The same Christmas present every year – for all your customers and business partners?Or do you want to try something new?Perhaps your budget also dictates a different framework than usual. We have put together some suggestions for traditional and slightly different gifts in various price categories for you here in our customer Christmas gift special.

Small gifts are known to keep friendships alive – and also have a positive effect on business relationships. However, the prerequisite for this is that the Christmas gifts are well received by the customers. Let our tips and suggestions inspire you.

Content

• For which customers are there Christmas gifts?
• What should the perfect Christmas gift be like?
• Only the best of the best
• Christmas gifts for customers under 10 euros
  • The Christmas card
  • 2-in-1: Christmas card and gift in one
  • Promotional gifts and other little things
  • Vouchers, vouchers as Christmas gifts for customers
• Christmas gifts
  • Culinary delights
  • Decorative
  • Practical
• Sustainable Christmas gifts for customers
• Unusual Christmas gifts for customers
  • Giving the gift of time
  • Self-made
• Wrapping Christmas presents for customers

Which customers are Christmas presents for?

This question leads to lengthy discussions in many companies with numerous customers and business partners. Do only the A customers get a gift and do the others go away empty-handed? Or do the premium customers receive a higher-quality gift than the rest? Is a card with warm words of thanks and good wishes enough for some (or all) of them?

Ideally, those who are considered (very important) A, (important) B or (less important) C customers are already listed in the customer database. The overall budget then determines which sums are available for the individual customer groups. What counts is always the gesture – and its execution. A small or inexpensive gift does not necessarily have to look cheap. And it certainly shouldn’t!

What should the perfect Christmas gift be like

A perfect gift must convey one thing above all: that someone has put some thought into it. If the recipient can do absolutely nothing with their gift, this impression is unlikely to be created. The wishes and needs of the recipient should therefore be taken into account. The more personalised a gift appears, the more likely it is to be appreciated.

Ideally, the gift should also have some kind of connection to the company – or to the occasion itself. At Christmas, this often comes naturally, as something Christmassy that can be used up or used for the festive season is at least always appropriate for this holiday. This can be more difficult with gifts that are given during the year.

Only the best of the best

No matter how creative the ideas were beforehand: If the budget only allows for a mediocre realisation, it is better to go for another option. An inferior gift will always fail to have the intended effect. It does not express appreciation, but looks like what it is – a cost-saving solution.

But how can you avoid this faux pas when the budget is limited? Then look one product category down and choose the best within that category: so rather an elaborately designed Christmas card than a cheap give-away, rather a high-quality biros than a whole writing set at the same price and rather delicious tea than an inferior tea maker.

Speaking of give-aways: junk is of course out of the question. But even among the (small) promotional gifts, there are high-quality products that make good customer gifts at Christmas. We’ll show you how to spice up these small gifts below.

Christmas gifts for customers under €10

Gifts under €10 are not only inexpensive, but also interesting from a tax perspective. This is because if the expenses for so-called “scatter items” per person receiving the gift and per financial year are below this value, you do not have to pay tax on them.

The Christmas card

A beautiful, personalised or unusual Christmas card is more emotionally appealing than an impersonal gift. However, there are a few things to bear in mind to make sure it scores highly: high-quality paper, preferably a folding card with an envelope and ideally with your own design. Your logo should also be visible so that it is immediately obvious who sent the Christmas greeting.

Christmas cards are available in different designs in our online shop: You can opt for Christmas postcards or Christmas folded cards.

Would you like to take the opportunity to draw attention to a discount campaign or send a small gift? Then why not send a voucher or discount coupon at the same time? You can design a voucher card with perforation – for example to separate the voucher code – so you don’t need two different products.

In addition to the look, the content must also be right. How do you convey good wishes without sounding too flat? What can you actually write if you want it to go beyond “Merry Christmas”? You can find tips on this, for example, at Christmas greetings – businesslike and heartfelt and Sayings for Christmas cards.

2-in-1: Christmas card and gift in one

The card can not only send greetings, but also function as a gift itself. For example, as a voucher, receipt or admission ticket to the company’s own event. If you’re looking for something more opulent, the card can perhaps also be folded out into an Advent calendar or transformed into a Christmas tree ornament with a few simple steps and some glue.

These are just two of many possibilities. A brainstorming session in the marketing team is sure to produce even more ideas.

Promotional gifts and other small items

Even promotional items at a low price can be classy and also have the advantage that they can be branded. For example, cups, which you can add tea or mulled wine spices to if you have a higher budget, are particularly suitable for the Christmas season.

High-quality metal ballpoint pens and notebooks are not particularly Christmassy, but always useful. A classic end-of-year gift is also calendars in all possible forms and for B2B customers, various desk accessories are also available.

Further suggestions for gifts at a low price can be found below.

Vouchers, vouchers as Christmas gifts for customers

Most customers appreciate discounts and free offers. This is why vouchers, coupons and receipts are also very popular as Christmas gifts. Depending on the occasion, this could be a cup of mulled wine and gingerbread on the next visit or a discount on Christmas shopping, for example.

