The 30 Best Gifts for Co-Workers

We love Lego botanicals for places that don’t get a lot of light or for people who tend to forget about things like watering. These poppy pink Lego Cherry Blossoms add sophisticated cheer to any desk or cubicle, and they require very little in return—maybe just occasional dusting. Plus, the 430 pieces are fun and relatively easy to put together.

Let’s circle back to synergistically align action items. Every office worker has heard it—that ridiculous, tongue-twisting corporate-speak. This ingenious little Corporate Nonsense Generator is a clever send-up of all the business gobbledygook uttered in conference rooms, and it’s a perfect way for work BFFs to blow off some steam while making fun of The Man.

Bring new meaning to the phrase “office casual” by giving your co-worker the gift of cozy feet. The cotton-and-fleece Merippa Reversible House Shoes feel like cushy socks on your feet, and they’re reversible and machine-washable. Each pair comes with stick-on grippers, which the giftee will have to apply themselves (true to their roots, these shoes are incredibly slippery without the adhesive grippers).

The sparkly sour mini strawberries, shiny chocolate-covered rice puffs, and sophisticated Swedish Fish in the BonBon Medium Gift Box are the grown-up version of that proverbial kid’s proverbial candy shop. A favorite of Wirecutter’s kitchen team, this New York City shop imports high-end Swedish candies that arrive gift-ready in a chic box tied with a pretty pink ribbon. They’re also available in large and even larger gift box sizes.

WFH desks and in-office cubicles can both be barren, lonely places. Give your co-worker companionship in the form of Smoko, a charmingly chubby potato. Pat its round head or tummy, and the darling spud emits a soft glow in one of three brightness levels via a USB-rechargeable battery. Offering just the right blend of whimsy and usability, this little potato will surely create a sunnier, starchier space.

When neither the fridge, the cupboard, nor even the vending machine entice, it’s time for a snack refresh. Up their workday nosh game with a box of 22 thoughtfully chosen, individually wrapped Japanese snacks, candies, and teas. While not every item was a home run, we did love the Edamame Senbei (a salty-sweet cracker dusted with soybean powder), the freeze-dried White Strawberry injected with white chocolate, and Seaweed Tempura Setouchi Sudachi (a citrusy, salty, and earthy morsel of crisped rice clusters and seaweed). Taste preferences aside, novelty always spices up the day.

In a lovely marriage of form and function, this sleek pear is both glossy desk decor and office doodad organizer. It measures 9 by 6 inches (about the size of your average potted plant), and it neatly stashes away pens and pencils, chargers, earpods, and whatever other small daily supplies are cluttering your workmate’s desk. And if they’ve gone fully digital, with nary a physical tool in sight, it can always store a secret candy stash.

Workday sweet treats aren’t just hunger soothers, they’re also morale boosters. If you have a co-worker with a sweet tooth who also happens to love chocolate and peanut butter (and who doesn’t?), this Reese’s variety pack contains a month’s worth of mood enhancers. It’s filled with 30 full-size packages of six different Reese’s varietals, including classic Peanut Butter Cups, Sticks, White Creme Cups, Take 5 Bars, Pieces, and Big Cups. It may feel a little random, but that’s part of the fun. A side-by-side taste test can really reveal surprises about your coworker’s candy proclivities.

A sophisticated take on office humor, this 20-sided die is intended to take a little pressure off professional or personal decision-making with a design that’s instantly recognizable to any self-professed geek or nerd. Ask it anything art or design related: What font should I use, for example, and it will give you an answer that is most likely irrelevant but always amusing. To the above questions it answered, “Not original enough.” Okay, back to the drawing board. The die is also available in Developer and Emoji editions.

If you know your cubicle mate cooks, you know they use olive oil. And when you know they use olive oil, you can be sure they’ll love—or at least certainly put to good use—the single-origin Graza “Sizzle” Extra Virgin Olive Oil from southern Spain. After researching 40 varieties and tasting 15, our panelists chose this oil as their top pick among widely available store-bought brands for its tomato-plant aromas; grassy, peppery flavors; and rich but not overly fatty mouthfeel. It’s also affordable, so if your recipient wants to replace it after emptying the bottle, you haven’t given them an expensive habit.

If your work significant other is always asking the bartender to plug in their phone at happy hour, ease their low-battery woes. The Apple-certified Belkin Boost Charge Pro Portable Wireless Charger Pad with MagSafe, which has a built-in kickstand, is our upgrade pick for the best Qi wireless charger for iPhones—in our tests, it was actually faster than Apple’s own MagSafe Charger.

