# On-call Gift Guide for the Holidays

URL: https://rootly.com/blog/on-call-gift-guide-for-the-holidays
Author: Jorge Lainfiesta
Published: 2024-12-09
Updated: 2026-07-07

> Eggnog and mistletoe? Not this year! Celebrate your on-call heroes with thoughtful, fun, and practical gifts tailored to every stage of an incident lifecycle.

Gift-giving is hard, isn’t it? But what do you do when the recipient is someone whose body and mind have endured the hazards of countless on-call shifts?

Forget the eggnog and mistletoe this year—celebrate your on-call heroes with these thoughtfully curated gifts, perfect for every step of an incident lifecycle.

## For a relaxing on-call shift

### Custom-made ear plugs for the on-callogist’s family

It’s not just the responder who feels the impact of duplicated alerts in the dead of night. Life as an on-callogist spouse is not easy. And can someone please think of the children?

I personally had my custom-made ear plugs done at my local audiology center (although they were not good enough and I am now single).

![](https://rootly.com/assets/675720e58a0f410dbc842ad0_67571fbb6147b612b3d6e13a_rs%253Dw_776%252Ch_583%252Ccg_true.webp)

### Red Bull Tasting Set (with crystal glassware)

Help your responders feel like they’re not 21-year-olds staying awake during a night out pounding back off-brand energy drinks, but bourgeois engineers delighting themselves in the finest classic of the season, [Red Bull Winter Edition](https://www.redbull.com/us-en/red-bull-winter-edition-iced-vanilla-berry).

I recommend including [Riedel crystal glasses](https://www.riedel.com/en-us/shop/o-wine-tumbler/whisky-041400002) to elevate the experience. I do not recommend using flutes or wine glasses in this case; those sharp bubbles can hurt your nostrils in the early cold hours of dawn.

![](https://rootly.com/assets/675720e58a0f410dbc842ad3_67571fd174c5e614555d6d36_redbull.webp)

_Source: [https://www.redbull.com/us-en/red-bull-winter-edition-iced-vanilla-berry](https://www.redbull.com/us-en/red-bull-winter-edition-iced-vanilla-berry)_

## For recovery after a tumultuous shift

### Sonic Bomb Dual Extra Loud Alarm Clock with Bed Shaker

If you’re asking your SREs to go to the office after an on-call shift, the least you can do is help them wake up. Make sure they do get up on time to drive through the rush hour with [the Sonic Bomb](https://www.sonicalert.com/SBB500SSP-Alarm-Clock).

I recommend choosing a colorful version to cheer up responders upon their forceful awakening.

![](https://rootly.com/assets/675720e58a0f410dbc842adb_6757200b266720323900a384_Screenshot%25202024-12-09%2520at%252017.51.04.png)

_Source: [https://www.sonicalert.com/](https://www.sonicalert.com/SBB500SSBLK-Alarm-Clock)_

### $10 Uber Eats Gift Card

CrowdStrike set the compensation standard for large outages in 2024: sending a [$10 Uber Eats Gift Card to its partners](https://techcrunch.com/2024/07/24/crowdstrike-offers-a-10-apology-gift-card-to-say-sorry-for-outage/) for the inconvenience.

Just make sure Uber doesn’t flag your gift cards as fraudulent (as it happened to CrowdStrike).

![](https://rootly.com/assets/675720e48a0f410dbc842abd_675720623f7a1045c9af5fb6_Screenshot%25202024-12-09%2520at%252017.52.37.png)

_Source: [TechCrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2024/07/24/crowdstrike-offers-a-10-apology-gift-card-to-say-sorry-for-outage/)_

## For a merry post-mortem

### Reverse Uno cards

Set up your on-call staff for the most effective blameless post-mortem with a set of Reverse Uno cards.

You’re saying this outage is my fault? Well, well, NOW IT’S ON YOU, SAM!

![](https://rootly.com/assets/675720e48a0f410dbc842aaf_6757209768207c44d7c5a3c3_uno%2520reverse%2520cards.jpeg)

_Source: [https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250327590?sortBy=rank](https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250327590?sortBy=rank)_

### Office pizza party

An old-time classic. Bring back that 2010s nostalgia by attempting to rebuild tired teams who just fought each other with a pizza party.

But make sure to stay on-theme and order cheap chain pizzas and serve sodas in plastic cups.

![](https://rootly.com/assets/675720e58a0f410dbc842ad8_675720b4dc2da8fe92485b34_Screenshot%25202024-12-09%2520at%252017.23.47.png)

## Ok but seriously

Being on-call is hard work and should be taken seriously, not on one particular season but systematically. Check out our [On-call for Humans](https://rootly.com/on-call-software) guide to get ideas on how to develop a sustainable SRE practice.