Christmas gifts

Christmas is a very practical holiday from a marketing perspective. It has so much appeal that a customer gift does not necessarily have to be related to the company. Giving a festive gift is enough. And there are countless possibilities. And if one of them fits your company like gingerbread on a witch’s cottage, so much the better.

Culinary delights

Gingerbread, biscuits, biscuits, Christmas stollen and macaroons. The list of Christmas biscuits could go on for a while. If there is a regional or even local speciality at your company headquarters, this would be the first choice. Otherwise, anything that tastes delicious and like Christmas could be considered.

Branded and with a dedication, these little delicacies look particularly good. self-adhesive labels look pretty and a little more personalised. They have the advantage that you can not only personalise the gift itself, but also any packaging with your logo and your wishes.

This also works for other culinary gifts. Christmas pies and ham, stollen, punch, grog, mulled wine spice (or the mulled wine itself), tea, coffee and cocoa (each with Christmas flavours) are also conceivable. And not forgetting, of course, the Advent calendar. You can have it printed entirely with your own design.

Decorative

Pure decoration is frowned upon as a rather useless gift on other occasions. At Christmas, however, decorative items can also be combined with a practical aspect. Anything that can be used as a Christmas tree or gift tag has a right to exist.

It is important that they have a Christmassy look, a handy size and a loop for hanging or attaching to the gift. Christmas baubles, tags made of wood, felt, glass, metal and paper or cardboard are suitable for this. The motifs are varied: angel, Christmas tree, star, comet, flute, shawm, drum, rocking horse, Father Christmas, snowman, snowflake, nutcracker and much more.

Practical

Cut-out moulds cover several aspects at once: they are Christmassy, can be used by the recipient for Christmas baking, look cute – and are also inexpensive to buy. More individual are cookie stamps, which you can personalise with your own text and image motifs. It doesn’t have to be the company logo, but something else that is reminiscent of your company can be placed here.

Any gifts that your customers could use in the run-up to Christmas are also practical: Christmas cards to send, gift wrap and ribbons, Christmas stickers or labels on a roll. Discreetly branded, these gifts also spread your logo.

Sustainable Christmas gifts for customers

Disposable items, unnecessary packaging or too much plastic are increasingly making a bad impression on recipients. On the other hand, recognisably sustainable gifts are all the more popular.

If you are focusing on sustainability, your gifts should fulfil at least one of these criteria: the product can be used up or used several times, materials and production are environmentally friendly, transport routes are as short as possible and little packaging is required.

Some of the gift ideas already mentioned fulfil one or more of these criteria. Other possible products that you can order right here in our online shop: eco pens made from wood, cardboard or wheat straw, printable nutcrackers made from metal and bags made from sustainable materials such as felt and jute.

Even if you opt for a Christmas card, you can make a lasting impression by choosing a recycled cardboard box.

You’ll be right on trend if your gifts are made almost entirely from natural materials. Christmas items are ideal for this: for example, Christmas tree ornaments made from untreated wood and pine cones, baubles made from wicker, arrangements made from twigs and moss, cinnamon sticks and dried orange peel for the flavour bowl and polished tree slices as coasters.

Unusual Christmas gifts for customers

Traditional Christmas gifts are nice, and there is no serious reason to introduce something new. But if you want something completely different, we have two suggestions:

Giving time

The rarer something is, the more precious it is. And what do we all have too little of in our hectic times? Exactly! But how can we give time away? For example, by relieving people of tedious tasks so that they have more time for other things. This can be done with a voucher for an extra service on the next order, a free analysis or a configuration that the customer would otherwise have to do themselves.

But it can also mean giving the gift of quality time together – with an invitation to a company event or a pre-Christmas mulled wine in a small group.

Homemade crafts

It sounds like pre-school and sticky fingers, but it doesn’t have to turn into a full-blown craft session. It could simply be a paper star that you stick on the Christmas card, for example, or a bottle to which someone attaches a handwritten gift tag.

If more homemade is possible, then go for it. It couldn’t be more personalised. Of course, this is only feasible for a small clientele. But DIY campaigns can also be realised on a manageable scale for more customers and larger companies. For example, a large picture on which everyone in the department immortalises themselves with their signature and a small Christmas symbol. This can end up as a motif on the Christmas card. Or a calendar in which the most important joint dates such as congresses, in-house exhibitions etc. are entered by hand.

Wrapping Christmas gifts for customers

Of course, it depends on the contents, but the outside should already make you want to unwrap it. Books and other rectangular or square gifts are very popular. You can wrap them simply and prettily in gift wrapping paper, tie a fabric bow or raffia ribbon around them and you’re done. It looks great and can be handed over directly or sent by post without any problems.

Bottles, rather bulky gifts, small items and some foods require a little more effort. The outer wrapping looks particularly attractive if it is not only Christmassy but also personalised. In our online shop, you will find a large selection of printable packaging: configurable, customised packaging, telescope boxes, bottle boxes and pillow boxes in standard sizes as well as bags and cardboard boxes for open food.

If designing your own packaging is a first for you, you can find step-by-step instructions and a video at Customised packaging design – InDesign tutorial. You can find inspiration specifically for Christmas packaging at Creative gift packaging: Christmas inspiration and templates.

This article was first published on 18 October 2022 and updated in October 2023.