We may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs. Learn more ›
Giving gifts on a budget can get very tricky. That’s even more true when your options feel more limited when you’re shopping at the last minute. Those small purchases can add up if you plan to spread holiday cheer widely. Plus, Christmas is almost here! It’s easy to overspend on a last-minute gift when you’re under the gun. Whether you need cheap gifts for co-workers and distant relatives, plan to attend a White Elephant holiday party with a price limit, or need to keep the spending down this year, this list has you covered with affordable gifts that will still arrive by Christmas. After all, the best gifts under $50 can make someone just as happy as a present that breaks the bank.
Apple AirTag, $24
One of my favorite things about having an Apple Watch is that it lets me ping my phone to find it when I forget where I last put it down. The Apple AirTag, a small disc-shaped GPS tracker, lets you use your iPhone, iPad, or Mac to find other things. There are obvious applications, like your keys or luggage, but it’s really an easy way to keep track of any important stuff. While a single AirTag costs less $50, you can easily expand the gift (or team up with a friend) and buy an accessory to hold the tag, like a keychain.
Nomad ChargeKey, $25
Nomad
The simplest gifts are sometimes the most impactful, and that’s certainly true with Nomad’s ChargeKey. The six-inch USB-C to USB-C cable comes attached to a loop, which can be fitted onto a key ring. The two USB-C connectors are slightly magnetized, preventing them from tangling inside a pocket or getting unnecessarily stressed or kinked. One can use the ChargeKey to connect a smartphone, tablet, or laptop to a battery pack or one another. The cable can transfer power at up to 60 Watts, the maximum charging speed for most portable electronics. This practical gift ensures the forgetful person in your life will always have access to a charging cable when they need one.
Cuisinart SG-10 Spice and Nut Grinder, $39.95
A spice grinder acts as a mini blender to blitz whole seeds for spice mixes (or whole beans for your coffee). It’s one of those niche little kitchen tools that can really amplify certain kinds of cooking. You can get a decent model for extremely cheap, but Cuisinart’s SG-10 is frequently rated among the best. It isn’t going to change someone’s life, but it’s a great way to gift someone a luxurious version of a gift for the kitchen for less than $50.
Kuhn Rikon 4th Burner Pot, $37.40
Kuhn Rikon’s 4th Burner Pot was specifically designed to be used on the smallest burner found on a stovetop. If you’re shopping for a home cook who cares about efficiency, this gift will please them immeasurably. The pot comes with a steam basket, which can also be used to boil smaller vegetables or thick pasta (think rigatoni) and easily lift them out of boiling water. Small touches, like the covering on the top and side handles that make both parts grippier are especially nice touches. We guarantee the chef in your life doesn’t have this tool in their arsenal, and they’ll immediately begin figuring out the most efficient ways to use it.
Fat Daddio’s PSQCC-993 Removable Bottom Square Cake Pan, $26.49
Fat Daddio
It can be stressful to successfully remove cake or brownies from a pan without them breaking. Fat Daddio’s solved this problem with its Square Cake Pan, which has a removable bottom, which allows you to successfully remove the entire cake by pushing upward through a hole-shaped cutout below. This gift is something most home bakers would never think of, which makes it an unexpected gift. The cake pan comes in various shapes and sizes—we like the square best—so you can pick up a couple to help outfit their kitchen more fully.
LloydPans 10 by 14 Inch Detroit Style Pizza Pan, $38.73
LloydPans
If you know someone who wants to expand their pizza horizons from Neopolitan, New York, or New Haven style, LloydPans’ 10 by 14 Inch Detroit Style Pizza Pan is the perfect gift. It was designed to cook Detroit-style pizzas specifically, but it could also be used when baking focaccia. If the pizza maker you know wants to expand into making grandma-style pies, LloydPans also has them covered with a specific pan for that use. This pan was designed specifically with pizza in mind, from the seamless corners to its ability to be used in ovens up to 700 degrees. Whether you’re baking pizza in a home oven or dedicated indoor or outdoor pizza oven, LloydPans’ Detroit Style Pizza Pan can handle the heat. LloydPans developed its own proprietary “Pre-Seasoned Tuff-Kote” finish, which keeps pizza from sticking to the pan. This is important because a tell-tale trait of Detroit-style pizza is a layer of well-done cheese around the edges. Professional kitchens rely on LloydPans’ pizza pans to get their pies perfect, and this gift can give that opportunity to the curious chef in your life.
HyperX Pulsefire Haste Gaming Mouse, $39.99
Gaming-related gifts tend to be expensive, but you don’t have to spend a ton of money to get a great gaming mouse. In fact, most of the best esports mice tend to be fairly affordable because they’re relatively stripped down. The HyperX Pulsefire Haste is one of my low-key favorite mice I’ve reviewed in the last couple of years, thanks to its comfortable shape and lightweight design.
