Secret Santa Gifts for Your Best Friend: Ideas Under £15

Secret Santa gifts for your best friend

A friends' draw is the one place a tenner can produce the best gift of the year, because you know exactly which joke to buy. Specific beats expensive every time.

Everything below sits inside a normal UK Secret Santa budget of £10 to £15, so nothing here makes anyone else's gift look small. The ideas are grouped by what usually works, what to steer clear of and how to handle the opening itself.

If you are still setting the draw up, the Secret Santa rules guide covers budgets, deadlines and drawing names, and our free name picker does the draw for you.

Secret Santa gifts under £15

Pin badges, candles, coasters and prints designed in house and posted from the UK — all comfortably inside a Secret Santa budget.

A typographic music print featuring Taylor Swift Bejewelled lyrics on high-quality paper, unframed. Best Believe I'm Still Bejewelled By Taylor Swift Music Lyrics Print £8.00 Unframed wall art print featuring the text 'In A World Of Grey, Be A Flamingo' in colourful, vibrant lettering. In A World Of Grey, Be A Flamingo Print (A4 & A3) £8.00 A colourful typographic wall art print with the quote 'I work hard so that my dog can live a better life' in A4 or A3. I Work Hard So That My Dog Can Live A Better Life Print (A4 & A3) £8.00 A colourful fitness wall print illustrating the HYROX competition race format with running and functional workout steps. Hyrox Competition Race Format Print (A4 & A3) £8.00 Enamel pin badge shaped like a red cowboy boot with the text What Would Dolly Do. What Would Dolly Do? Pin Badge £4.49 Small enamel pin badge with a funny "Chicken Nugget Club" design, perfect as a humorous novelty gift. Chicken Nugget Club Pin Badge (Small) £4.00

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Secret Santa gift ideas for your best friend

  1. A pin badge with the phrase you two have said for years.
  2. A print of the in-joke. Framed, on their wall, still funny in five years.
  3. A coaster for the drink they always order.
  4. A candle for the evening in they keep saying they need.
  5. A card with the memory written out in full, not just referenced.
  6. Their exact snack, drink or comfort item, bought properly rather than cheaply.
  7. A postcard set so you actually write to each other this year.
  8. A keyring or small keepsake from the year you have both had.

What to avoid

  • Anything that only works with a five-minute explanation.
  • Jokes that land differently in front of the wider friend group.
  • Going way over budget and making everyone else uncomfortable.
  • Buying generic because you left it late — you of all people have no excuse.

Budget and etiquette

  • Stay at the group budget and give the bigger present separately.
  • Keep in-jokes readable to the room.
  • Write the card properly.
  • Do not tell them it was you before the reveal.

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How to write it so it lands

  • Specific beats expensive.
  • Room-safe in-jokes only.
  • Bigger gifts happen outside the draw.

Where to shop next

Frequently asked questions

What do you buy your best friend for Secret Santa?

Something specific to the two of you at the group budget: a badge, print, coaster or card carrying the joke you have both said for years.

Can you give a bigger gift as well?

Yes, but privately and away from the group opening. Inside the draw, everyone stays at the same number.

What if the in-joke is rude?

Keep it readable in the room you are opening in. If it needs whispering, save it for a private gift.

How much should you spend on Secret Santa in the UK?

£10 to £15 at work and £15 to £20 in families. Agree one number rather than a range, and say up front whether the card and postage count towards it.

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