The problem with buying for someone who works from home is that the obvious gifts have all been given already. They have the mug. They have the succulent that died. They have a set of desk organisers still in the box.
What follows is sorted by budget, and includes the things we would steer you away from. We make one of the items on this list and we have flagged it as ours rather than burying it in the middle.
Under $30
A proper cable tray or a pack of adhesive cable clips. Unromantic, and the single most-noticed change to a desk. Everyone means to do this and nobody does.
A small, heavy coaster. Stone or cork, weighty enough that it does not travel when a mug is lifted off it. The flimsy ones get pushed aside and stop being used within a week.
A good pen and a plain notebook. Not a productivity system, not a planner with a structure someone else designed - a notebook that lies flat and a pen that does not skip.
$30 to $60
A desk mat. Ours, so discount accordingly, but the reasoning is honest: it is the largest surface in someone's eyeline for eight hours, it quietens a loud keyboard, it takes the hard edge off the front of the desk, and it covers a desk top nobody loves. It is also one of the few desk gifts that is visible every single day.
The catch with giving one is size. If you are buying for a desk you have not measured, the 12" x 22" is the safer choice - it fits a compact or tenkeyless keyboard with a mouse beside it and it suits a small desk, whereas the 16" x 32" needs about 16 inches of clear depth and will overhang a shallow desk. Our size guide has the measurements. Because each one is printed to order, we cannot take a mat back for a wrong size, so it is worth a glance before you order.
On artwork: buy calm rather than bold unless you know their taste well. Topographic and botanical designs suit almost any room; geometric is a strong look and a stronger gamble. For someone with a dark setup and a black keyboard, the dark mats are the ones that will not fight the screen.
A warm, dimmable desk lamp. Most home desks are lit from overhead, which puts the person's own shadow on whatever they are writing. A lamp to the side of their writing hand fixes it. Clamp-mounted keeps the base off the desk.
A laptop stand. Raises the screen toward eye level and stops the neck angle that makes people ache by four in the afternoon. Pair it with a separate keyboard or it does not work.
$60 and up
A monitor arm. If you can only give one thing on this list, give this. It returns the entire footprint of the monitor stand, lets the screen sit at the right height, and makes a small desk feel considerably larger. It is the highest-impact desk purchase most people never make for themselves.
A genuinely good chair, or a contribution to one. Expensive, unglamorous to unwrap, and the thing that matters most. If it is beyond one person's budget, a contribution toward one they choose themselves is a better gift than a chair you picked.
The ones that end up in a drawer
Said with affection, because these are all given constantly:
- Desk organisers with many small compartments. They require a sorting habit the recipient does not have. The ones that get used have one or two large sections.
- Anything with a motivational slogan on it. It is funny once and then it is on the desk forever.
- Novelty gadgets - tiny vacuums, USB lights, phone-shaped anything. Charming for a day.
- Plants, unless you know they keep plants alive. A gift that can visibly die is a stressful gift.
- Another mug. They have eleven.
Buying for a desk you have never seen
Three rules that cover most of it. Pick things that do not need to match anything - neutral colours, no wood tones to clash with. Avoid anything sized to equipment you have not measured, or choose the smaller option when in doubt. And favour things that are used rather than displayed: the cable tray gets used, the ornament gets dusted.
If you are ordering a mat
Every Nookgrain mat is printed after you order it, which means there is no warehouse to ship from same-day. Printing takes 2 to 5 business days and delivery another 3 to 7, so plan on 5 to 12 business days and order with room to spare rather than in the last week. You get a tracking link the moment it ships.
The full range is here, and if you want a second opinion on which design suits someone, email hello@nookgrain.com - a photo of their desk is enough to go on.