Secret Santa: What to gift your colleagues? A last-minute shopping guide for presents under Rs 3,500

Gifting ideas for work friends as well as colleagues you have a nodding acquaintance with. (Image: Porapak Apichodilok via Pexels)

Still stuck in the morass of mass-choosing gifts for your favourite colleagues? Break out of the standardised trap with our curated gift guide, with each product not costing beyond Rs 3,500:

Beverages — from tea to spirits

1868 by Tata Tea

Moving beyond handmade, 1868 by Tata Tea is a collection of gourmet tea blends infused with spices, flavours, fruits, and flowers that exhibit the diversity of the country’s produce. The flavours include Paan Cardamom, Caramel Green Chilli, Mango Mint, Spicy Guava, and Darjeeling Spring Blossom, Darjeeling Rare Wonder, among several others.

Price: Rs 350-1,500; visit: www.tatatea1868.com

Isvara herb tea

Iśvara Herb Basket Tea hamper contains caffeine-free tisane with a floral base and hints of spices. The gift package includes tisane, which is a blend of hibiscus, lavender buds, rose, cardamom, cloves, and orange peel; handmade bronze Kāṃsya bronze tea strainer, Iśvara Himalayan forest honey, three petite candles, a Sheshan wood teaspoon, and a gift box.

Price: Rs 1,400; visit: www.isvara.in

Rage Coffee

Rage coffee is all the rage among millennials. Its gift hamper includes four different kinds of coffee, including Irish Hazelnut, Creme Caramel and Butterscotch Delight.

Price: Rs 1,699

Strangers and Sons Gin

Stranger and Son’s Four Pillars Gin — Spice Trade Gin and Trading Tides — are a collaboration between two contemporary distilleries. Spice Trade Gin has flavours of turmeric, lime, teppal, long peppers, red chilli, and black cardamom. Trading Tides is infused with Australian lemon myrtle, anise myrtle, and river mint along with the Indian flavours of mangosteen, kokum, and tamarind.

Price: Rs 3,500 each; visit: www.strangerandsons.com

Rock Paper Rum

Rock Paper Rum is made with locally sourced sugarcane and artfully blended with rare botanicals. It is refreshingly woody and sweet with a hint of vanilla.

Price: Rs 1,500

Sober & Co. gift box

Sober & Co’s cocktail mixers are made with farm-sourced ingredients such as green apples and rosemary-spiced Australian Sour.

Price: A box of three costs Rs 297

Gourmet larder

Moonshine Honey Project, assorted three pack (Sidr, Acacia and Mustard Honey)

Moonshine, the meads guys, have a honey project that which uses a ‘hive to table’ approach. The team has been working with farmers across India to help increase the population of bees. Their unifloral honey — Acacia Honey, Mustard Honey, Sidr Honey— is freshly sourced from their bee boxes

Price: Rs 1,050 each

Truffle & Co. gift box

Chef Vidushi Sharma and Tanya Anand’s Truffle & Co. put out a gourmet range of truffles — Mornings in Rome (Espresso-infused milk chocolate, Kahlua, Almond Biscotti); Asian Zing (White chocolate infused with Sichuan peppercorns and dusted with toasted walnuts), Vesper Martini Truffle (Dark chocolate infused with vodka, gin, and a twist of lime), and Single Malt (Dark chocolate infused with 18-year-old single malt dusted in cocoa powder).

Price: Up to Rs 1,000

Begum Victoria cheese

Aged in a cheese cave in Victoria Layout in Bengaluru, Chef Manu Chandra’s artisanal cheese venture Begum Victoria is a brand of organic cheese that is handmade, using traditional methods and A2 milk—with high-fat content and beta-Carotene—from domestic cow breeds.

Price: Rs 240-350 per 200 gm

Netasia chopping board

What is a larder without a cutting board? Netasia’s cutting boards are textured, in marble and wood, and come in black and whiteand more shades.

Price: Rs 599 onwards; visit: www.netasia.in

Handmade and handcrafted

Haath ka bana noor filgiree

Handmade is a luxury, not so much in terms of cost but in the very act of hand-crafting using ancient traditions for one-of-a-kind products. Haath ka Bana’s Noor Filigree tealight holders are a homage to Odisha’s delicate filigree art (Rs 749). Its vintage metal and wood bookends (Rs 2,450) are handcrafted by Morabad artisans.

Visit: www.haathkabana.com

Bulbuli India wall plates

Bulbuli India is a small handmade start-up with some great products. Its hand-painted wall plates mine motifs and colours from India’s design traditions.

Price: Rs 1,700; visit: www.bulbuli.in

Handmade macrame by The Boho Bunaai

Handmade macrame is the flavour of the season but there are a lot of tacky products in the market. My favourite is The Boho Bunaai, run by an architect-turned-artist whose intricate work gives her stuff an edge. From wall hangings to chandeliers, to my rank favourite, macrame leaves — this is what you need to add oomph to your walls.

Price: Rs 1,000 onwards; visit: @thebohobunaai on Instagram

Fashion accessories

Eyeglass cover by Brune & Bareskin

Brune & Bareskin’s Croco print leather eyewear cover for men is trendy (Rs 2,499). For women, there are black pebbled leather AirPods-carrying cases and Croco print leather bags priced from Rs 1,499 onwards.

Visit: www.voganow.com

Beauty and wellness

Line & Lash eyeliner

Line & Lash is an adhesive liquid eyeliner that saves you the time when applying false eyelashes. It glides on smoothly to define the eyes and is waterproof.

Price: Rs 2,580

Men's Shave Away Kit by Body Shop

The Body Shop Men’s Shave Away Kit has shaving cream and other products such as an after-shave gel with ingredients such as Maca Root and Aloe Vera sourced from the brand’s community fair trade partners in Mexico.

Price: Rs 2,895: visit: In the stores

Recode Studio lip crayons

Recode Studio’s pigmented gel lip crayons are creamy and glide on effortlessly.

Price: Rs 598; visit:  www.recodestudios.com