In a Secret Santa stealing game, the first second decides everything: whatever people recognise straight away gets stolen, the rest stays on the table. For Secret Santa gifts for skiers that's good news, because everyone recognises a ski connection. The bad news: our own products don't fit a £20 limit, so the ideas for that and the ideas for the £40 round are kept clearly apart here.
Last updated: 22 September 2026
What is a Secret Santa gift for skiers?
A small gift for the swap at work, at the club or among friends that suits a skier or chalet fan. A good one sticks to the agreed limit, says skiing or chalet life at first glance and makes the whole group laugh when it's unwrapped, without showing anyone up. At work there's more: no alcohol as a gift, nothing suggestive.
💡 By the way: if your limit is closer to £40 or two of you chip in, our set of 4 ski boot shot glasses with bindings is the idea with the clearest ski connection.
Secret Santa Ideas for Skiers Under £20: Ski Gags That Get the Whole Group Laughing
With a Secret Santa budget under £20, small things with a clear ski connection work best. The list mixes practical ideas with ones that are mainly there for the laugh.
- Hand warmers in a multipack: Every skier needs them, nobody buys them in time. Unspectacular, but worth a thank-you on every cold day on the lift.
- Voucher for a hot wax service: At the local ski hire or ski shop, a simple hot wax service for skis or a board is often within the Secret Santa budget. Practical, and your colleague will think of you on the first turn.
- Piste map as a print: The panorama map of their favourite resort, framed. Some ski resorts sell posters like these in their shop, at the tourist office, or you'll find them from map publishers.
- Chalet snacks: Mountain cheese, a bar of chocolate from an Alpine region, a mountain herb tea. Edible, so guaranteed not to gather dust.
- Ski pass holder with retractable clip: Small, useful, and anyone who has ever dug through their jacket pockets for their ski pass gets the joke immediately.
- The PistenPiesler: Our only complete gift in this class. A kit the recipient puts together themselves, which then becomes a pourer for almost any bottle – and when you pour, a little man stands over the glass and does what little men do. Mention that it needs a glass, otherwise the joke falls flat. More ideas for even smaller limits are in our guide to Secret Santa gifts under £15.
Everything else in our shop is above the limit – the glass set with bindings, for example, belongs in the round around £40. More on that in a moment.
Which Gift Suits Which Kind of Secret Santa
In a classic draw it's the person that counts, in the stealing game it's the first glance, in joke Secret Santa it's the humour.
Classic Secret Santa: One Name, One Gift
You know who you're buying for. Then a gift with a personal touch pays off: the piste map of their home resort, the wax service for their board. If you don't know whether they ski at all, the section on chalet fans further down will help.
Stealing Game and Dice Secret Santa: What Gets Recognised Gets Stolen
In a stealing game – known elsewhere as White Elephant or Yankee swap – the winner is whatever people recognise the moment it's unwrapped. Four ski boot shot glasses with bindings tend to change hands several times in a round like that, because everyone at the table understands what they are and wants them. Small practical things like hand warmers, on the other hand, usually stay with their first owner.
The parcel that changes hands three times has the biggest audience in the end: whoever keeps it last stands in front of the whole group for a moment.
Stealing Game with Piste Rules
A version with ski vocabulary and no drinking at all:
- All parcels go in the middle, and everyone takes turns rolling the dice.
- A 6 means: take a parcel from the middle and unwrap it straight away in front of everyone. If you already have one, pass the dice on.
- A 1 means: steal an unwrapped gift from someone else. A 3: everyone passes their gift one place downhill, i.e. clockwise.
- Last lift: a gift that has been stolen three times has left the slope and stays with whoever has it right now. When the middle is empty, the round ends.
In Norway a related version is called pakkeleken; how it's played at the julebord is covered in our office Christmas party games from Norway.
Joke Secret Santa: Anything for a Laugh
In a joke Secret Santa everyone gives away something they want to get rid of at home. For skiers, this is the moment for the goggles from the nineties, the piste map from 2008 or the ski socks with a hole, freshly washed and with a bow on. Buying something new spoils the game here, our products included.
When the Limit Is Around £40 – or Two of You Chip In
If the limit is higher or you're giving as a pair, the glass set with bindings becomes an option: four ski boot shot glasses, each in a ski binding, lanyards and screws included. After Secret Santa it won't become a dust collector: the glasses come back out on the table at the next party.
