How to Run a Corporate Gift Program
How to Run a Holiday Gift Program, Start to Finish
Choosing the gifts is rarely the hardest part of a holiday gift program. The work lies in the organization, approvals, addresses, and timing. This guide walks through each step in the order a program runs, with advice from a team that has packed and delivered corporate gifts since 2006.
What you're really buying with gifting is appreciation.
- Saul Brown, founder, Saul Good Gift Co.
Every step below protects that feeling: someone opening something chosen for them, from a company that took the time to get the details right.
One shift is worth planning around. More clients now expect gifts made in Canada, especially larger corporations that want to support Canadian small businesses. We are proud that 97% of our products are made in Canada, and since 2006, our gifts have supported over 313 small businesses and created more than 564,028 hours of living-wage employment.
When should you start planning a holiday gift program?
The right start date depends on how much of the program you want to design yourself. A fully customized program needs months of lead-up. A branded program built on pre-designed gifts needs far less lead time.
Fully customized gift programs should start in summer and be decided before the fall rush; branded programs can start around Labour Day and be decided by mid-October or the end of November.
Things tend to speed up after Labour Day, and many industries are busy in the fall. That is why custom programs do best with a summer start, when there is time for research, design, and getting every detail organized.
Programs that start in late November still happen, with fewer gift options to choose from. Branded packaging and cards remain possible until the deadline in the key dates below, but there is no longer time to add a logo to products such as toques or mugs for delivery before the holidays. December also brings plenty of other commitments at home and at work.
When you start late November, our clients tend to feel more urgency and stress.
To make it easier, set your start date by program type, then follow the steps below. For production lead times for each order type, see our corporate gift baskets page.
1. Start with last year's list and last year's results
The best starting point for this year's program is last year's spreadsheet. Before adding anyone new, go through it line by line. Who has moved roles or left the company? Which gifts landed well, and which recipients did you miss? Which deliveries caused trouble?
Reusing last year's sheet means you start with most of the work done, and every correction you make now saves a December chase.
2. Give one person the authority to decide
A program moves fastest when one person on your team can make decisions. Name that owner early. Agree who signs off on the gifts, artwork, and card message, and how quickly approvals will come back.
If a senior leader wants a say, ask for their input early, while choices are still open, rather than at the proof stage. The programs we see run most smoothly have an owner with real autonomy and an organized team that responds promptly when artwork approvals come through.
3. Ask your gifting partner for a work-back schedule
A work-back schedule tells you what your gifting partner needs from you and by when, counted back from your delivery date.
I would ask your vendor, whoever you choose, to give you a work-back schedule so you understand what information is needed from you by when.
We create work-back schedules for our clients as part of our sales process. As your program is finalized, our concierge team shares the remaining deadlines, such as proof approvals for branded packaging and cards, and the deadline to finalize delivery addresses. Put those dates in your calendar the day you receive them.
4. Keep it simple, then tier your recipients
Sending everyone the same gift is a sound choice. It is equitable, it keeps things simple, and it makes the program easier for everyone involved. Limit the options and choose something most people will enjoy.
The one must-do is a greeting card personalized with the recipient's name. When someone opens a gift and sees it was meant for them, the same gift everyone else received still feels like theirs. Without that card, a shared gift can read as generic, which works against the reason you sent it.
No one needs more stuff, but people need connection, and they need recognition, and they need to feel appreciated.
Tiering is common for client gifts. Sort accounts into tiers by relationship value, then by the size of the receiving team, so larger teams get larger, shareable gifts. Good data makes this easy: know your clients, their team sizes, and what each relationship is worth to you. Our Gifts for Clients page lets you compare options by tier, and our Corporate Gift Program page explains how ordering works.
Include your own team in the plan. A holiday gift for your people follows the same list, deadlines, and delivery questions. Our guide to employee appreciation gifts covers that side.
5. Decide on branding early, and keep it subtle
Branding is worth it on external gifts for clients and stakeholders when it is subtle and sits on high-quality items people will use. Adding a logo to low-quality items is wasteful, because people will not use them. For internal holiday gifts, branding is usually optional.
Nobody wants to be a billboard in their home, or really in their life, for other companies.
One of our best-branded pieces was a mug for a client with four regional offices. We commissioned our illustrator to create artwork that reflected each office's geography, location, and culture, and the client's logo went on the bottom. Recipients see the logo every time they put the mug away, so they remember who gave it, but the logo is never staring them in the face.
