It’s that time of year again. No, not that time when Santa has got his hat on and the Christmas trees are appearing in the windows. It’s that time of year when you have to start organising your Christmas gifts, one for the wife, hundreds for the kids, Grandma, Grandpa, employees, clients, handy man. The list only grows longer and longer with time scales becoming tighter and tighter.

For most of you the Christmas shopping for family and friends will become a pressing issue in late November to mid-December however, your corporate Christmas gifts can be ordered, paid for and out of the way now, so take it off your plate in time for those busy Christmas months coming up.

Here comes the question, what do you buy those who are important to your business? Well first of all that is determined by two factors, how much you have to spend and how much that individual means to your business. One piece of advice in this area, do not treat people on the same level differently, especially when it comes to staff. Equality is imperative and no one wants a sour taste in their mouth at Christmas time.

Employees expect three things at Christmas time. A staff Christmas party, time off and either a bonus or a gift. Clients expect nothing, but showing your appreciation with a bottle of wine is always going to leave you in favour for the new year. So what corporate Christmas gifts are appropriate for both audiences?

Clients are not usually one individual in the corporate world, a client could be an office with more than one person. This is where the crafting of Christmas hampers is an ingenious one. They allow for you to give a gift of whatever value you have budgeted to a group of people without missing anyone out and without having the impossible task of selecting individual gifts. You can either create these hampers yourself to make them personal and unique, companies such as Cadbury Gifts Direct allow you to personalise your gift hamper with a message and by allowing you to choose the contents yourself. You could create the hamper yourself and ship them out, or you could use a website like Green & Black’s Direct to select a prepared hamper and have it delivered directly to the recipient, at a later date closer to Christmas.

Employee gifts are usually a little trickier. You want to get it right because this sets the precedent for all future gifting. Give too much and you could shoot yourself in the foot with big expectations for next year, or give too little and outright offend them. You could abandon ship and go for a cash bonus however, we do know that bonus money doesn’t usually go on gifts and treats, you want your staff to feel valued and looked after.

An easy middle ground in this area is (and you know what is coming) gift vouchers, almost a cash bonus but you can be reassured they will be spent on a treat and not utility bills. Even taking the time to choose different retailer vouchers will have that personal touch, and if you’re really struggling then go for a Multi option voucher to take all the stress away!