Useful Yankee swap gifts?

[bjscheel]

Last year to DH's side we brought a cordless hand vac (Kohls has a Black & Decker for $25 right now which is a bit above OP's limit though. And a duffle bag (Kohs has a Trailmaker bag for $20.24 with coupon now). Both of those went over well. I received a jar of pickles, pickle balls, and paddles. Another hot item was a hot cocoa assortment. And the funny one was a box lid taped full of restaurant gift cards, of which only one had money on it and a note that said "good luck!"

If DH goes to his sister's next weekend I'm thinking about chocolates and/or scratch tickets because the limit went down to $10.

 

[Mrs.Milo]

DH had a “White elephant” gift exchange at work. He took a Dale Earnhardt Jr pillow that turned out to be the most popular/most traded.

 

[TwoMisfits]

My kid did a pickle themed gift at a young adult party yesterday - pickle scented bath and body works candle paired with pickle cotton candy from a candy store (she wrapped into a shoe box so it was unidentifiable) - total cost to her was $16 (she bought the candle at the $9 sale). With the Grinch being trendy, this was the hit gift for everyone. Everyone had to smell the candle out of sheer curiosity and it got stolen a ton...

 

[amcnj]

The most recent exchange group I am involved with has a rule where the gift could be “stolen” three times, and then was out of the swap action. Two years ago the gift that was first “retired” was a gift set containing Bailey’s Irish Cream and a glass. Last year it was a rechargeable hand warmer (the crowd is mostly people who work outdoors).

 

[LoveDaisy]

I attended a party tonight with some great practical gifts. A few that I thought were useful included a steamer mop, instapot, electric skittles, Dutch oven, a beautiful hand made charcuterie board, a gift card for a cooking class, and a veg out bag. It had a throw blanket, snacks, a bottle of wine and Netflix GC.