When planning your corporate events, often one of the last things to fall into place can be your conference gifts. Whether you have been focused on the venues, accommodations, or other logistics - make sure not to overlook the essential aspect of destination event gifts. Whether your event is taking place in your own office building or is a destination event for your top executives, showing your appreciation to your employees or clients can be the make or break between a stressful conference week or an enjoyable event for your intended guests.

In this article, you will learn about the best items to be included in your event gifts, how to maximize your budget per gift, and how to make these conference gifts stand out and be something your guests will actually love to use after your retreat is long gone. The most essential topics to consider include;

1. Picking your Theme
2. Maximize Your Budget
3. Identify any Pain Points with the Logistics of Your Gifts
4. Make It Stand Out With Customization

In some ways, this may already be chosen for you. If your employees are attending a conference in Orlando with some days built into Disneyland - this is a very easy theme to build your destination event gifts into. However, if you simply have an event about “Achieving Your Goals”, for example, there are a lot more possibilities to choose from and consider when beginning to build your dream conference gifts. 

In general, we like to start by giving the following advice about choosing your conference events theme;

 1  . Keep Your Conference Theme Simple

While specific themes can be fun, they may not tie into the actual goals of the event. By choosing a generic theme - not only are you able to have a lot more options when building your gifts, but it will also provide more opportunities for using your creativity and budget while working on a gift.

 2. Consider the Specifics of Your Event Theme
If you have already chosen your event theme - it is easy to begin working on your event gift boxes. The key here is to choose something that compliments the theme, yet doesn’t appear too cheesy, or is filled with useless items that will be trashed after the event ends.

 3. Integrate Your Theme into the Beginning, Middle, and End

After choosing your theme, it is crucial to make sure that the theme if followed through. From invitations to corporate events all the way through to the follow-up emails - make sure that your theme is reflected in your choices.

Whether your budget is $45 or $245, making sure to get the best use of your money is key to a successful conference gift. Especially for your employees who are coming from out of town, it is key to make them feel valued and that this conference is worth their time. They are making a choice to prioritize being their, so show your appreciation with a gift that stands out and isn’t simply filled of corporate swag. As beautiful and amazing as your logo is - keep your company's branding in mind while being creative about how you incorporate it. 

When working towards maximizing your budget - think “would this be something that I would like to receive?”

This is the not-so-fun of building corporate event gifts. It is one of those things where hiring an expert gifting design team can make a HUGE difference both in time and even in your budget. For example, let’s say that you want to send a gift that includes a chocolate bar. Many people wouldn’t think twice about this scenario, however, a gifting expert would be able to share the concerns that this choice could potentially cause. Depending on the time of year it could melt in transit, it could get rejected in customs if it is being sent overseas to some locations, if you include an ice pack to keep it cool it could melt over a long weekend in a hot storage facility - all things that our experts are very aware of and can help you in deciding on the best items for your gift.

Another common thing that could become a logistical nightmare is the shipping itself. Are you sending your gifts to one address? Depending on the quantity of gifts, will you need a loading dock to be able to unload them? Are you sending them to different addresses, and what do you do if they are returned to the sender? Are you trying to ship the gifts through different customs and how long does that usually take? These are all examples of things that could delay your gifts or make things much more difficult. That’s why we strongly suggest working with an experienced gifting expert on all your retreat gifts and corporate gifting needs.  

Almost everybody has been to an event where they walked away with cheap swag that has the company's logo all over it. More often than not, these items end up in the trash just days later. You don’t want all your time, effort, and money going into the trash. How do you prevent this from happening? Customization. Customizing your gifts will ensure that your recipients know that they were thought about individually.

Customization of your gifts can be anything from personalized tumblers with their name on it to a reusable gift packaging with your companies colors. We have even seen the intended recipient choose which event gift they want and what sort of personalization and customization they wish to have on their individual items in the gift.

No matter where your event is taking place or what the chosen theme of your event is - corporate event gifts should be unique and a representation of the goals that you have set for your event. If you are looking for some more inspiration or ideas see some of our favorite events we have worked on recently below.

If you are still needing ideas or are wanting to receive a quote - reach out to one of our gifting experts and they can get you started on the best event gift boxes in your company's history.

For more inspiration and ideas check out;

Curated Destination Themed Event Gifts

Best Christmas Gift Baskets for the Holiday Season

2024 Amazing Corporate Gift Ideas for a Team