Secret Santa under £15

Are blue light glasses a good Secret Santa gift?

Yes, especially in an office. The hardest part of Secret Santa is finding something under budget that is neither a novelty that gets binned by January nor so personal that it misfires. Almost everyone in a workplace spends hours at a screen, and very few of them have bought a pair of glasses just for that, which puts blue light glasses in the small group of gifts that are both relevant and genuinely used.

They also look like more than they cost. A clean, well-made frame in a case feels like a considered present, even when the budget was £10. Our lenses filter blue light from screens and the anti-glare coating cuts reflections from overhead office lights, so the gift has an obvious everyday use on Monday morning.

What can you get for under £15?

More than you might expect. Most of our non-prescription frames sit between £9.99 and £13.99, so you can stay inside a typical £10 or £15 Secret Santa budget without compromising on the look.

If your budget is strictly £10, stick to the £9.99 frames. If it is £15, a twin pack gives your recipient one pair for the desk and one for their bag, which reads as more generous than a single frame.

• Ice Clear Blue Light Glasses, £9.99: a neutral clear frame that suits most people
• Midnight Square Blue Light Glasses, £9.99: the classic plain black square
• Studio Square Twin Pack, £12.99: two pairs for desk and bag
• Oversized Icon Blue Light Glasses, £11.99: for a colleague with a bolder style

How do you choose a frame for someone you barely know?

Go neutral. A plain black square or a clear translucent frame suits nearly every face shape, looks at home in any workplace and says nothing about the recipient's taste that they might disagree with. Secret Santa is not the moment for a statement cat-eye or a bright colour, however much you like it.

Avoid tinted lenses too. They are a personal preference, and a colleague who works on spreadsheets all day will get more use from clear lenses. If you genuinely know their style, you can be a little braver, but with someone you have only emailed twice, neutral is the whole strategy. Browse the clear non-prescription collection or the black frames for the safest options.

• Plain black or clear, never a bright colour
• Medium square or rectangle, not a strong shape
• Clear lenses, not tinted
• Non-prescription, so no guessing about strengths

Should you give reading glasses to a colleague?

Probably not. Readers need a strength that suits the person, and guessing it wrong makes the gift useless. There is also a small social risk: handing a colleague reading glasses can come across as a comment on their age, which is exactly the kind of misfire Secret Santa is supposed to avoid.

Non-prescription blue light glasses have neither problem. They suit anyone who spends time at a screen, whatever their age, and nobody reads anything into receiving them. Keep readers for people you know well, where you can check the number printed inside the arm of their current pair.

How do you make a £15 gift feel generous?

Presentation does most of the work. Glasses already feel like a proper item, and a few small touches make them feel chosen rather than grabbed on the way to the office party.

A short, friendly note helps more than you would think. Something along the lines of 'for all those spreadsheets' makes the purpose clear, and adding that the frame can be swapped takes any pressure off the recipient.

• Choose a twin pack when the budget allows
• Add a small microfibre cloth if you have a couple of pounds spare
• Wrap it neatly rather than in the delivery packaging
• Include a light-hearted note about why you chose it

Does delivery fit inside the budget?

This is the part people forget. Delivery is free on UK orders over £20 and £5.99 below that, so a single £9.99 frame costs £15.98 delivered. Most offices count the Secret Santa limit as the price of the gift itself, but if yours is strict, it is worth planning around.

The easy fix is to combine orders. Buy the Secret Santa pair alongside a pair for yourself, or team up with a colleague buying for someone else, and the order passes £20 so delivery is free. Orders are dispatched within 48 hours, but December post is busy, so order well before the office party rather than the week of it.

When should you pick something else?

Glasses are a strong default, but not a universal one. If your recipient already wears prescription glasses all day, a second non-prescription pair is not much use to them, and a different gift will land better. The same goes for someone whose job keeps them away from a desk, such as a colleague who spends most of the week on site or on the road.

A quick look around the office usually tells you what you need to know. If they wear glasses at their desk and take them off to walk to the kitchen, they probably wear readers or a prescription. If they squint at a bright monitor with nothing on their face, they are a good candidate.

• They wear prescription glasses all day
• Their role keeps them away from screens most of the week
• Your office has a strict no-personal-items gift rule
• You know they already own several pairs they love

What if the frame does not suit them?

Every order comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee and free returns. Because the order is in your name, the simplest approach is to let the recipient know, discreetly, that you are happy to send it back and pick something else if it is not right. That removes the awkwardness of a gift that sits in a drawer out of politeness.

For more gift ideas at every budget, see the blue light glasses gift guide. If your Secret Santa happens to work from home, our post on gifts for the work-from-home person has a few extra ideas to pair with the glasses.

Frequently asked