Decibullz – Custom Molded Earplugs, $25
Decibullz
You might be surprised to find out how often a good set of earplugs can come in handy. Maybe you have a partner who snores or you’re planning to hit up your favorite underground music venue to catch some death metal bands. Or maybe you’re going to be using some power tools. Whatever your reason, these custom moldable earplugs will make the activity easier on your ears. They offer an NRR rating of 31, which makes them very powerful compared to those squishy little nugget-style plugs you’d get at the drugstore. In order to fit the Decibullz to your head, boil them in water to make the material warm and flexible. Once they’ve cooled down, mash them into your ear holes, and they form into the perfect shape. If you screw it up, just start all over.
Best for home office: Logitech Studio Series Desk Mat
As I’ve made abundantly clear, I love XXL mousepads. It gives you room to stretch out and wave your mouse around without worrying about wandering over the edge of your mousepad. This year, more and more non-gaming companies have been getting in on the trend, including Logitech, which just released a set of colorful ones as part of its creator-focused Studio series. Each of the three Studio Series mousepads matches one of the colorways for Logitech’s new Pop Keys wireless mechanical keyboard, which I like quite a bit.
HydroFlask Travel Tumbler, $35
Brandt Ranj / Popular Science
Drinking water throughout the day is more important than most of us realize, and you can help your friends and family hydrate with Hydro Flask’s Travel Tumbler, which wowed us with its ability to keep drinks warm and cold for up to 12 hours or more. This makes it ideal for keeping tea or coffee warm or ensuring ice water is sufficiently chilled throughout the day, depending on the time of year. Hydro Flask offers this tumbler in a variety of sizes and colors, but we like the 32-ounce model, which features a handle, straw, and tapered shape that fits into a car’s cup holder. This tumbler is also dishwasher safe, which makes it easy to clean and maintain. Performance aside, the best reason to gift someone the Travel Tumbler is that they can use it daily without having to make a dramatic difference in their routine. It’s a practical, affordable gift for anybody in your life.
AllTrails+, $35.99
AllTrails
Hiking is one of my favorite ways of getting both mental relaxation and physical exercise, and AllTrails is one of the best hiking apps for finding and exploring new routes. The upgraded app adds more functionality to its free counterpart. For just $35.99 a year, you get wrong-turn alerts and offline maps to stay on the right path sans service. Live Share lets your loved ones know your location, and real-time map overlays give you a heads-up on what’s to come. This is a gift you don’t even need to wrap up for people who might be wound up.
Waterpik Cordless Water Flosser, $39.99
Amazon
When I first snagged this water flosser, I kicked myself for not getting one sooner. To use, simply fill up the reservoir with warm water, place the tip in your mouth, lean over the sink, turn it on, and aim at the gumline. It feels soothing on gums, the same kind of soothing when you pick at a scab or peel off some skin post-sunburn. Plus, it’s easy to clean: Just dunk the reservoir and tip into some vinegar-y water, let it sit for 5-10 minutes, and then rinse. It’s also battery-operated and dentist-recommended. If there’s one thing I love, it’s getting a compliment on my teeth during an annual cleaning. I also have a favorite floss, which is a perfect stocking stuffer. Dental work is expensive, so you’re doing your clean-freak family members a favor by gifting them this $40 flosser.
8Bitdo Ultimate Bluetooth Controller, $49.99
8Bitdo’s Ultimate Bluetooth controller lives up to its name. The gamepad, which works with both the Nintendo Switch and Windows PCs, feels great in the hand, has a familiar button layout, and can switch between Bluetooth and a 2.4GHz wireless connection. Additionally, buttons on the back can be programmed on the back to trigger custom commands in compatible games. Perhaps the coolest thing about this controller is the included charging dock, which makes topping up its battery a lot easier. If you keep the controller docked when you’re not playing, it’ll never run out of juice. Xbox and PlayStation players shouldn’t feel left out, as the official first-party controllers for the Xbox Series S/X and PlayStation 5 are available.
Echo Spot, $49.99
Amazon
High-impact sound can be hard to come by on the road, and the Echo Spot can give music lovers great tunes and excellent audio with just a simple “Hey, Alexa” command. As an added bonus, it includes an alarm clock so travelers with early departure times won’t have to depend on wake-up calls or the natural body clock. The Spot has a display, which can show the time, weather, and other relevant information at a glance. This is an advantage over the Echo Dot, which could only show the time.
