It’s that time of year again! Time to decide what to give employees and customers to thank them for another year of support.

Does this task bring Christmas carols to mind and get you in the holiday spirit or is it wrought with anxiety, dread and constant second guessing on whether you’ve picked the right item this year?

We’re here to help with some tips for your holiday appreciation order.

Budget and Quantity

Start with an understanding of how many items you need and how much you want to spend. Just like any purchasing, going into the store without an understanding of what you need and what you can spend will be very overwhelming and often lead to disappointment once you feel like you’ve made your selections and then end up back to the beginning when you get the quote and realize you’ve overspent.

Different groups may have different budgets and you may want to have different levels of items. Perhaps you want something to give out to everyone who comes in the week of Christmas but want something larger for key customers. Perhaps you have office staff and field staff who may have different preferences.

Knowing that you want to have 20 items at about $100, 20 items at about $50 and 100 items under $10 helps your Promotional Product Consultant narrow down options that fit into your budget. Is this the top end of your budget or is there some flexibility? If you find a suitable item for less than the budgeted amount, do you want to increase the value or quantity of other items? The more information you can provide, the more your Promotional Product Consultant can do for you.

Quality over Quantity

Yes, I know we say this every time, but it bears repeating. Don’t buy cheap PROMO. But that doesn’t mean you have to have a large budget to buy holiday appreciation gifts. You can buy inexpensive quality items to fit your budget.

Can you buy a speaker for $20? Yes. Will there be a lot of use out of the $20 speaker? No. But you can use that budget to purchase an item that will be used and enjoyed for $20.

Make it Useful (Know Your Audience)

These two go hand in hand, what may be useful for one person may not be useful for another. For example, if you have office and field staff, giving everyone a desk organizer is not going to be considered useful to everyone and vice versa.

Now, this can also create a level of anxiety when picking out gifts. Is there one thing that everyone will like? Probably not. But is there something that you can provide that most people will enjoy and those that don’t may enjoy gifting to someone else? Likely. (I can tell you from experience – and you get a LOT of PROMO when you work in the business – that I get as much, or more enjoyment, sharing these gifts with family and friends.)

Consider creating a bundle of items – 2 to 3 items in a gift box or reusable bag can help ensure everyone has something they love! Many suppliers will create gift bundles, or we can help you select a collection of items that would be right for your team.

Make it about Them, not You

Your day-to-day promotional products might be boldly branded and showcase your logo but at this time of year, it’s good to consider more subtle, retail-oriented branding. Items can still carry your branding, but consider a tone-on-tone logo, smaller logo, discreet patch or engraving.

Personalization can also show that you were thinking about them. Many items can be personalized with names or other text (department, year, etc.). Just remember that once you personalize items, you need to be certain to get the items to the recipients and that you have remembered everyone. And never gift them to someone else, “Here’s one for you, I know it says Tom, but he never picked his up.” (Need I say more?)

Consider the unboxing experience. This is the time to think about products that have great retail packaging or consider gift bags or wrapping items. You also want to think about how you give them out. Making it special doesn’t have to cost a lot, but it can make a big difference.

Do Something Unique

It’s easy to get in a rut with your promotional products, find something that works and just keep doing it. But remember this, your long-term employees and customers may have been receiving the same item year over year (and may have a full collection of them at home already).

And unique can help manage budget as the novelty and presentation all add to the experience! Finding a unique, custom, every-day item can create a great impression. Custom socks, ornaments, playing cards, mugs, pop up lanterns can all come in under $20 and hit the right note for Holiday Appreciation.

Let Them Pick Their Own Gift

Did you know that we can create an online store for gift giving? That way, your employees and clients can pick the item that’s right for them.

We can set up a store with a variety of products and provide you gift card codes (in any amount) for employees to go in and select what they’d like and they can stay under the gift card amount or purchase additional items and just pay the difference OR we can select 2-3 items of similar value and the store can have no pricing or payment options and each person goes in and selects the item they would like.

Online stores will generally need to have at least 20-30 people placing “orders” for them to be effective but talk with your Promotional Product Consultant if you think this option might be right for you.

To learn more about online stores, check out our FAQ page.

Want more ideas for Christmas? Check out our (virtual) Christmas Showroom. It’s got 99 gift ideas to get the creative juices flowing, including the top items on our Sales Team’s lists as well as items grouped by budget.