We All PlayedThe Strategist Gifting Game.It Was Fun!

Come on Down to Play The Strategist Gifting Game

The first thing I thought of getting was some Niwaki tool (likeSimone Rocha’s secateursorAlison Freer’shori-horiknife), but I know nothing about gardening. And what if my recipient doesn’t know anything about gardening, either? I always get gifting inspiration from the MoMA Design Store and discovered the Corocoro Cat Planter on a late-night scroll (while the words for outside, heavy, and Japanese kept repeating in my head). Corocoro comes from the Japanese word for “rolling around,” and it’s self-irrigating to grow an herb (there are seeds included) out of the cat’s head. There’s an element of surprise, as you don’t know what cat will ship out with your order. I know I’m being liberal with the “heavy” bit, but it’s made of ceramic!

After racking my brain, my favorite shops, and the Strategist archives for a few days, I decided that a throwback school supply would be fun for the prompt. I always like to give gifts that can be useful even if the recipient doesn’tloveit, so I thought markers would fall into that category. Plus, markers are hard (at least on the exterior!). I settled on Mr. Sketch because scented markers are very nostalgic to me and I imagine many of my colleagues — who didn’t spend at least a little time sniffing these markers in elementary school? (I definitely don’t think you are supposed to directly sniff them, but I know we all did anyway.) Scented markers aren’t too common in the adult world, so I hoped this gift would bring a little bit of elementary-school fun to my recipient whenever they use them.

Much to my dismay, many of my initial ideas that fit under each category exceeded our $25 budget. I was looking for alternative options and remembered Ladurée macrons are an excellent treat and was surprised to discover a six-piece gift box — soft to eat, French, and something you can technically enjoyinyour living room — was exactly $25. I used the green gift box as inspiration to wrap the gift in a similar shade of sage ribbon and glued on hole-punched stars for accents. To me, wrapping a gift is almost as good as the gift itself.

When I received my prompts, my brain immediately went to either a fancy bar of soap or a nice catchall, but I couldn’t find one that fit the price limit or felt like it would match a multitude of aesthetics. So when I stumbled upon this small, tortoise-shell-patterned pouch of mini emergency items, I decided to follow a good gifting rule of thumb: Get them something they’ll actually use. I thought the extra earring backs, safety pin, floss, and nail file were particularly useful items that you’d be grateful to have when disaster strikes in a public bathroom.

My first two keywords — for the bedroom and heavy — were pretty straightforward. And while I think the handsome brown bottle punches above its weight looks-wise, this product also happens toliterallybe more expensive than it actually is because I managed to get it for 35 percent off, so the $37 bottle was marked down to $24. Plus, it felt like it wouldn’t be the 2025 Strategist Gift Exchange if there wasn’t a bottle ofSalt Lab magnesium sprayin the mix.

I know some of my colleagues had to be extra creative, but my words were on the more sensical side and a kitchen timer immediately came to mind. Still, I wanted it to be a fun design so that it felt more gift than utilitarian. I walked over to Tarzian West, a kitchen-supply store in Park Slope that is also one of my favorite stores in general, and perused its selection. There was a turkey timer, a jar-of-mayonnaise timer, and a moka-pot timer. I thought the frog was extra cute, so I went with that!

I was struggling to find something large for under $25 — then I realized that what “large” meant was up for interpretation. I’d been eyeing theJohn Derian for Targetcollaboration since Ambar Padilla previewed it for the Strategist about a month ago. I realized that the10.5-inch Blue Mushroom Lampwas very largefor a mushroom,smooth as can be, and would look absolutely whimsical next to any living-room armchair. Plus the light it casts is pretty big for a smallish lamp.

[Editor’s note: This special-collection lamp is sold out. However, you can find past John Derian x Target mushroom lamps secondhand oneBay(albeit for far more than $20).]

When it comes to gifting exchanges with a big group, I think a good rule of thumb is to always get something that you yourself would be delighted to receive. Pepito (I’ll use his government name here) is one of those novelty objects that is both endearing and genuinely useful. He doesn’t weigh a lot, and at the same time he would be hard to lose in a drawer because of his bright-red color. I like an object that makes an ordinary task, like grating or zesting, a bit less tedious, and this fits the bill.

I actually think I lucked out with my categories. A paperweight came immediately to mind because when I think “office,” I think ofMad Menrather than the open-plan hot desk that is my reality. I’m a big Etsy shopper, and I know there’s a lot of vintage Dansk on there, so the decision was made quickly. My only dilemma was choosing the shape as there were lots of fun ones to pick from. I came really close to purchasing thishard shiny heart, and I also like thisgiraffeandhippo.

[Editor’s note: Theexact vintage Dansk paperweightKat bought is no longer available, so we linked to a very similar (and currently available) one above.]

I was initially stumped on how to pick somethingbigfor $25. A blanket (or maybe a cheap chair) was the obvious choice, but I feel like everyone already has an outdoor blanket and I really don’t like giving junky or impractical gifts. I have this hugepair of wool socks that I got as a gift once long ago and thought some very big, very warm socks would satisfy all my categoriesandbe useful no matter who got them. So I got the Big Woolly Socks from Woolrich, which are large (for a sock), comfy, and, hopefully, something whoever ended up with them could use in the winter. I’m okay being boring if it means it’s not wasteful!

My first thought was a candle or a diffuser, but I couldn’t find one under $25 that would also fit the “big” brief. This was a pretty enormous bag of potpourri, most definitely smelly, and festive for the season!

I started my search on theGift Scout, which I was planning on using just for inspiration but it actually yielded so many good results. The flower de-stress “ball” I ended up buying was first recommended by Amy Sedaris in hermega gift guidefrom last year, which is really all the convincing I needed. Clearly it’s morefunto look at and squeeze than your average stress ball. My one mistake was that the flower is not actually made of the same heavy, squishy material as your typical stress ball, so when it arrived in the mail I learned that it was far lighter than expected. When we played the game, though, my colleagues decided that its thick, bubbly frame is metaphysically heavier than a typical flower and, you know what, I’ll take it.

[Editor’s note: Lauren’sflower stress “ball”is currently unavailable (though you can sign up for restock notifications). In the meantime, we’ve linked to a similarly fun flower-shaped stress ball.]

I wasstressedabout my categories because we could only spend $25, and everything I could think of that was big and indulgent was too expensive. At first, I was thinking I should get a fancy-looking picnic set or blanket. Too expensive. Then I started looking at lanterns and headlamps and I almost bought abig four-way flashlight, but it didn’t feel indulgent enough unless the giftee is someone who really gets a kick out of a flashlight. So then I tried to find fancy gardening tools, yard décor, or a giant bar of soap for an outdoor shower. All of it was too pricey or not nice enough. Then I remembered seeing a giant Swedish Fish somewhere so I looked that up. But it turned out to be just a DIYTikToktrend. But it felt like a good direction, so I just started looking at candy in different shapes like seashells and bird eggs and that lead me to chocolate rocks and, finally, to these jumbo chocolate boulders.

A blanket or throw pillow seems like the obvious choice when two of your categories are “soft” and “for the living room,” so I wanted to find something a little outside the box. I took some inspiration from my own living room, where I regularly use felted coasters. The butter-yellow Limoncello shade was on sale for $21, and this brand has been recommended many times over on the Strategist. It felt like a no-brainer!

It was the first thing that popped in my mind when I read the prompt. I have lots of these around the house. They’re cheap, emit a nice glow, and go with most any décor style. There’s a reason they’ve been popular for years.