Purchasing Resources for Corporate Holiday Gifts

Making the Most of Corporate Holiday Gifts

Learn tips to find the best executive holiday gifts for your company
By Shalleen Mayes
Corporate holiday gifts are both a tradition and a necessity in business. You want to genuinely express your thanks to clients and employees at this time of year. But with tight budgets, there are only so many dollars to spread around. How do you choose the client holiday gifts that both express your appreciation and help to solidify relationships going forward into the new year?

The right business holiday gift has to be more than just the company logo slapped on a product. Company executives should give plenty of thought to what they are expressing with the gift that they choose, as well as the overall costs of company holiday gifts. Overall, you should thoughtfully choose gifts way ahead of the holiday crunch time.

When you're planning your holiday gifts, think about the following ideas.

1. Include your colleagues in your plan to find the right business holiday gifts.

2. Brainstorm a list of people to whom you would like to show your appreciation with a gift.

3. Establish a budget and keep it by factoring in hidden costs.

Collaborate on corporate holiday gift ideas

Making the most of corporate holiday gifts means making shared decisions among members of your company. Your employees, who may know the clients more intimately than the executives, can shed light on corporate holiday gift ideas that will be both unique and useful.
Try:  A business card case that you can monogram from Corporate Snobs is a great choice for employees or clients. The Victory Clock available from ePromos allows for the company logo.

Show your appreciation with client holiday gifts

To brand or not to brand - that is the question. You can make your gift stand out among the others by imprinting your company logo on the product. Make sure that if you decide to put your company logo on a client holiday gift, it's first of all tasteful (small) and in a font that suits the product.
Try:  Motivators sells an Izod golf shirt that you can customize with your logo and offers a price break at a quantity of just 24. Corporate Gift Showcase can put your company logo on a crystal ice bucket, a globe-inspired vase or etched paperweights.

Get personal with employee holiday gift ideas

When thinking about gifts for your employees, consider personal gifts as opposed to company logo branded items. Monogramming is a nice touch, but make sure you get your employee initials right before you order. Choose gifts that your employees will appreciate and use, such as clothing, briefcases or laptop carriers, or a CD of holiday music.
Try:  Select-Your-Gift takes the guesswork out of holiday business gifts for employees. Tap into your employees' musical taste with small electronics gifts from Absorbent, Ink.

• Find out the particular company's lead time for personalization, as it may add time to delivery of your business holiday items.
• There's nothing wrong with picking up great deals on employee holiday gifts that you find on sale that you know your employees will love.

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