Corporate Gifting: 10 Popular Ideas for The Holidays

Corporate gifting is tricky business. You want to get something that shows appreciation for your customers, clients, or employees without breaking the bank and without leaving them feeling underappreciated. The trouble is, it's extremely easy to try to pick a one-size-fits-all gift that misses the mark for more people than it hits.

Think about some of the common corporate gift ideas. Can you spot what's wrong with them?

• A gift card is impersonal, the amount on it might be sub-par for expectations, and it can draw attention to a lack of holiday bonuses in some companies.
• A snack basket might not be to everyone's tastes and can run afoul of allergies or food sensitivities.
• A personal care kit can largely go to waste for many people and, in the worst cases, can feel like a snide insult besides.

A good corporate gift needs to be perceived as valuable – even if the actual cost to the company is lower than you might expect – and it needs to be compelling to the largest possible number of recipients. Once your company is large enough, you reach a point where you won't be able to please everyone, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't try.

Keeping all of this in mind, we've put together a list of the top corporate gift ideas we've seen trending this year. As a bonus, we've actually made two: a list for customers and clients and a list for employees.

Corporate Gifts for Clients and Customers

Giving a gift to your clients or customers for the holidays is a good way to boost your retention and engagement for the coming year. The new year is usually a point where people review their finances and cut back on unnecessary spending; by handing out corporate gifts, you can cement yourself as one of the brands they don't want to cut. Because of the psychology of gifting, your recipient customers will be more loyal, more likely to recommend you to their friends, and more likely to be repeat customers. That is, assuming you give out good gifts! That's why we've put together ten great ideas for you.

Before you dig in, consider the scale you'll be operating on. A small business with a few hundred customers can be more personal and more valuable than a big company with thousands of customers. Once you reach a certain size, you generally stop giving valuable gifts to customers and instead hand out things like coupon codes, gift gifts to your top 5% most valuable customers, or some other strategy. How you do it specifically is up to you.

1: A Comfortable Blanket

There are a bunch of different brands that offer various premium throw blankets that can be purchased in bulk, potentially even customized for your brand in a subtle way, and delivered to customers.

During the dreary, cold days of winter, having a comfortable blanket on hand can be a haven of coziness that just about anyone can appreciate. Pair with warm, fuzzy slippers or a bundle of hot cocoa for an even cozier gift.

2: A Branded Succulent

Succulents are durable and easy to care for plants that come in a wide range of astonishing shapes and presentations.

There are a variety of companies offering succulents as gifts, packaged in branded and even personalized containers, to commemorate a relationship with clients and customers. They can also symbolize your company's commitment to sustainability and the ecosystem in a roundabout way.

3: Customized Totes

An eco-friendly and sustainably-made canvas tote might not seem like a high-value gift, but they're some of the most generically useful and long-lasting items you can give out. Who doesn't need a bag at some point?

You can get your totes customized with branding and unique designs, as well. If you're feeling like a tote alone isn't enough, they also make great containers for other gift items as well.

4: Gift Memberships

There are all sorts of services and platforms you can partner with to give a few months of access or a premium membership.

Consider options like:

• Online courses from e-learning platforms.
• Membership to paid services, even as simple as YouTube Premium.
• Access to usually members-only content.

Our main caution is to avoid anything your customers are too likely to already have, like a Netflix membership.

5: A Useful Stationery Kit

Stationery doesn't go bad the way perishable items do, but we've all received stationery that really isn't that useful. Clunky, cheap-feeling pens, calendar notebooks that are too small to be useful, you know the type. If you look, you can find much more useful (and brandable) stationery, ranging from simple lined notebooks to high-quality pens and consumables that everyone needs sooner or later.

It's not the most personal, but it's a good option when you have thousands of people to cover.

6: Charcuterie Gift Sets

Charcuterie – those fancy "girl dinner" cheese, meat, and jam boards – is a trend that keeps popping off. They also come in a wide range of quality levels, from barely edible cheese and tough-as-jerky meats to truly gourmet food items and an array of supplemental jams, nuts, and olives.

For our money, the best options are the ones that come with useful, durable goods alongside them: a good cutting/display board, a set of cheese knives, and so on.

7: Useful Tech

There are a handful of valuable-seeming but commonplace tech items you can consider gifting to your customers and clients, though which ones you opt for depends on how much you want to spend per person.

One great option is a wireless phone charger, which has been around for years but is still relatively rare. Other options might include earbuds and headphones, battery power banks, and USB drives.

8: Customized Gift Packages

This one is an option specifically for businesses that operate with a smaller handful of high-value clients. A big part of this kind of business is building relationships with your clients and getting to know them on a personal level, right? So, leverage that knowledge to get every client an individualized gift that suits their tastes.

Maybe one gets fishing gear, one gets a beer brewing kit, one gets a gourmet tea set; set yourself a price point and find something tailored specifically to each client. It's a lot more legwork, but it's definitely memorable.

