fancy olive oil, matching dog hoodies, and other corporate gifts that actually worked

Last month, after talking about bad corporate gifts, we also talked about corporate gifts you actually liked, and here are some of my favorites. Of course, even wildly popular gifts won’t be universally popular and this is not an attempt to claim they are. These are just gifts that happened to be enjoyed in these people’s offices that I found interesting to read about!

1. Choose your own desk plants

Shortly after I started at one job, we got sent a link to an online garden shop and instructions for us each to pick 15 euros worth of potted plants we’d like to have at our desk. (This one is arguably more of an office perk, but I was allowed to take mine home with me when I quit.) For a few days, the office conversation was mainly about pros and cons of different decorative plant species, and I really loved how green the office was after they arrived.

2. Blanket hoodies

I was the gift selector for a previous job and the biggest hit I ever managed was blanket hoodies. People went WILD for them and I got a lot of reports of family members “borrowing” theirs. People love being cozy!

3. Desk toolkit

So random but I literally use all the time this little desk toolkit. It has an awl, a fine blade saw that’s like two inches long, both kinds of screw driver a little but heavyweight hammer, pliers, and a measuring tape.

Office repainted and I need to rehang pictures? Hammer. Need to pop a keyboad key off so i can clean underneath it? Awl. Want to trim the end of a cable tie so it’s not sticking out? Mini saw. Online shopping during lunch and want to get see visually how big a 17 x 11 tote bag is? Measuring tape.

I never would have thought to ask for something like this but it’s been so handy.

4. Local treats

When I signed my offer letter for my current job, they sent me a welcome basket full of local treats. It was a very nice surprise and while I couldn’t eat all the treats (allergies), it made me feel very valued.

5. Funko Pop dolls

Everyone on my team was gifted a Funko Pop doll of ourselves with customized accessories. It was a truly fun moment when we all opened our boxes.

6. Money for a meal

My company is 100% remote. Every holiday season, our gift is a nice chunk of money for a holiday meal. We can spend it at the grocery store or a nice meal out. My husband and I have used it to enjoy a different “fancy” restaurant in town every year that we normally wouldn’t go to. I love it.

7. Yarn voucher

My boss gives me $100 yarn vouchers for birthday and Christmas. A month before, I get an email “asking for store recommendations.”

8. Olive oil

The last company I worked for was a Greek company and the owner also owned an olive grove in Greece. Every year all the employees would get a bottle of extra virgin olive oil! They would also give them out to big customers and it was always a hit. Before I left, I snuck an extra bottle for myself.

9. A custom mobile

I worked at a public library when I had my son. The staff had a lot of crafters, so they made me a custom mobile with felted stars and moons. Each staff member chose their favorite children’s book and a quote. They printed them up as little mini books and added them to the mobile. I got a little teary eyed over that one — it was so thoughtful and sweet.

10. Matching dog hoodie

Everyone who knows me knows I’m obsessed with my dog. When I finished grad school, my office gave me a fancy hoodie with the name of my alma mater….with a matching one for my dog! My boss said, “Wow, that’s the happiest I’ve ever seen you–and I was at your wedding!”

11. Books

I work in nonprofit publishing. Company gifting is rare. At the beginning of the pandemic, when the office had shut down and we were all working remotely, our director decided to repurpose some of the money that wouldn’t be spent on travel. She told us that we could each spend up to $100 on books at the independent bookstore of our choice. (Ordering online, obviously, as most bookstores were not open to the public.) All we had to do was send in the receipt and we’d get reimbursed. We loved it; it was a wonderfully supportive gesture for us and meaningful to the independent bookstores we cared about. I ordered five books from a bookstore in the town where my grandparents lived when I was a kid.

12. Personalized puzzle

I worked at a small global tech company, and we usually had good gifts. My favorite was one year we got a puzzle that our amazing graphic designer had illustrated – it was a map of the world with each of us positioned on it reflecting something about us or our hobbies. I matted and framed it once it was finished.

13. An extra week of vacation

They switched from super useless tokens for every five-year milestone to an extra week of vacation every five years. Best move ever.

14. Vanilla extract

One of our higher-ups is a bourbon enthusiast and for the holidays gave each of us a glass bottle of homemade vanilla extract, using vanilla beans and his favorite bourbon. What’s great is that as you use it up, you can top off the bottle with extra bourbon, because the vanilla beans are still working their magic in the bottle.

15. A party replacement

I’m not entirely sure how they swung this, but during the shelter in place order for Covid, my husband’s company put their holiday party money toward a gift mall. Employees could choose from a variety of gifts — Apple watches, Nintendo Switch, and Le Creuset pans were the ones I remember. I was honestly kind of bummed when they went back to in-person parties.

16. Personalized snack box

As a reward for a huge project, we all got a set amount to spend on a site to make our own specialized snack box, which was then mailed to our homes. I really liked it because they had many options so there were no issues with food allergies, restrictions, or even just preferences.

17. Free trips

I work for a travel company and have gotten free trips to Europe, Brazil, and New Zealand.

18. The very personalized gifts

Picking agency gifts was handed over to department heads during the pandemic. We’re a community-services-based agency, and we couldn’t work remotely, so things were challenging. Other department heads got their staff members company-branded with windbreakers, polos, or other identical items.

Our department head — who took the time to get to know us individually through brief chats, sitting with us in the lunchroom and similar interactions — got all 20 of us personal, individual gifts he found from small, local businesses. My coworker loves pens, so he bought him a very fancy fountain pen. Another is an avid reader, and he bought her a gift certificate to our local bookstore for “as many as she can carry out the door.” I love pottery and art. I was gifted pottery classes for whenever it was safe to gather again, and a gorgeous handmade coil vase that I still have today. He sent everything with handwritten personal cards, expressing how valuable we were to the community and the agency, and thanking us for the sacrifices we were making during the pandemic.

Great boss, great guy. I still have the vase. I made him a very lopsided fruit bowl at one of my pottery classes. We laughed at it, and he proudly displays it on his desk. 10/10. No notes.

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