The set is above the usual Secret Santa limit, and there's a reason for that: whoever opens the parcel is holding a glass shape you'll only find with us, made in Austria. The binding is made from a plastic that survives a fall off the table, and it comes from the Chiemgau. Every set is assembled by hand, at Lebenshilfe in Piding and Caritas Wendelstein.
At work, alcohol-free hot apple punch goes in – the glass takes it just as well as something ice-cold from the fridge, and the binding doesn't go soft. After the party the bindings move to the wall, onto a serving board or onto an old ski; how that works is shown in our twelve ideas for what to do with old skis.
If the whole team chips in for the boss, it can be something bigger. In that case, have a look at our guide to gifts for party lovers.
For the Chalet Fan Who Doesn't Ski, and the Colleague Whose Hobbies You Don't Know
If you don't know whether they ski at all, give the mountain rather than the sport. People who have never stood on two planks like chalet atmosphere too – the smell of pine wood, the warmth after a cold day.
The pine room fragrance set has two mini ski poles as reed diffusers in the pine flask, plus a Miniski with binding and a ski boot glass. It smells like a mountain hut, has nothing to do with drinking and fits on any desk. This set is above £20 too and belongs in the higher round.
For a fixed £20 limit and unknown hobbies, the neutral ideas from above remain: chalet snacks and a piste map almost always work.
Order in Time: Shipping to the UK and Beyond
We ship from our warehouse in Germany. If you order by noon German time (11 am in the UK), your parcel usually goes out the same day – nobody can guarantee that, so if your Secret Santa date is close, it's better to order a few days early.
Outside the EU, customs duty and import VAT may be added. The invoice is in the parcel for customs, so if you have it sent straight to the recipient, they'll see the price. For a Secret Santa with a limit under £20, our products honestly aren't made for that; the shop round the corner is the better choice there.
What's Off-Limits in an Office Secret Santa
An office Secret Santa isn't a party among friends. So a few things don't belong in the parcel:
- Alcohol as a gift: A bottle of spirits has no place in an office Secret Santa. Not everyone drinks, and not everyone wants to explain that in front of colleagues.
- Pressure to drink: Nobody has to drink from a shot glass they've just unwrapped. An empty ski boot glass or the pine fragrance are the safe side.
- Innuendo and mockery: Jokes about someone's figure, age or skiing ability rarely go down well in front of the whole department.
- Blowing the limit: A gift far above the limit puts pressure on everyone else. If you want to spend more, chip in with someone.
If you still want to christen the glasses straight away: ideas for filling them without the booze are in our non-alcoholic shots.
Secret Santa as Part of the Office Christmas Party
Secret Santa works best with a fixed slot in the programme, for example after the meal, when everyone is sitting down and nobody has to leave yet. Half an hour is enough for a round of the stealing game with ten to fifteen people. If you want to build Secret Santa into a themed Christmas party, you'll find a running order from 4 pm to 10 pm in our guide to the apres ski Christmas party at work.
And if you're not doing Secret Santa but looking for a proper Christmas present for a skier, you'll find a bigger budget and more ideas in our guide to gifts for skiers.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which Secret Santa gift really goes down well with skiers?
One with a clear ski connection that people get the moment it's unwrapped: within a £20 limit, hand warmers, a wax service or the piste map of their favourite resort. In the round around £40, things with a visible ski connection work, such as ski boot shot glasses with bindings.
What do you give in Secret Santa if you don't know whether your colleague skis?
Something with a chalet rather than a sports theme: chalet snacks such as mountain cheese or mountain tea, or with a higher limit a pine room fragrance. People who don't ski like chalet atmosphere too.
Which Secret Santa gift under £20 is funny but not embarrassing?
Small ski gags that are actually useful: a ski pass holder with a retractable clip, hand warmers or the PistenPiesler, with a note that it needs a glass. If you're ordering from outside the EU, a local shop is the better bet for this limit, because shipping and possibly customs come on top.
Which gift works best in a stealing game or dice Secret Santa?
One that people recognise the moment it's unwrapped and that lots of them want. For skiers, that means things with a visible ski connection; inconspicuous practical gifts usually stay with their first owner.
What shouldn't you give in an office Secret Santa?
Alcohol, anything suggestive and jokes at someone's expense. A gift far above the limit is also unfair to everyone else. Shot glasses are fine as long as they're given empty and nobody has to drink.
Is there a funny Secret Santa gift without alcohol?
Yes. Hand warmers, a ski pass holder, a piste map or a pine room fragrance have nothing to do with drinking. And ski boot glasses can be filled with hot chocolate or hot apple juice.