Here's the direct answer: for $2.99 a month you can gift someone a daily cat fact by text, it needs only their phone number, and it lands on their phone every single day long after the Secret Santa party is over. No wrapping paper, no shipping deadline. You sign up at catfactstexts.com, pick a plan, and the gift starts arriving.
Why is this better than a $5 mug?
A mug goes in the cabinet behind the other mugs. A cat fact shows up on Tuesday at lunch, and again on Wednesday, and again the week after everyone has forgotten what they got.
The best cheap gift is a running joke, not clutter. Secret Santa budgets are small, and most of what fits one ends up in a drawer by February. A subscription to daily cat facts costs less than a fancy coffee and takes up zero shelf space. It also gives the whole office something to talk about, because every fact is a new excuse for your coworker to share it in a meeting.
If the recipient is a genuine cat person, the gift is sincere. If they're not, the gift is funnier. There's no losing combination.
How do you present a gift that has no box?
You have two good options, and they suit two very different personalities.
Option one: the card. Write "check your phone" on a card and hand it over when it's their turn to open a gift. Sign up a few minutes before the exchange so the first fact is already sitting in their messages. They open the card, look confused, open their phone, and the room gets it in about four seconds.
Option two: say nothing. Sign them up the night before and let the office figure it out. The texts come from the Cat Facts number, not yours, so there's no caller ID giveaway. Your coworker will spend the gift exchange interrogating everyone, and that investigation is the present. This works especially well if the group already knows how the cat facts prank works and can enjoy watching someone else receive it.
If you want a physical thing to hand over, a gift bag with one cat toy and a note that says "the rest is on its way" works.
What does the reveal moment look like?
It depends on the plan. On the one-a-day plan, the reveal is slow and quiet: a fact at breakfast, a puzzled text to the group chat, a slow dawning over the course of a week.
On a higher plan (up to 15 facts a day), the reveal is immediate and loud. Their phone lights up at the party, then again ten minutes later, then again. Someone leans over, reads the screen, and the whole table is laughing before dessert.
Match the plan to the person. The quiet coworker who appreciates a slow burn gets one a day. The loud one who shows everyone their phone gets the firehose.
Is a bigger plan a real gift for a true cat person?
Yes, and this is where the joke quietly turns into a thoughtful present. Some people genuinely love cats and genuinely want to know that a group of cats is called a clowder. For them, a bigger plan isn't a prank at all. It's a daily dose of the thing they already love, delivered to the device already in their hand.
We wrote a whole guide on gifting cat facts to the cat lover in your life if you want to get the tone right for someone who will treasure it rather than groan at it. The short version: for the true cat person, go bigger than one a day, and tell them it's from you.
Is it ever a burden for the recipient?
No, and that's the part that makes it a good gift rather than a mean one. The recipient can reply STOP at any time and the texts end immediately. Every message says so. It costs them nothing beyond standard message rates, and there's no account for them to cancel or app for them to delete.
That escape hatch is why the cat facts prank has lasted since its 2012 Reddit origin. The joke is always in the recipient's hands. Most people keep the texts for a while because a daily cat fact is, honestly, a pretty nice way to be interrupted. Either way, it's their call, and that's the point.
How do you actually set it up?
Grab their phone number, head to the signup form, choose how many facts a day they should get, and confirm. Plans start at $2.99 a month for one fact a day. The first text usually arrives within seconds, which means you can do this in the parking lot on the way into the party.
Thirty seconds of effort, a gift that arrives every day, and a recipient who holds the off switch. That's a better Secret Santa gift than anything on the clearance shelf.