Your colleague with the stylishly appointed desk and killer work outfits would certainly appreciate the quietly elegant Craighill Closed Helix Keyring. Available in brass or stainless steel, it’s just the right size for house, car, and office-drawer keys, but not too bulky for pants pockets. The wire folds neatly across itself, and your giftee can readily and securely add or remove keys by unscrewing the ridged endcap.

The 8½-by-11-inch Quartet Glass Dry-Erase Desktop Easel lies flat or props up easel-style to rescue workspaces from sticky notes and scratch-pad clutter. It resists stains and ghosting (it comes with a dry-erase marker), and the clip can keep bills or invoices neatly contained. As work-from-home expert Melanie Pinola said, “It’s almost cathartic to purge random notes and have a clean slate at the end of the day.”

The Caran d’Ache 849 Brut Rosé ballpoint pen is one of our favorites. With its matte rose-gold finish—made with 1 to 2 microns of real gold—and hexagonal shape, this Swiss pen is a pleasure to write with. And you won’t need to wrap it, since the metal case makes for an excellent presentation. Do your recipient a solid and throw in a couple of refills, too.

The Zojirushi Stainless Steel Mug has been our pick since 2013; we’ve even published an ode in its honor. What makes this vacuum-insulated mug so great? It’s lightweight and slim (hello, cupholder), and you can easily unhitch the locking latch with one hand. It also keeps things hot for up to 10 hours, aka the entire workday and the commute home.

Plants clean the air and brighten any environment, even a cubicle. The Rooted Baby Desert Box’s three tiny, hard-to-kill succulents are small enough to live on a desktop and easy enough to keep alive, even if natural light is scarce and the air is of the recycled variety. To save your recipient the hassle of repotting, consider ordering them with terra-cotta pots, for just a little extra.

Co-workers don’t let co-workers suffer a sad desk lunch. Even if you can’t drag your work spouse away from their screen for an hour, the punchy Fly By Jing Mini Sampler Set can liven up their midday meal. Each jar (this box includes four) provides the inimitable flavors of the Sichuan province—numbing peppercorn, zippy chili, umami richness, and just a bit of sweet. The flavors are delicious, unique, and strong, so just a dab will do. And even though the petite, 2-ounce jars won’t take up much space in the communal fridge, your co-worker should probably hide them or be prepared to “share.”

Most everyone will end up with a sore back and neck after spending hours slouched over a desktop. And the Thera Cane Massager can bring relief much more quickly (and cheaply) than a standing appointment with the masseuse. A longtime Wirecutter favorite, this self-massage tool has six knobs that dig precisely into muscular nooks and crannies, and the hooked shape lets the user control the pressure and intensity. The durable plastic won’t bend or snap, even if your co-worker leans in with their full body weight. Also, since this massager is flat and battery free, it’s less cumbersome than other at-home massage devices.

If your co-worker’s commuting bag always has a dog-eared paperback tucked inside, or you’ve spied their overflowing bookshelves during Zoom meetings, streamlined steel bookends would likely be a much-appreciated gift. Available in a prismatic rainbow or ombre gray, the five pieces in this Index set have tabs at differing heights to neatly separate your colleague’s Oscar Wilde from their Ernest Hemingway. Since these bookends are paper thin, they’re also excellent for organizing reference manuals, binders, and folders on small desktop spaces.

Ice cream makes a foolproof gift, both for the boss you’ve known a while and the brand-new colleague. Our kitchen team considers Ohio-based Jeni’s one of the best edible gifts you can send. This set features Jeni’s five most popular flavors, including the life-changing Darkest Chocolate and the nostalgic Brambleberry Crisp. Shipping ranges from $13 to $19, depending on where you’re sending it (maybe have it posted right to the office so you can all share).

Yes, your colleague can customize their laptop with stickers, but a cute laptop sleeve is a less-committed choice (especially if their device technically belongs to the company). Some of our favorite sleeves from testing are those sold by Society6. Artists use this platform to have their work printed on dozens of different items, which means there are thousands of prints to choose from, including line-drawn faces (pictured above). Whatever design perfectly suits your colleague, it will come printed on a firm, padded, canvas-style polyester sleeve, which protects against dust, scratches, and bumps and closes with a durable YKK zipper.

If you work alongside someone who takes forever to finish their morning cuppa, a mug warmer will let them sip all day long without their java going cold. Among those we tested, the Bestinnkits Smart Coffee Warmer stood apart from the competition by accommodating any mug (as opposed to a proprietary vessel) and consistently keeping its contents between 133 °F and 135 °F for hours. This warmer has a wall plug, so that may limit where your colleague can use it, but it also has a small footprint, so it should fit easily on any desk or side table.

