Year-End Corporate Gifts

Work backwards from the day of your function. 16 December is a public holiday, so check your date against it.

Whatever you order, ask the supplier for the delivery date in writing before you pay. I would worry more about a late delivery than about a poor choice.

Plan year-end corporate gifts by fixing the date of your function and counting back ten weeks from it. For a function in the middle of December, week ten falls at the start of October.

Give one person the list and the authority to close it. I would close it four weeks before the function and cover late additions with the spare gifts. Put staff who are on leave or at other sites on the list from the start. Tell people what is coming only once the supplier has confirmed a date in writing.

A made-to-order gift ordered in late October will not be ready for a December function. That is true of our own pieces, which take two months from the day you approve the order. You have two sound choices.

1. Give from stock in December. A hamper, a voucher or a book, with a card you have written by hand.
2. Give in the new year. I think a gift given in late January or February gets more attention than one given in December. A made-to-order gift approved by 1 December 2026 is ready for 1 February 2027.

You can also do both. Hand each person a card at the function that tells them what is being made for them, and present the piece when work begins again.

Spend per person what your approved total allows once you divide it across the list. I would not begin with a figure per person, because a figure chosen first and then multiplied can exceed what was approved.

1. Decide the total, and have it approved by whoever signs off the spend.
2. Take off the costs that are not the gift itself: delivery, branding, cards and boxes.
3. Divide the list into groups, such as staff, clients and suppliers, and give each group a share.
4. Divide each share by the number of people in the group. That is your figure per person.
5. Hold back a small reserve for names added late.

If the figure per person is too low to buy something you would be glad to receive, shorten the list or change the gift. I would choose an extra day of leave or a handwritten card over a poor object. For staff, ask payroll how the gift is treated for tax before you fix the figure.

Searches for corporate gifts in South Africa were highest in October and November 2025, at 4,400 a month. Place a year-end order before then if you can.

Give every person at the same level the same gift. If the gifts differ, be ready to explain why.

• A voucher they spend themselves, with a card signed by their own manager.
• A hamper to take home to the family.
• An extra day of leave in January.
• One well-made item in each person’s size, such as a jacket or a leather belt.

SARS treats a gift or a voucher from an employer as a taxable fringe benefit, so tell payroll before the gifts go out. We set out how SARS taxes corporate gifts for employees in a separate article.

For a director, the board or a supplier, I would give something modest and the same for everyone in the group, with a card that says what the year’s work meant.

Check your company’s own policy on gifts to directors before you order, and ask a supplier whether its staff may accept gifts.

We advise sending fewer client gifts and making each one better. Send in the last week of November, and write the card yourself.

Three gifts suit most client lists: a hamper the client’s office shares, a book chosen for the person and, for a few accounts, one personalised piece. Check the client’s gift policy before you choose, because some companies ask staff to decline gifts above a set value. Our article on corporate gifts for clients covers the rules.

Write the person’s name, one piece of work from the year that you remember and your thanks, then sign the card by hand.

Say what that piece of work made possible, and close with a wish for the break. Four sentences are enough. I would leave out any mention of next year’s targets. The manager who knows the person should write the card, because I think a printed message with a printed signature tells the reader that nobody wrote to them. In a large company, print the company’s greeting and leave space for two handwritten lines.

Deliver year-end gifts to other cities by collecting every address early, sending to offices before they close for the holidays, and naming a person to receive each parcel.

• Ask each person which address to use and whether they will be there in the week of delivery.
• Use a home address only when the person has given it to you for this purpose.
• Ask each office for the last day it will be open, and plan delivery for the week before.
• For a branch office, send one consignment to a named person, with each gift labelled.
• Ask the courier for tracking and a signature, and check each parcel off your list.

Give people in other cities the same gift as those at head office, and time it to arrive in the same week as the function.

Choose year-end gifts for a mixed team by asking before you order and by avoiding gifts that assume one faith, one diet or one way of celebrating. This is my advice, and your own staff are the better source.

• Call it a year-end gift unless you know that the person celebrates Christmas.
• Ask about dietary requirements, such as halal, kosher and vegetarian, before you order food.
• Leave alcohol out of a gift that goes to everyone. Offer it only to people you know will welcome it.
• Where you can, offer a choice between two or three gifts of equal value.
• Check the date of your function against religious observances in the same weeks, and ask the people concerned.

A short form sent in October, with questions on diet and delivery address, gathers most of this at once.

We make leather backpacks, belts and shoes to order, and personalise them on orders of five pieces or more. Our leather belts cost between R3,500 and R5,000.

If your date is closer than two months, write to us and we will tell you what can be ready. Prices, volume pricing from 15 pieces and the order steps are on our page for corporate gifts in South Africa.

• Corporate Gift Ideas
• Corporate Gifts for Clients