Timing is everything when it comes to corporate and personalised gifts for employees, executives, clients or suppliers! The lead time needed to create bespoke gift sets aligned to your brand or year-end event in South Africa is often longer than you’d expect, and the time you gift arrives also matters.
How long do custom gift hampers take to make?
The unique gift set design can take only a few days, but then depending on the level of personalisation, the gift boxes can take from a week to put together – more often a couple of weeks depending on the quantity – to 8 weeks or more to manufacture quality custom branded gift boxes in South Africa. The manufacturers also get busy at year-end so the lead time can be even longer than that as the year comes to a close. And then they close for the December holidays!
When should you deliver a corporate gift hamper?
Most year-end gifts are delivered towards the end of November or first week of December. After that you risk the recipient being away on an annual break. In our experience, hardly anyone is home or at the office after the December 16th public holiday. After that date, the couriers service also becomes less reliable with longer delivery times as they hit their peak busy period too.
Stand out from the Crowd with New Year Gifting
If you’ve left it too late, or even if you haven’t, sending your gifts after the holidays in January is a great way to stand out, and avoid the delays and chaos or rushing to get gifts out in late December. Your gift arriving in New Year is likely to be a real unexpected surprise after all the hustle and bustle of year ending, and they will appreciate and remind them of you more as they start the new year.
We Make Corporate Year-end Gifting Easy
Looking for unique year-end or New Years gifts in South Africa that have the wow factor? We take all the hassle out of corporate gifting, saving you time to do more of what you do best, and making sure you send professional gifts that will be LOVED, appreciated and remembered. Lets co-create!
Corporate Gifting Ideas
Still want to give DIY a go? Here are some tips for making your own corporate gifts in South Africa that will be remembered.
First impressions count, don’t skimp on the packaging and presentation
- Get the best quality gift box, crate or basket you can find to contain your gifts. See gift box, crate, and basket suppliers in South Africa.
- A great way to reduce wastage is to make the container part of the gift, think a wine cooler, a cooler box, or an ice-bucket with the gifts secured inside.
- Tie ribbons professionally, learn to tie the perfect bow on YouTube or buy pre-made bows. You can also get branded ribbon for bespoke gifting look and feel.
- Add a little sparkle to the bow – add a festive tree decoration, a tassel, and/or branded gift tags.
Looking for Corporate Gift Ideas in South Africa?
If you want to brave creating your own bespoke corporate or event gifts, here are some popular unisex gift set choices that go down well:
- Office gifts last longer than edible treats – leather journals (covers can be personalised), fancy pen or pen set, coffee flask (can be branded) and power bank
- Relaxing holiday gifts or pamper treats – bath salts or bubble bath, a candle, melt-in-the-mouth chocolate bon bons, a premium pack of cards or board game, or even binocs if your budget allows
- Gourmet snacks hamper – a larger basket can include preserves, cheese knives, cutting board, dried fruit, crisps, droewors, nuts, cookies (hot tip: fresh cheese can make the gift set stink, especially if delivery takes more than a day!), premium canned drinks, or even a picnic blanket
- Premium wine, bottle opener, paired with olives, nuts, pretzels
- Bubbly, finely crafted champagne flutes (can be branded), luxury chocolate box
- If your budget is tight, rather go for less gift items in the box that are higher quality and/or longer lasting, rather than stuffing it with lots of cheap stuff
- Avoid anything that risks you getting the sizing wrong – belts, shoes, hats, etc.
- Before you buy high quantities of edible treats, buy samples (make it fun and do an office taste test to narrow down to the most popular options). Not just because that’s the best part ;), but sometimes gourmet goods have great packaging but poor taste or texture, other times the most delicious small batch treats come in unprofessional packing, you have to try find the best of both.
Good luck and happy holidays! Reach out to us if you need professional assistance, we’re happy to help!