The technical definition is that the batteries have to power the device, and they say that it should be the equipment that the batteries are intended for. So chargers definitely don’t work. I definitely considered the battery holder with lead wires…that one is a grey area. I’m honestly pretty worried that people would hurt themselves though. And it would be a pretty tough sell if in the future sometime they actually did start enforcing this and questioned us about it. I feel like the fans and flashlights wouldn’t have this issue.
The cheap power bank option is one that we might do, but the cost I believe is a little more than the fans. And power banks have their own weird special regulations so I want to steer clear of that.
Right now the really tough thing to find is inexpensive devices for 18350s and 26650s.
14500’s are a funny one because I briefly considered sending a AA flashlight. A 14500 will totally power a typical AA flashlight….for about 2 seconds before the LED burns out ;). Obviously decided against it because I do want the gifts to have some value.