12 ideas from the gift exchange area of The Christmas Cabin. Nothing is sold here — pick anything up and it opens a pre-filled search at the retailer.
The gift exchange is set out on the middle table: a kinetic desk cradle, a motion lamp, a puzzle lock clamped over a bottle and a pin art board. These are gift exchange ideas for one particular problem — giving to someone you may not know well, inside a budget somebody else set.
Two games share this table. In Secret Santa you draw one name and give to that person, so the gift should still suit them, even if you only know them from meetings. In a white elephant swap the presents go into a pile and can be stolen, so the winning gift is the one the whole room wants, not the one that suits a particular person.
Both reward the same kind of object: something nobody needs but plenty of people would enjoy having on a desk, with a bit of motion or a bit of challenge in it. Skip anything with a size or a scent, and anything that needs explaining.
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Kinetic Desk Cradle
A kinetic desk toy is a gift exchange standby because it suits nearly anyone with a desk and offends nobody. The one on the middle table is five polished steel balls hung on threads in a frame, with one ball swung out, and in the room it moves. Its appeal is that it does one satisfying thing every time somebody reaches over to set it going. The perpetual motion toys listed here are variations on the same idea. Magnetic desk sculptures are the hands-on version, usually a base and a heap of small metal pieces to rebuild into new shapes, and they should be kept well away from small children.
Motion Lamp
A motion lamp is a gift exchange present with a long life after the party, because it goes on a desk or a shelf and gets switched on in the evenings. The one on the middle table is a tapered glass lamp with wax rising slowly through coloured liquid, and in the room it moves. A retro motion lamp suits almost anyone. The sunset lamp and the galaxy projector listed here throw coloured light across a wall instead, which suits a bedroom more than an office. Worth saying when you hand one over: the wax needs time to warm before it starts to move.
Bottle Puzzle Lock
A bottle puzzle lock suits a white elephant swap well, because it turns a plain bottle into a game: whoever ends up with it has to solve the lock to get at the bottle. The one on the middle table is a turned wooden cage with sliding pegs and a brass pin, locked over a bottle. The lock is the gift and the bottle is your choice, so it works with sparkling juice for someone who does not drink. Check that the lock fits the bottle you have in mind. The secret puzzle box and the brain teaser set listed here are the same idea without a bottle.
Pin Art Board
A pin art board is the gift that gets passed around the room before it reaches anybody's desk. Press a hand into the back and the pins hold its shape on the front. The one on the middle table is framed, with a hand impression pushed through the grid. It suits a swap where the point is to make people laugh. The mini arcade game and the desktop punching bag listed here belong to the same family: cheerful, harmless novelties that are right for an exchange where everyone knows the tone, and wrong for one where people are expecting something useful.
Other areas in this room
More rooms
- The Essentials
- Last Minute Gifts
- The Man Cave
- Her Studio
- The Kitchen
- The Garage
- Her Closet
- His Closet
- The Board Room
- The Toy Shop
- The Christmas Market
- Shop by person
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Nothing is sold here — every pick opens a pre-filled search at the retailer, where the real listings, prices and stock live. How this works.