff