Corporate Gifting: your ultimate Christmas guide

Delight your colleagues and clients this Christmas with sophisticated corporate gifts

If you’re looking for a festive token to congratulate your hardworking team on a successful year or wish to send your top clients a thank you Christmas gift, you might like to explore professional corporate gifting options. At Hotel Chocolat, we offer a premium corporate gifting service so you can send presents that delight your recipients and retain the elegance your brand exudes. 

And if you’re wondering where to start with sending out corporate Christmas gifts, here’s our guide.

What is corporate gifting?

Christmas is a time of generosity and goodwill. It’s also an excellent opportunity to show appreciation for those around you in the workplace. Corporate gifting gives you the chance to present your employees, clients, or even potential clients with a sophisticated gift. You may also wish to give Christmas corporate gifts to your suppliers and anybody else who helps your business run smoothly.

What are the benefits?

As well as being a gesture of kindness, Christmas corporate gifts are an excellent way to build relationships within your company and boost morale. Employees and colleagues are sure to appreciate the recognition. This, in turn, helps create a positive work culture with higher levels of productivity.

Sending a gift is also helpful in establishing and maintaining connections with clients and potential clients. It can strengthen existing business relationships and set you apart from competitors.

When to organise corporate gifting for Christmas

While you could select individual chocolate gifts for your employees and clients, this can become incredibly complicated and time-consuming. Corporate gifting services help make the process as straightforward as possible — whether you’re buying for 20 people or 200. Another benefit of corporate gifting is that you get a selection of coordinated items that are consistent in their quality and presentation.

Gift sourcing

Sourcing the perfect gifts for your team in the workplace can take time, particularly if you’re purchasing for a large number of people. It’s a good idea to plan well ahead so you can find items your recipients will adore. Organising your corporate gifting early can also help you account for delivery delays due to higher demand.

Consider where you’re purchasing gifts from and where you need to send them. If you’re looking at international shipping, this may take longer and should be factored into your timeline. As a general guide, try to source your gifts by the beginning of November.

As well as finding gifts, you’ll need to make sure you have a comprehensive list of all the people you’re buying for. If you’re sending gifts, rather than presenting them in person, you’ll also want a list of addresses. It may take a couple of weeks to put all this information together.

Delivery

What about delivering your presents? Of course, every company will have different holiday dates and lengths. Perhaps your colleagues are in the office until Christmas eve. Or maybe some employees take off the whole of December to travel for their celebrations.

Are you sending gifts to multiple addresses? If your recipients are working from home or are situated in different locations, aim to send your gifts out in the first or second week of December. By sending them early, you can factor in any delays and many recipients will still be at home or the office. It might seem early, but having a beautifully wrapped present to look at will bring a bit of festive anticipation!

Alternatively, if you’re handing out your business gifts in person, you may like to leave it a bit later — the office Christmas party, perhaps?

How to choose corporate Christmas gifts

What makes a good Christmas gift for colleagues and clients? Ideally, you want to choose something that has some level of practicality. Novelty gifts might be fun for a short time, but once the holidays are over, they may just sit in a corner gathering dust.

Here are a few points to think about when selecting presents:

Things to consider

• How many gifts do you need? – Can you buy them in bulk so everyone gets something similar?

• What’s your relationship with the recipients? – Do you know them well enough to choose something truly personal? If so, think about their lifestyles, hobbies, and interests.

• How generous are you feeling? – Are you looking for large demonstrations of appreciation or smaller tokens?

• What’s your budget? – How much can you afford to spend on each item? Are you planning on spending the same amount on each recipient?

• How will you be sending them? – If you’re posting your gifts, you might want to go for something small and light or opt for a courier service. Factor this cost into your budget.

• Are the gifts suitable for everyone? – Think about suitability. If some of your recipients don’t drink, then bottles of alcohol won’t be appropriate. Others may delight in a tipple! Likewise, consider any dietary requirements or accessibility needs.

• How will you present your gifts? – Are you wrapping them yourself? If you choose a corporate gifting service, they can ensure every item is boxed or bagged in a sophisticated, professional manner.

• How will you personalise your gifts? – Including a personalised message or card can add that extra touch that any giftee will love.

Corporate Christmas Gift ideas

If you’re looking for presents for your colleagues and employees at the office, how about potted plants? Foliage is a lovely way to brighten up the desk space and you could even include a personalised pot.

Alternatively, you might want to give a small team the gift of an experience. Why not organise a day out in the New Year? Whether it’s something active, like paddleboarding or roller skating it’s a great opportunity for team building.

Gift cards are another good choice, particularly if you’re buying for many people. Select something that has a theme but gives them options. Perhaps a voucher for a local independent coffee shop near the office or one of our Hotel Chocolat Gift Cards. They can choose a delicious treat aligned with their own preferences.

Generous Christmas hampers are a surefire winner when it comes to corporate gifting. Elegant Christmas boxes and baskets brimming with goodies are the ideal way to thank a loyal client or congratulate a star employee on their fantastic work this quarter. Hampers, whether they’re packed with chocolates and rich and spicy red wine or savoury nibbles, are especially lovely for those with families. 

Corporate gifting from Hotel Chocolat

We might be a little biased but we believe that premium chocolate is the perfect corporate gift. Beautifully presented, edible gifts look the part and serve a purpose — they’re delicious! Chances are, they won’t last past the New Year but they’ll certainly enhance the merriment.

And if you’re looking to treat your recipients with something extra special, our corporate gifting service is here to make the process quick, easy, and smooth-running. Our reliable team can help you plan ahead for a stress-free holiday.

We offer sophisticated, luxurious gifts to suit all budgets and business requirements. And for orders of over 200 units, we even have an exclusive range of smaller items available.

Ordering your business gifts or Secret Santa Gifts with Hotel Chocolat couldn’t be simpler. Just place your order online, add a hand-tied gift bag and personal message at checkout. We can deliver to up to 20 different addresses.