9: High-Value Gourmet Snacks

We've been kind of down on food items for a lot of this post, but the truth is, good food items can be a great choice for a simple appreciation gift around the holidays. The main problem is a lot of the gifts you can find are the same few sets of tea, coffee, chocolate, or popcorn, and they're both boring, likely to be received from other sources as well, and may just not be very tasty.

If you look around, though, you can find some very tasty gourmet food options that your recipients are a lot less likely to have gotten elsewhere. Food is tricky, though, so be aware of allergens, diets, and other restrictions when you buy.

10: Bonus Points and Rewards

For those companies with huge numbers of customers, it's not really sustainable to give out high-value gifts to everyone. Instead, you can ramp up one of your existing programs.

Give double or triple points for referrals or purchases, give deep discounts based on prior purchasing activity; heck, you can even set up a website raffle for holiday prizes, with a grand prize for a high-value package or item. The sky's the limit!

Corporate Gifts for Employees

Giving corporate gifts to employees is a very powerful tool for fostering employee loyalty and performance. Unlike with customer gifts, you want to spend more time personalizing these gifts. You also may benefit from more targeted gifting options if you're willing to put in the legwork.

What kind of legwork? Consider options such as sending out a survey asking for everyone's preferred t-shirt size, whether they prefer coffee, tea, or another beverage, if they like white or dark chocolate more, and other details. This way, you can avoid giving unusable or unpleasant gifts to the people you, presumably, appreciate.

So, what are the best corporate gifts you can give your employees this holiday season?

1: Sponsored Experiences

One of the biggest trends in corporate gifting recently is a shift from products to experiences. Experiences can be much more memorable and unique, they're inherently customized to the recipient, and there are an immense number of options out there. Plus, brands like Tinggly make it easy for a company to set up experiences or even just provide gift cards that can be used on those experiences.

Just make sure that if you're gifting something your employees need time off for, you are actually willing to grant that time off.

2: A Nice Personalized Jacket

If you've done the prep work to gather sizing information from your employees, or you're willing to set up a storefront so they can order their own, something like a nice jacket with custom embroidery or printing can be an excellent option. You can choose from heavier winter coats to lighter all-season windbreakers in a range of colors and styles.

As an added bonus, when you shop from the right place, you can reaffirm your commitment to sustainable apparel and local production.

3: A Sponsored Gift Enhancement

Here's a unique one you don't see very often: enhancing existing gifts. Your employees are likely already getting gifts from a wide range of sources, and many of those gifts may fall short of the mark. Imagine getting a set of gourmet coffee but not having a French press.

So, set aside a budget and allow employees to request something that goes along with an existing gift they already have to round it out or make it better. The only downside is that it's the kind of program that requires a lot of individual administration, so make sure you have someone to handle it properly.

4: Choose Your Own Gifts

A common trend in corporate gifting is something we all really should have thought of decades ago: just let the employees choose!

Companies like Sugarwish allow you to set a budget and a category but allow your employees to pick what they want from the catalog rather than receiving something that may be off the mark. It's almost like a gift card but more personal and more engaging.

5: Local Partnerships

It's pretty much guaranteed that no matter where you are, there are local artisans, artists, and producers who have compelling products for sale. Scope them out – we recommend local art fairs and craft markets – and find something that catches your eye.

You can then work with them for a sponsored deal to provide customized items to your staff with a local flair. As a bonus, it helps keep your local artisans thriving!

6: Customized Messenger Bags

For customers, we recommend customized tote bags. Tote bags are small, relatively cheap, and useful, but they're a little sub-par for your staff. If you want something along the same lines, why not go with a customized messenger bag?

With a personalized design, a high-quality messenger bag can be a very useful, durable, and long-lasting gift for your staff without needing to worry about sizing or other concerns.

7: Charitable Donations

An increasing trend, both casually and in the more corporate space, is to replace a tangible gift with a gift that does good for the world.

Decide on a budget for each employee, and ask them to name a charity or nonprofit they want to support. It could be a national or international effort or even a local charitable foundation; whatever the case, make a donation in their name.

8: Customized Drinkware

We all need to stay hydrated, and what better way to do that than to enjoy a nice beverage from your favorite beverage container? There's just one problem: there are a billion different options to choose from.

Do you go with a durable plastic tumbler? A stainless steel, vacuum-sealed thermos? A well-sealing travel mug? The options are endless.

9: A Happy Light

Depending on where you live, the middle of winter and the holidays can be a season of endless gray and a lack of vitamin D. A surprisingly effective solution is simply light therapy: full-spectrum sun lamps that provide the right kind of light to help lift moods and fight off seasonal affective disorder.

Not only do they help make the depths of winter more bearable, but the positivity can reflect back on employee collaboration and productivity.

10: Hobby Accessories

Your employees have lives beyond the confines of the office, and they all have hobbies they enjoy. If you do the prep work to gather a list of their hobbies, you can spend a modest budget on accessories to be used in that hobby.

For example, you can customize some golf accessories, design customized bookmarks, or snag a nice piece of fishing gear for the outdoorsmen on staff. Even if it doesn't end up being the most useful of items, the thought goes a long way.