Gift Giving
There is definitely an art to gift giving. Some people are incredible at it while others not so good. In our family Emily is the best gift giver, hands down. Josh absolutely hates it. There has been a bunch of conversation about gifts because of the holiday season. We are having a family secret santa and the angst behind it for some is not pretty. One gift, come on!
This is also the season where tons of stuff just arrives. Fred ends up bringing our car over to the office in early January and hauls a serious supply of stuff home. Sometimes I truly wonder about who was behind the thinking around those gifts.
Here are my personal thoughts on gifts particularly when they come to clients. Stick to food, wine and alcohol. Make sure it is good food and wine. There is nothing more upsetting than having some terrible book or gadget that nobody is ever going to use show up at the door with someones company logo on it. I'd rather the givers give to a charity they know I am passionate about or the company supports.
Needless to say, as I am investor in all these companies but you can buy great gift packages on Mouth. You can even call them up and have them create something special for a slew of clients. Food52 has items on Provisions for the home chef not necessarily for clients. There is always Ricks Picks and their goods are also sold on Mouth. Each of these companies have items that are perfect for holiday consumption. They also are carrying saavy products which makes the giver look smart.
If you are going to give make sure that you want the client to remember that you gave the best gift not the paper printed calendar from yesteryear.
Comments (Archived):
Awesome suggestions! I often send my clients very good local chocolate. I don’t know anybody who doesn’t love chocolate.
one of the best sellers at MOUTH is the chocolate bag. no surprises.
I love supporting local businesses when gathering together gifts for colleagues or clients. I also like homemade – I’ve been known to show up with a jar of apple jelly or a loaf of homemade bread. It actually is so much more rewarding and fun giving food gifts, because you know they can be shared with others if it isn’t something they like – it won’t be stuck on a shelf somewhere or end up in a donation pile.
i definitely fill up the house in the summer with homemade jams and then give them out for gifts. for corporate, that is a whole other ball game.
Please, no baskets of fruit….but tallgrassbeef.com is great!
Mouth is a pretty cool website. I see you have the very difficult role of ‘taster’ 🙂
Haha.
.When I was in the high rise office business, I used to get mountains of gifts from investors, banks, insurance companies and tenants.I used to accept them all but never actually take them home — well, I did keep a few to eat myself.I used to give them to my assistant and my receptionist on the condition that they write the thank yous.It was like Vikings splitting the spoils, like plunder.I never felt beholden and my assistant and receptionist would rub their hands in glee.Oh, the food baskets and wine I used to get. Wow!JLM.
Im sure. Goodies galore
Just made my first order from mouth – a holiday gift for my team. Everything on there looks so good though, I might have to make a second order for myself!
excellent. we had a board meeting yesterday and tried out some new products. i stuffed myself silly. the products are off the charts.
Food doesn’t work for everyone – what if you don’t know your client keeps kosher or something? Or is a hard core vegan?
Good point but the key is knowing who you are giving a gift to
My first thought is always food 😉 But, as I ponder the professional gifts I want to give and having been on the corporate receiving side of that equation, I know that SO MUCH FOOD arrives over the holidays that A) I used to feel sick because I’d eat too much, and B) I could never eat a fraction of because there was just so much, and often I couldn’t even give it away.(That said, there was one homemade rum cake that arrived every year for two+ decades that I can still taste, years later. It was divine and if I could bake or buy them for everyone I know, I would.)This year, I was thinking of getting gifts made by a friend: http://www.carolschneiderde… Many of the people I need to buy the gifts for know her, so I thought it would hit a few bases. i.e. support an artist, give them something pretty and useful, and make them smile to see what she is currently doing.What do you think?My other thought was museum memberships. What do you think of that idea? That’s what I did last year — but not sure if everyone loves that as much as I would 😉
Ok you can tell me how I do in a few weeks:)
lol
We get and give. We have received some pretty fabulous chocolate and it’s always a winner…because we can share it. We like gifts that can be shared or re-gifted. Same thing really.We try to give gifts that are unique, a treat, and something we love. Last year we gave a female executive a box of Julep nail polishes. The white lacquer box was high class. And 12 different polishes. Totally unique. Success. Another absolute favorite we have given as part of a larger gift: milk frother from Aerolatte. We believe everyone needs one 🙂
milk frother…but of course.
P.S., we just published our 6th annual gift guide :)http://athleticmindedtravel…
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