Logo placement follows the audience. Another client brought two divisions together after an acquisition, one in Toronto and one in Ottawa, and the mug helped welcome new teammates. The artwork spanned both cities, and the logo sat prominently on the side because the message was belonging to the company.
Decide early how far you want to go. A fully customized program means back-and-forth on products, artwork, and messaging, and that takes real time from your team and ours. Pre-designed branded gift baskets are the easier route, with your brand on the packaging and card. If you do want something built from scratch, start with our curated gift boxes.
6. Choose gifts for groups and individuals differently
An individual gift should be about that one person. If you know their tastes, choose for them, and say why in the card. Mention a conversation you had or a detail they shared in passing.
A group gift has to be easy to share. You want to avoid the "Who wants the tapenade? I am taking the crackers" scenario. The best group gifts bring people together around the box, which is the moment that carries your thank-you.
When you appreciate a team, do it publicly. Appreciate publicly, criticize privately: a public thank-you tends to travel through a team long after the box is empty.
7. Ask about dietary needs, and check alcohol rules
Ask about dietary needs before choosing gifts. If anyone on your list avoids nuts, start with our nut-free collection.
Wine adds warmth to a client gift, and we can add a bottle on request for recipients in British Columbia and Ontario. For large custom orders into Quebec, we can arrange wine through a partner, so ask us. Recipients in other provinces receive an alcohol-free version.
8. Check gift policies, theirs and yours
Some organizations cap the value of gifts their staff can accept. If you are unsure, check with your contacts and your company's policy before setting the budget.
9. Get your delivery data right early
Delivery addresses are often the most challenging part of a program, so block time for them early. Confirm each recipient is still in their role and still at the same office.
For client teams, office delivery in early December is the default. For recipients who mostly work remotely, collect home addresses instead. Our guide to asking a client for their home address covers how to do it well.
Your list is the source of truth, and every delivery's accuracy starts there. We use verification tools to help make each gift deliverable, and we flag addresses that caused problems in previous years so we don't use them twice. We cannot know when someone has moved, which is why an up-to-date list matters so much. We track every gift until it is delivered, and when we learn of a new address, we pass it back to you for next year. For more on how we handle the list, see our client gift ideas guide.
10. Decide who delivers the gifts: us, or your team
Most of our clients have us handle delivery because it is the easier route. We ship every gift and track it until it arrives, so delivery becomes one less job on your list.
Some clients prefer to deliver the gifts themselves. They load up the car and drive from office to office, shake hands with their clients, and wish them a happy holiday season in person. It is a lot of work on their side, and it takes time in late November and early December. For teams with that time, it's well spent. The gifts become a reason to drop by, and the face time helps them connect with their clients and deepen those relationships, which is the goal of the whole program.
Both routes work. Choose the one that fits your team's time this season. If you would like to deliver some or all of the gifts yourself, ask us how to arrange it.
11. Write the card message early
A card message written in the first week of December tends to read like one. Draft it early so you can make it specific and get it approved alongside the artwork. Our guide to writing a business thank-you message includes examples to get you started.
12. Build your corporate gifting strategy around early December
Aim for client gifts to arrive at the office in early December. With hybrid work, you cannot know how often a recipient or their team will be in the office later in the month, and an early delivery gives the gift the best chance of being opened together.
Avoid the last week of December. Many people are away by then, and a gift that sits in an empty office loses the moment it was meant for.
13. Plan for last-minute additions
You will likely add a name or two after you order. You can add unbranded gifts with no delay. Additions that need branded packaging or branded cards take an extra 2 to 5 days, so keep a short list of possible late additions and send them over as soon as they are confirmed.
14. Close the loop for next year
When you deliver the last gift, update the spreadsheet. Record who received what, note the reactions you heard, and add the new addresses we passed back. Next year's program starts with that sheet, which keeps step one easy. For a longer view of how gifting supports client relationships, read our piece on gifts and B2B client retention.
Key dates for the 2026 holiday season
- November 1: Free branded packaging on qualifying orders placed by this date. See our branded gift baskets page for what qualifies. We recommend ordering branded toques by this date.
- November 7: We recommend ordering by this date to add your logo to mugs.
- December 1: Last day to add your logo to branded packaging and cards.
- December 11: Last day to order last-minute gifts to arrive by December 18.
