Are your colleagues meeting up for a team Christmas dinner this week? If so, you’ll probably have received your Secret Santa recipient or have been tasked to bring a generic gift within a set budget for a Christmas gift exchange. Yet, office Christmas gift exchanges are always the most challenging.
Christmas gifts for your colleagues or bosses shouldn’t be too personal, too extravagant, or too shabby. What to get? Well, if everyone’s been complaining about the stress and workload, why not get a gift meant to destress and relax? After all, it could be a good way to signal at your boss that “We’re too stressed!” or “We’re working so hard!” and “We all deserve a pay raise!”.
Here, a list of seven office-friendly Christmas gifts for your colleagues and bosses:
Lavender has long been lauded to be a great method for destress. If you think it’s an old wives’ tale, it isn’t In 2013, a research was conducted to study the effects of lavender essential oil on the nervous system – in particular, the stabilising and therapeutic benefits lavender may have.
Here are two travel-friendly lavender essential oil roll-on ($7.73) and lavender mist ($6.63) that your colleague can easily carry around to combat those stressful work (bosses’) calls on the go.
If you and your colleagues spend more time working from home, hanging out over Microsoft Teams or Zoom, get this zen and Japanese-looking bluetooth aroma diffuser ($44.73) to spruce up the living room coffee table or dining table WFH work station setup.
Do you and your colleagues spend long hours sitting at the desk, taking calls from customers or your bosses? Get a mini massager for the soles of your feet. The OSIM uPulse Mat Electrical Muscle Stimulation (EMS) Leg Massager ($99) is reasonably priced, portable, easy to keep, and easy to use.
We all have that colleague who suffers from insomnia – a condition that could prove to be pretty disruptive to one’s mental health. Instead of nagging at him or her to “sleep earlier lah“, consider getting your friend some melatonin and vitamin gummies from Olly ($38.90).
Best known for their tranquillising properties, the amethyst crystal brings to your space a sense of calm, relaxation, healing, and relieves anxiousness, mental and physical stress. Plus, they’re beautiful to look at when placed on a work desk. For an easy Christmas gift exchange, get these polished amethyst spheres 3cm in diameter ($35).
Of course, if you’ve ever tried a sound bath you’ll know that it is the ultimate instant destress and relaxation method. If your colleague is open to new experiences, consider getting him or her this floating hammock sound bath class ($48). According to the class description, the sound bath session will encourage “healing energy [to move] through the body in a way that promotes deep relaxation and peace, expansion of consciousness, stimulates circulation, reduces tension, and helps to open the body’s entire energetic system”.
Needless to say, you either like this or hate this. If you’re into healing and energy, you’ll be happy to know that classes for 25 December are still available.
Getting a gift for a generic office or team dinner Christmas gift exchange? You won’t go wrong with gift vouchers from Natureland. Whether your colleague prefers a foot reflexology, a full body massage (Body Therapy), a body scrub, or a good massage for the head, neck, and back, Natureland’s wide-ranging menu will definitely have something on offer.