Whether your favorite co-worker is commuting to the office across town or just upstairs to escape their children, Everlane's The ReNew Transit Backpack is one of our favorite laptop backpacks for both function and fashion. Our testers especially loved the convenience of the fold-over flap: One side is a handy pouch for essentials, the other clasps with a satisfying magnetic closure. Available in a handful of smart, muted tones, this bag has a water-resistant, recycled-polyester exterior. So it will keep your co-worker's laptop safe and dry, even if they accidentally spill a carafe of coffee or get caught in an afternoon sprinkle.

There’s something nostalgic and charming about a tear-off daily calendar. And the 365 New Words-A-Year Page-A-Day Calendar 2025, featuring 365 glittering vocabulary words, is a particularly fun gift for the co-worker who loves language, lexicography, or just learning anything at all. Each page of this calendar offers detailed etymology and sample sentences from the editors of Merriam-Webster. Staff writer Dorie Chevlen has happily received one from her mother every year for about a decade.

Sustainability editor Katie Okamoto sings the praises of Kettl, a tea company that works directly with small farms in Japan to source brews otherwise unavailable in the US. Katie likes all of its selections but especially recommends the Kettl Genmaimatcha Tea Bags, which she describes as “both umami-rich and remarkably fresh, with that signature background nuttiness from the roasted rice.” Some matcha lovers enjoy the ritualistic ceremony of steeping and whisking. But for workday sips, these single-serve tea bags are a godsend.

The OXO Compact Cold Brew Coffee Maker is a miniature version of our top-pick cold-brew coffee maker. The OXO Compact brews 16 ounces instead of 32, so it’s perfect for the at-work cold-brew fiend who might also like the option of steeping at home. Since this coffee maker is under 9 inches tall, one needn’t feel guilty about saddling the recipient with another clunky kitchen implement. This small-but-mighty model consistently makes strong, smooth coffee that the sipper can dilute according to their needs.

For the office mate who loves tchotchkes—you know the desk—this little figurine is sure to add even more cheer to their cubicle or makeshift work-from-home setup. The Hoptimist was designed by Danish woodturner and counterculture icon Hans Gustav Ehrenreich as part of the late-1960s happy movement. Sure to provide happiness to your recipient, the Hoptimist serves as the main sponsor of the Danish Hospital Clowns, a nonprofit focused on bringing joyful entertainment to sick children.

Fanny packs exist in that liminal space between random and useful—meaning there’s a good chance most of the people you work with don’t have one but would like one. We love them because they free up our hands when we’re biking, and they spare us the annoyance of having to carry a tote. The JanSport Fifth Avenue Fanny Pack, one of our fanny pack picks, is currently available in several colors, so you can surely find one to complement any co-worker’s aesthetic. It’s also roomy enough to fit sunscreen, a phone, and even a wallet.

Maybe your co-worker misses your smiling face in the neighboring cubicle now that they’re working mostly from home. Or maybe they miss their dog now that they’re sometimes back at the office. For all manner of longing, consider this unexpected, tender, and/or downright silly gift idea: Upload a picture onto a mug so your colleague can enjoy a fond memory while sipping their morning coffee (or to prevent unauthorized mug “borrowing”). We ordered custom photo mugs from two companies, and we found that Shutterfly’s Photo Gallery Mug had more vibrant colors and decals. It also seemed more durable overall than the one we tried from Vistaprint.

Coffee can make good times better and stressful times a little less so. Depending on the needs of your co-worker (as in, do they have kids who demand their attention before they can even turn on a coffee maker?), you may want to get them instant coffee, which they can whip up without a thought. Don’t be repelled by the concept: Instant coffee has improved a lot since the days of stale-tasting Nescafé. We taste-tested several brands, so we feel confident recommending Verve Coffee Roasters’s mild, malty coffee, which has a pleasant roasted scent. If your co-worker is less harried, send them regular coffee: We like Atlas Coffee Club’s choices, which are sold by the bag or even as a subscription (for the colleague you really like).

You’d be surprised at how often an all-purpose salve comes to the rescue in and out of the office (and since this one comes in a two-pack, maybe you can find out). To prevent and treat itchy, cracked skin, we love Lucas’ Papaw Ointment, which supervising editor Hannah Morrill said she often saw stashed in makeup artists’ kits on celebrity photo shoots. “Papaw” refers to the fermented papaya that helps pack moisture into this little tube. This salve can be used to hydrate sanitizer-scorched hands or as a treatment for nicks, rashes, and chafing. It’s equally excellent for dry lips, minor burns, or chapped cheeks.

We love finding gifts that are unusual, thoughtful, and well vetted. See even more gift ideas we recommend.

This article was edited by Hannah Morrill and Jennifer Hunter. Dorie Chevlen contributed reporting.