The ultimate guide to corporate gifting at Christmas

We know… you’ve just about packed away the summer essentials and now here we are talking about Christmas! 

But the truth is, if you’re looking for unique, fun and memorable gifts for corporate clients, customers and colleagues, now is the perfect time to get started. 

The sooner you lock-in your Christmas gifting, the easier it will be to secure the items you want, get organised and enjoy a stress-free gifting season! 

So, to help you get ready, we’ve asked our experts to give us their top tips on getting prepared and to tell us about some of their favourite festive products!

The process starts by understanding the customer’s objectives and who the gift is for. Requirements will likely be different if you’re buying a gift to reward employees or to give to a valued customer. 

Before we start compiling ideas, it’s good to get an understanding of budgets and if they have something in mind, whether that’s a type of product or a particular theme. It’s good to check if there are any types of gifts that aren’t appropriate, for instance, many organisations avoid alcohol or chocolate. 

Even if someone has a limited budget, understanding what they’re working towards helps us to ensure we find the best quality item for their budget so that they can still create an experiential moment for those they are gifting. 

Our team has a wealth of experience, so we’re always brimming with great gifting ideas. We can make individual recommendations, like our Cocktail Set, Cheese Boards or branded Champagne, and we can put together a set of products for a customer and include a greeting card to make it personalised. 

Personalised gifts can also work really well and adding the recipient’s name can make products like water bottles or notebooks much more fun and elevate their perceived value.

A combination of fun and functionality with a touch of personalisation can work incredibly well for those who want to make a lasting impression. For example, we created a beer hamper for one client that included a branded bottle opener and a personalised card for each member of staff.

Here are some of my favourite personalised products…

Don’t leave it to the last minute! Christmas is one of the few dates that doesn’t change, and unfortunately, factories and couriers get busy, so lead times get longer, which leads to disappointment.

Just kicking off the conversation helps to spark ideas and help you shape a budget if you haven’t given it thought. So, let’s start talking and tell who the gift is for – is it personal or work-related? What impression do you want to create and how do you want the recipient to feel?

We can then pull you together some fantastic ideas, giving us plenty of time to ensure delivery and you enough time to distribute them. 

We can also distribute gifts for you, and that includes wrapping, too! So if you want 1,000 festive-themed gifts going to 1,000 separate addresses, we’ll make it happen! 

Here’s one of my favourite products…

Christmas Jumpers! They are so iconic. Everyone can get involved, especially on the designated charity day, and they can be totally bespoke to your business. The cornier and crazier, the better!

I love it because everyone can get involved right from the start with designing them. It could be a competition or brainstorm. Everyone gets one—great for team bonding. They are fun and can be pulled back out of the cupboard every year. Just a top-up is needed for the newbies.

I believe that corporate gifting at Christmas should have a personal touch, whether this be for a client or internal employee gift. 

One of my all-time favourite Christmas gifting examples was for one of our International clients who always gives their employees a bespoke branded gift. 

The gift is distributed globally and received a week before Christmas as the “End of Year Gift”. 

Internally there is always lots of excitement as the gift is never revealed until it arrives at each office. 

We work very closely with marketing and discussions start as early as June. Marketing have a clear idea of what the gift will be and we work closely with them on design and construction. 

Two particularly successful products were bespoke holdall trolley bags and bespoke jackets. Every feature on both was completely bespoke to the client, from style, construction, quality of the zips used, Pantone-matched materials, and branding techniques to give the best overall finish and maximum impact. 

Not only was this an exciting and interesting project to work on, but the feedback we received from the client was superb. The staff wore the jackets with pride, and the bags are still remembered and talked of years later.

Here are some of my favourite products… 

Cutter and Buck quality Jackets are also available as vests. All options are made from recycled materials and are on trend in terms of style. They are available up to 4XL and in a range of colour options. They are the perfect seasonal gift to say thank you to your employees or clients.

Another gift would be The Tile. Fantastic high perceived value product to help keep track of our most valuable items, family and pets when you’re on the go. They can be fully branded too, including the packaging.  

We have lots of tried-and-tested festive favourites, but when customers are looking for a unique Christmas gift, we guide them through a thoughtful and personalised process to ensure they find the perfect present. 

Our initial consultation starts with understanding the client’s gifting requirements and this basically involves unpicking things like values, likes, dislikes, that sort of thing. 

Then our team gets to brainstorming. Based on the initial consultation, we brainstorm a variety of gift ideas that align with the client’s request. We’ll then get to work on working with our supplier network to understand how they can help us bring our client’s vision to life. 

We’ll then present these ideas to our customers. People also enjoy the tactile element of what we do and love to get hands-on, so where possible, we’ll get samples to help the client visualise and feel the quality of the final product. This is why we always recommend starting the Christmas chat as soon as possible!

We always consider the date customers want to distribute their gifts to ensure we meet the necessary timelines and ensure the entire process is as smooth as possible.

We always follow up with our customers after Christmas to see how their gifts were received and think of ways we can help them up their gifting game the following year. 

Here are some of my favourite products… 

• Gourmet Hampers: Filled with fine wines, cheeses, chocolates, and other treats. These are always a hit and can be customised to suit different tastes.
• Branded Items: Custom notebooks, executive pens, or high-end tech gadgets. Practical and memorable.
• Wellness Packages: Including items like essential oils, and candles,  Perfect for showing you care about the recipient’s well-being.
• Eco-Friendly Gifts: Traceable, sustainable items made from recycled materials reflect well on the company’s values.
• Experience-Based Gifts: Vouchers for activities such as a cooking class, a spa day, or a team-building event. These create memories.

Order your Christmas Gifts today, contact us for more info!