Small gifts under £10 for no reason

The budget is the point here. Under £10 means you can do this several times a year without it becoming a thing, and nobody feels they owe you a present back.

Everything below fits through a letterbox, so there's no card through the door and no trip to a depot.

Under £5

• A pin badge. Worn on a coat or a bag, so it gets seen daily.
• A postcard with a proper message on the back, not just a signature.
• A greetings card used as the gift itself, with a real letter inside.
• A magnet for the fridge they look at forty times a day.

£5 to £10

• A small print for a desk or a kitchen wall.
• A coaster with an in-joke on it.
• A card and a pin badge together, which is the strongest pairing at this price.
• A notebook, if they're the kind of person who's always writing lists.

How to make a cheap gift feel deliberate

• Write more than you'd normally write. The letter is what lifts it.
• Send it on a random weekday rather than a Friday.
• Pick something specific to them rather than something nice in general.
• Don't apologise for the size of it in the card. That undoes the whole thing.

Shop pin badges

How to write it so it lands

• Send it on a Tuesday. A parcel on a boring weekday lands harder than one in a birthday week.
• Say why you sent it. "No reason, I just thought of you" is the whole gift.
• Small and specific beats big and generic when there's no occasion attached.

Where to shop next

• Just because gifts
• Gifts to show someone you care
• Thinking of you gift ideas
• Surprise gifts by post
• Random acts of kindness gift ideas
• Gifts for your partner for no reason
• Just because messages
• Thinking of you cards
• Pin badges
• Posters and prints
• All guides
• Planning the party? Birthday party ideas
• How to make a balloon arch
• Photo booth prop ideas

Frequently asked questions

What can you send someone for under £10?

A card with a pin badge, a postcard, a small print, a coaster or a magnet. All of them post cheaply and fit through a letterbox.

Is a cheap gift rude?

Not when there's no occasion. With nothing on the calendar, the price stops mattering and the thought is the entire message.