The Spot’s built-in speaker will sound way better than your tinny phone alarm(s). And, back home, this device also can be used to control compatible smart devices. While rocking out to a favorite playlist and getting dressed for dinner, just issue a command to Alexa to turn on a light so your house doesn’t appear to be vacant all night.
Branch Basics Beeswax Candle, $49
Basics Branch
Branch Basics’ Beeswax candle is a fragrant, aesthetically pleasing candle and is one of those sub-$50 gifts that never goes out of style. For the person who loves and frequently buys candles, your choice can convey how well you know the person you’re shopping for. The good news is that this candle is fragrance-free, which means you won’t run the risk of watching someone open its box, sniff, and try to put on a brave face if they don’t like how it smells. We’re also fans of the fact that this candle is made from 100% beeswax, so nothing artificial is being burned up and inhaled. Branch Basics recommends letting this candle burn at least three and a half hours per use, and to snuff it out using a utensil rather than blowing on the wick.
OXO 11-Pound Food Scale, $49.52
Everybody knows a home baker who uses measuring cups instead of weighing ingredients, and you can help them seriously up their game by gifting them a kitchen scale. Their bakes will turn out consistently, and the scale can be used in savory applications to portion meat and vegetables before cooking them. We like OXO’s scale because of its magnetic slide-out screen, which makes it possible to use the scale when weighing food in a large container. These containers would block the display of a lesser scale, which defeats the purpose of using it. OXO is one of our go-to cookware companies, and we can recommend its salad spinner as another great gift idea for picky chefs and its Burr grinder for coffee connoisseurs.
Farberware Build-a-Board, $33.29
Farberware
Any host would be thrilled to receive Farberware’s Build-A-Board as a gift this holiday season. The wooden board has six wells, which are designed to be used as guides for different meats, cheeses, and other accoutrements when building a charcuterie board. It can be difficult to know how to arrange a charcuterie board if you’ve never done it before, and Farberware takes all the guesswork out of it. Two wells are larger and four are smaller, which allows you to decide which items get prioritized. If you flip the board over, you can use the underside as a cutting board, too. Best of all, the board comes with a snap-on lid, which makes it easy to transport a freshly-made charcuterie board to another person’s house, or to store in the fridge before guests come. Farberware offers the Build-A-Board in a variety of sizes, shapes, and styles, but this six well version is the one we like best.
YETI Food Storage Container, $25
YETI
YETI’s Food Storage Container is a practical gift that comes in handy when you’re about to go off camping or need a place for tonight’s leftovers. The dishwasher-safe container is made from 50% recycled plastic, and uses four latches to keep an air-tight seal around whatever’s inside. The container can be used in a microwave, stored in a freezer, and is compatible with YETI’s Thin Ice cooler packs. YETI offers its food storage containers in three sizes, but we like the largest option because it can hold up to two sandwiches—or one with a couple of sides—which makes it a great option for commuters who bring lunch to work.
Made In Cookware Sheet Pan, $25
Made In
Sheet pans are the secret weapon of any baker, and this one from Made In is a cut above the rest. It’s made from commercial-grade aluminum, has a non-stick coating, and is oven safe up to 500 degrees Fahrenheit. The typical use for half pan sheet trays is baking cookies or roasting vegetables, but the tall rims around this one make it a good choice for grandma pizzas, focaccia, or sheet cakes. If you know someone who’s just starting to get into baking or cooking, this sheet pan will become one of the foundations of their kitchen.
Souper Cubes, $35.99
We all know at least one person who likes to think ahead and always have a meal ready in advance. Do them a favor and gift them a set of Souper Cubes. The silicon containers have four 250mL (roughly 1.1 cup) cavities, which can be used to store liquid or solid ingredients to be deployed at a moment’s notice. Your giftee could use two molds for soup and leave the other two for flavorful toppings. Pre-shredded vegetables and cheese separated into their own sections could be defrosted and deployed during an at-home taco night. The Souper Cubes are an excellent gift for the efficient home chef or someone who likes to cook at home more often but runs out of time.
Weston 5-Piece Home Canning Supplies Kit, $18.60
Weston
Food preservation is becoming more popular, and if you know someone who wants to batch cook sauces or summer jams, this five-piece canning supplies kit is the ideal gift. Ir comes with a jar lifter, jar wrench, wide-mouth funnel, magnetic lid lifter, and tongs. All of these tools are made from vinyl-coated steel that’s both durable and dishwasher safe. These tools can be used through the entire jarring process, from sterilizing and filling, to lifting and tightening.
