Corporate Christmas Gifting: When to Order, and What to Send

Most companies think about client gifts in the first week of December, which is roughly three weeks after the decision needed to be made. By then the good options are gone, the delivery slots are full, and half the recipients have already left for the holidays.

Christmas gifting is an autumn job. Here is the timeline that works, what is worth sending, and the practical problem that catches almost everyone out.

The timeline

September and October — decide

Two decisions, and they are the only ones that matter: how much per recipient, and how many recipients. Everything else follows. A list of forty at a considered figure will always land better than a list of two hundred at a token one, and the difference in cost is often nil.

This is also the month to agree who signs the card, because that conversation takes longer than anyone expects.

November — confirm and collect

Sign off what is being sent, and begin collecting addresses. Not in December. See below for why this is the part that goes wrong.

If anything is being personalised — engraved, monogrammed, printed — November is the deadline, not a preference.

The first two weeks of December — deliver

The best window is roughly the first to the fifteenth. Offices are still full, people are still at their desks, and your gift arrives before the pile of everyone else's.

The last week — avoid

Deliveries in the final week arrive to empty receptions and locked doors, and get lost. Flowers left with a security desk on the twenty-second are not a gift; they are a problem for someone else.

What to send

An arrangement, not a hamper. Everyone sends a hamper. They arrive by courier, in a box, and are eaten by whoever is nearest the kitchen. Something arranged and hand-delivered is a different order of gesture, and it is the one people photograph.

Consider something that lasts. Preserved arrangements hold for months rather than days, which matters when an office is about to close for two weeks. They also sit on a desk into January, long after the fresh flowers have gone.

Think about where it will live. A large arrangement sent to a small flat is an imposition. A small one sent to a boardroom disappears. Ask, or send to the home rather than the office if you know the person well enough.

Skip anything branded. A gift with your logo on it is not a gift, it is marketing, and everyone can tell the difference. The card carries your name. That is enough.

The problem nobody plans for: addresses

This is what derails corporate gifting more than budget, taste or timing.

Since hybrid working became normal, a client's office address is often the wrong address. People are in two or three days a week, and rarely the days you choose. Half of December is out of office entirely.

What works:

• Ask for the delivery address in November, in the same email that confirms anything else. It reads as ordinary admin rather than a hint.
• For senior recipients, ask their assistant — they will know where the person actually is on a given Tuesday.
• Where you are sending to an office, ask which days they are in and time it accordingly.
• Keep the list. Next year takes an hour instead of a fortnight.

The card

Handwritten, and specific. "Season's greetings from all at [company]" is what a printed insert says. One line that shows you remember the year — a project, a move, a difficult quarter that went well — is worth more than the gift attached to it.

Decide early whether it is signed by an individual or the company. Gifts from a person are remembered; gifts from a logo are not.

A note on tax

Worth knowing, and worth checking with your accountant rather than taking from a florist.

In the UK, gifts to clients are generally only deductible against corporation tax if they cost £50 or less per recipient per year and carry a conspicuous advertisement for your business — and food, drink, tobacco and vouchers are excluded entirely. In practice this means most considered client gifts, flowers included, are not deductible. Companies send them anyway, because the relationship is worth more than the relief.

Gifts to your own employees fall under different rules — the trivial benefits exemption, which covers gifts of £50 or less each, subject to conditions. Ask your accountant before assuming either way.

What we need from you

A corporate gifting brief is four lines:

• How many recipients, and a figure per recipient
• The delivery window you want
• The wording for the card, and who it is signed by
• The address list, in whatever form you have it

We handle the rest: what is sent, how it is wrapped, the cards written by hand, and delivery across London by our own team. One invoice at the end, rather than forty card payments.

If you are planning your client gifting for this year, write to us now rather than in December. You can see how we work with companies on our corporate page.