Careers Succeeding at Work The Best Gift Cards for Your Boss and Colleagues Print Careers Management & Leadership Human Resources Employee Benefits By Lahle Wolfe Lahle Wolfe Northern Virginia Community College Lahle Wolfe has more than 25 years of experience in small business development and ran her own digital marketing firm. Learn about our Editorial Process Updated on 11/20/19 Gift cards are great options as thank you or end-of-year holiday presents for a boss or work colleague. They can be purchased in varying amounts, so you can go as inexpensive or over-the-top as you'd like. And, of course, you don't have to come up with a specific gift idea; you need only decide on a place where the recipient would definitely like to shop, eat, or drink. These gift card suggestions are certain to please your coworker or supervisor. 01 of 06 Starbucks Gift Card: Spend $10 to $25 Robert Alexander / Getty Images Coffee and tea lovers will enjoy receiving a gift card to Starbucks or a favorite local coffee shop. They can buy beans or leaves to make their favorite drink at home or get their usual pick-me-up on the way in to the office. 02 of 06 Best Buy Gift Card: Spend $25 and Up Scott Olson / Getty Images Gift cards to electronics retailers—like Best Buy or Fry's Electronics—are another good idea because just about everyone can find something reasonably priced to enjoy there. They can also devote the amount of money on the card to a larger purchase they've been meaning to make, like a newer, more efficient dishwasher. 03 of 06 App Store & iTunes or Google Play Gift Card: Spend $10 to $25 Justin Sullivan / Getty Images The only way this gift card idea could go wrong is if you don't know what type of mobile phone your recipient has. With an App Store & iTunes gift card, your work friend who has an iPhone (or iPad) can buy songs and albums from Apple Music, movies and TV shows from the iTunes Store, games and other apps from the App Store, or books from Apple Books. With a Google Play gift card, your work friend who has a phone (or tablet) that uses Google's Android operating system can make purchases from among the same wide variety of media and entertainment options. 04 of 06 Amazon Gift Card: Spend $15 to $25 Amazon.com Logo. Amazon.com A gift card from Amazon.com has almost limitless possibilities since the giant retailer is well-known for delivering pretty much anything under the sun to your door. It's also a good choice for someone who enjoys reading, because it can be used to buy books for the Amazon Kindle E-reader. 05 of 06 The Great Courses: Spend $25 and Up The Great Courses If your coworker or boss enjoys learning new things and has a passion for art or history or art history—really, just about any academic interest you can name—consider a gift certificate to The Great Courses online store. Gift certificates can be redeemed for lectures from top professors in an instant video, DVD, or (for some courses) instant audio format. Regular prices generally run into the several hundreds of dollars, but TGC runs monthly sales that make select classes available for as little as $25 or so. 06 of 06 Chipotle Mexican Grill: Spend $10 and Up A gift card or certificate to the recipient's favorite lunch spot—maybe Chipotle Mexican Grill or a local, non-chain eatery—is the final can't-lose option. If you know where your friendly colleague routinely heads to on their lunch break, find out whether that restaurant offers gift certificates or cards.