Chef’n FreshForce Citrus Juicer, $22.99
Chef’n
A citrus juice is an oft-overlooked kitchen gift because it seems too simple, but bartender, salad makers, and tea lovers alike always need a good one. The FreshForce is a handheld citrus juicer that’s designed to optimize how much liquid you can get out of each lemon and lime you put inside. It requires some force, as its name implies, but Chef’n used a dual-gear mechanism so you don’t need to squeeze too hard. This is the type of handheld tool that becomes a kitchen workhorse that you didn’t know you needed, which is exactly why it makes for such a great (and unexpected) gift for the home cook.
Dreamroo Collapsible Multi-purpose Colander, $16.99
Every sink and recipe is a little different, but your giftee won’t have to worry about that with Dreamroo’s colander, which can expand and contract between 14.5 and 19.5 inches. This feature allows you to use the same colander to clean a pint or quart of fruit without reaching for a separate tool. This is the colander to reach for if you’re cooking pasta for yourself or a couple of friends. We like this colander because it’s a gift nobody expects but will immediately wonder how they lived without it. It’s even offered in multiple colors (we’re particularly partial to the blue), so you can get one to match their style.
Ostrichpillow Sleep Mask, $45
Tony Ware
There was a time when I couldn’t sleep on planes and would arrive at every destination exhausted. That time is over, however, thanks in part to this specific eye mask from Ostrichpillow, known for its peculiar powernap product. I’ve never seen one of those in the wild, but I have used the far more normal $69 GO neck pillow on my way to tell anyone who does a lot of business travel or is just preparing for the holidaze hustle, don’t sleep on this mask. Because you want to sleep on this mask. The concave interior of the molded foam allows for full coverage with zero pressure. It’s a total blackout that’s totally comfortable, also making them great for partners with different schedules, etc. Trust me, that family gathering will be exhausting enough. This gift will help you, or someone you love, arrive with more energy to abide.
isotoner Men’s Carter Boater Moc Slipper, $30.80
isotoner
Isotoner’s Men’s Carter Boater Moc Slipper prove comfort doesn’t come with a high cost. We’ve tried the moccasins for ourselves and were impressed at how comfortable they were to walk in on both hardwood and carpeted floors. The gel-infused memory foam didn’t wear down through weeks of use, and we’ve even worn them outside to the mailbox thanks to their thick sole. The best part is that once these shoes get dirty get dirty, they can be washed in a washing machine. Isotoner offers these moccasins in four colors and men’s sizes eight through 14. It also offers Women’s Microsuede Moccasin Slippers in similar colors and sizes between six and a half and 10.
Ohsnap Snap Grip Luxe, $39.99
Amanda Reed
I love using a phone grip to prevent my phone from crashing to the ground while texting with one hand or falling onto my face when I’m lying in bed and scrolling. However, taking advantage of MagSafe charging and mounts with one attached is typically impossible. Other phone grips require you to remove them to charge wirelessly or use a MagSafe accessory. The Ohsnap Snap Grip Luxe changes that. It’s ridiculously thin—2.5mm to be exact—and it’s made of aerospace-grade aluminum. You can also attach it to anything magnetic to get a perfect selfie. The Snap Grip also has multiple gripping positions—I prefer the classic finger split, but you can also stick a finger straight through it. The best part is being able to use my MagSafe accessories, like this Otterbox Wireless Power Bank, without keeping track of a little doohickey I’m bound to lose. Ohsnap also sells cases that match the grips if you’re buying for someone who loves a little color coordination.
MainEvent Felt Letter Board, $22.95
I’m going to say it: Letter boards are pretty fun. Rather than buying a picture or ornament with a generic saying on it, you get to decorate your home with a message of your own. This felt letter board is easy to use and fairly large (17 x 12 inches). There’s also a smaller and less expensive 10 x 10-inch square version if you need one to fit a tighter room (or budget).
Forbidden Desert, $24.85
One of the Popular Science team’s favorite board games, Forbidden Desert is a cooperative experience for between two and five players, who must work together to explore an inhospitable desert to unearth treasure from the ruins of a forgotten city swallowed by the sands. Players systematically excavate each space on the board to find parts of a flying machine to win while contending with limited resources and obstacles like sandstorms that may block their path and slow the dig. If Forbidden Desert doesn’t sound like your cup of tea—though, c’mon—a board game is generally a great gift for families and people looking for a new group activity that gets you away from screens.
Silipint Silicone Pint Glasses, $24.01
Broken glass is annoying to deal with at best and dangerous at worst, which is why Silipint’s Silicone Pint Glasses are a wonderful gift. The shatterproof “glasses” are 100% food-grade silicone, so they are completely safe, available in some cool psychedelic colors, and a fun-meets-functional way to cut down on the amount of plastic campers might use on their trip. Plus, pint glasses are the perfect size for beer, water, and everything in between—whether you’re remembering to leave no trace or just out back on the patio.
