Christmas comes knocking

Love it or hate it, Christmas is a great opportunity to acknowledge and thank your team, suppliers and customers. The good news is, it doesn’t have to be expensive and depending on your appetite for creativity and craft, you can do much of it yourself.

Just don’t leave it to the last minute (it’s not going away) - put your thinking cap on now.

Gifting Checklist:

• Alignment - make sure the gift aligns with your brand personality and values (consider: locally sourced, environmentally friendly, organic, humour, culturally appropriate, religious references, inclusivity, diversity, bi-lingual, recyclable)

• Value - the effort you put in will show through, increasing the perceived value

• Delivery - if you need to send the gift ensure you factor in packaging and delivery costs and allow enough time

  Packaging - a beautifully packaged gift is as important as the gift itself

• Personalisation - there should be a place for a personal message, ideally handwritten

• Tiers - it may be appropriate to have differing levels of value, based on the value of the recipient

Here’s some thought starters:

Budget

• Clever folding cards

  Instead of your standard Christmas card featuring Santa sitting in a deck chair at the beach, there are lots of designs and tutorials for folding cards that can reveal a holiday or festive message or your business values. You can make them yourself using a standard office printer or local photocopy retailer if you need a heavier paper stock. Check out Pinterest or search for online origami sites like this one.

Affordable

• Plants

  These can be presented as a Christmas Wreath or as individual pots. Select plants that are hardy and drought tolerant as many people are away from home and work premises over the holiday period. Pinterest is your go-to again for DIY options or buy directly from sites like this.

• Christmas ornaments

  Wood is a great option with many New Zealand-specific designs available online.

Premium

• Experiences

  For the person that has everything, experiences are a great option - either to enjoy on their own or with you as a group celebration. Either book a specific experience such as cruising the Bay of Islands with Silver Wave Yacht Charters or offer choice with Chuffed Gifts - a New Zealand based business that has over 110 experiences.

  Don’t leave it to the last minute. Put some thinking into the festive season now, so you can enjoy a stress-free end of year.

  I’ve been designing and coordinating bespoke Christmas solutions for businesses for many years, so if you are looking for something a bit special, don’t hesitate to get in touch.