Sep 29, 2022

Client and Employee Holiday Gifting Schedule

Gift giving is supposed to be fun. Without proper planning however; getting holiday gifts for clients and employees can easily turn into a logistical nightmare - from collecting recipient addresses, to dealing with supply-chain and delivery delays. There are plenty of hurdles that stand in the way of getting your holiday gifting project done.

To make things a little easier, this article includes our compiled list of the key dates and milestones you need to consider when planning your holiday gifts.

Let’s get started:

Decision time + Sourcing & Budgeting (by October 7th)
Sign and Design (by October 14th)
Last chance for ordering branded items (by October 20th)
Order non-branded items + Verify addresses (by Nov 10th)
Start sending (by December 3rd)
Last chance for last minute gifts (December 20th)
Christmas Day (December 25th)

Decision time + Sourcing & Budgeting (by October 7th) -

The following three deadlines apply to custom branded products and gift sets. For anything else, (e.g. fruit baskets and alcohol) skip ahead.

The holiday gifting process starts with deciding what to give. We’ve all been there. There are plenty of stakeholders, and, from the cool new kid in HR to the CEO, everyone has an opinion.

Pro tip - Start with a budget. Knowing how much you’re willing to spend on gifts and delivery, will keep the discussion in the realm of reality.

Do whatever you need to achieve alignment by the end of the first week of October in order to reach a decision. Anything later than that means you won’t have enough time to find vendors to source your gifts from.

The closer you get to mid-end of October, the more likely your vendors will advise you that they’ve run out of inventory and/or capacity, and therefore can no longer commit to your delivery time requirements.

A note about lead-times - Custom gift sets require the longest lead-times - particularly those with multiple branded items and components from multiple vendors. These need to arrive in your office or your 3rd party logistics partner location, and be picked and packed for delivery. If you require anything to be shipped internationally, that can exponentially increase your lead times.

If, on the other hand, you select a standard pre-assembled holiday gift basket or a classy bottle of wine, there’s much less of a need to rush and you can push things towards mid November.

In this article. you can find plenty of great holiday corporate gift ideas in

Sign and Design (by October 14th)

Once you know your budget and what you want to give, the next stage in the process is finding your vendor (or vendors) and getting your custom designs ready.

That means getting the design specs from the vendor identifying where and how they can apply your logo and/or colors as well as any other customization options for each product you’re gifting;

You will need to provide high quality logo or artwork files to the vendor (and make sure you know their artwork requirements);

Request and review mock-ups from your vendor(s) for everything ahead of your order so you know how the end result is going to look. And finally, once you place your order, make sure to approve the final artwork immediately so as not to delay production of your order(s).

If you’re using CorporateGift.com you can likely find everything you need (including design specs for any product) on our marketplace.

If you’re a CG Elite member, that’s even better. It means we can help you with ideating and designing your gifts, handling all the logistics, and sending items on your behalf A-to-Z. You can just Netflix and chill.

Shameless plug aside however, by October 14th you need to:

Know the quantity of gift items you’ll need (inc. sizes for apparel items)
Compile a complete mailing list
Find vendors that carry the gifts you want and have inventory
Send the vendor your design files
Approve mockups (and samples) of the items
Submit an order, mailing addresses with the vendor and approve final art without delay

Last chance for branded items (by November 5th)

This is seriously your last chance to order customized gift products.

By this date, most vendors won’t be able to commit to production times that will enable you to send your gifts before people go out on their Christmas Holidays.

You might be able to get some things out, but you’ll be cutting it very close and will likely have to pay steep prices for rush production and expedited deliveries.

Obviously, if you’re a CG Elite member, we’ll do anything we can to help - calling in favors on your behalf, bribing UPS delivery people with smiles and cupcakes, and making sacrifices to the gods but, you will probably need to make some concessions and be more flexible with what you’re able to select, from brands to specific items.

Order non-branded items + Verify addresses (by Nov 15th)

By early to mid-November you’re starting to edge towards the final deadline for ordering non-branded items such as bulk gift baskets, chocolates, wine, and flowers.

Unsurprisingly, a lot of people want to send gifts during the holidays. That means most vendors are backlogged and inventory, even for non-custom items, starts to run low.

To make sure you don’t miss out or need to scramble and make lots of small orders from lots of small (and potentially shifty) vendors, you should place your gift orders by mid-November.

By now, you should also have finished collecting mailing addresses from your recipients. You will want to verify where your gift recipients will be when you send them their gift rather than assume they’ll be in their office or home.

Many people will be going out on vacation early, especially now that we’re all revenge traveling to compensate for the two lost years of pandemic.

If you’re using a service like CorporateGift.com, you should have the option to send people items as eGifts, avoiding the need to collect addresses.

eGifts are linked to a custom branded redemption page, where your recipient can provide their preferred mailing address, and potentially even choose their gift from a selection of options.

Once the recipient redeems their gift, the vendor will send them the item automatically, without you needing to do anything else (other than watch for notification of their redemption). You can learn more about eGifts on this link.

Start sending (by December 3rd for international shipments / December 10th for domestic)

Remember all those stories in the press about crazy shipping delays and lost Amazon packages last Christmas?

You don’t want to be part of those statistics. To avoid shipping delays and empty offices, start sending your gifts in the early days of December.

That way, you can be sure your recipients will get them on time, and that you won’t be the last person in the office on December 23rd, slowly going insane on hold on the phone as you’re listening to a mechanical voice telling you “your call is important to us” and that “you are now #999 in the line.”

Pro tip: If you’re worried that things will be sent out too early, don’t.

Most vendors should be able to offer you options for pre-scheduling delivery to a later date or holding inventory for you (to release upon request).

Also, consider the fact that most people are inundated with gifts during the holidays. Our research shows that the best responses and most memorable gifts were ones that arrived either a bit too early or a bit too late.

There’s few bigger joys in life than coming back to the office after Christmas vacation and finding a box of chocolates waiting for you on your desk.

Last chance for last minute gifts (December 20th)

By December 10th more or less, you’ve eliminated your options for sending physical gifts. Don’t despair though. There are other options.

If you’ve been overwhelmed with other projects and haven’t had time to deal with holiday gifting, or if you just couldn’t make the budget and logistics work, now is the time to opt for digital gifts and experiences.

#1 eGift Collections

eGift Collections allow you to send gifts on the 11th hour, while giving recipients something they actually want, and without having to know their mailing address.

You simply choose a collection based on themes (e.g. Alcohol Free Gifts, or alternatively Gifts for Wine Lovers), set a maximum budget, and hit send.

Your recipient will get an email with a redemption link from which they can choose a gift from a curated selection and provide their preferred mailing address.

You will only pay for the item that was redeemed along with the applicable shipping fees.

That means you can send these as late as Christmas day if you want, and the recipient will get the surprise email exactly when you send it.

You can learn more about eGift collections in this link.

#2 Experiences

Have you thought about gifting your employees or clients a subscription to a meal delivery service? Gifts like a Blue Apron or Yoga app subscription are great last minute options.

Recipients will get a digital greeting card that lets them know they got the gift. It can be delivered the moment you send it, and they’ll be able to enjoy their gift throughout the year.

#3 Gift Cards

Yes. They’re bland. They’re boring. They don’t show a lot of personality or creativity. But, they will show people you were thinking about them.

And, research shows that most people say they would prefer to get cash over a pre-set gift or a gesture. That same research does show however;that cash and gift cards are the least effective present for driving employee engagement or recollection.

If you want to still be a bit original and make a difference, try sending your recipients a gift card for donating money on their behalf to their favorite charity. CG Elite Members can do this from our service, while non members can use services like CharityGiftCards to give a gift that gives something back.