Employee and Team Gifts That Get Remembered

A gift to an employee is not really a gift to an employee. It is a gift to their household, and the ones that work are the ones that get taken home and shared.

“Employee thank yous, employee anniversaries, you know, using it as a bonus as a sales reward or as a celebration that we won a big contract. We, you know, hit a target for a quarter, you know, sales competitions, you're in the top 10% on the sales team. You know, sometimes you win that, you know, trip to the Bahamas just as easily win that, you know, year long steak box subscription.”

Gray Shipley

That list covers nearly every occasion a company actually has: the thank-you, the anniversary, the milestone, the bonus, the quarter that went well, the contract that came in. The occasion changes; the right gift mostly does not.

Why food beats branded objects

A branded object says the company was thinking about itself. A dinner at their own table says somebody was thinking about them. One of those gets mentioned at home and the other goes in a drawer with the others.

Send it in January

“And yeah, the other trend that we're starting to see a little bit of, which I think is pretty clever is people that send their Christmas gifts in January. Where the popcorn tubs and, you know, boxes of chocolates and stuff just start to pile up in the break room, right? And it just looks like, Hey, we got a bunch of vendors that are wanting to keep our business.”

Gray Shipley

“But when you get back in the office after new year's and that next week on Wednesday or Thursday, the steak box just shows up and there's not any other gifts sitting around the office. It stands out a little bit more and people recognize and remember it a little bit more. And you start the year with, you know, coming back to a special gift that kind of is meaningful and appreciated.”

Gray Shipley

This is the single most useful idea on this page. December is crowded. The second week of January is empty, everyone is back at a desk, and a box that arrives then is the only one in the room. It is also a far easier week for a farm to fill well.

The objection you will hit, and the answer

“And then a lot of industries, you know, get squeamish about, well, you know, I may have vegetarians or I may have, you know, people with religious concerns, you know, where I don't want to send them a meat or a particular cut of meat or something. And then allergens, so there's sensitivity in a lot of industries.”

Gray Shipley

Vegetarians, religious restrictions and allergies are real and they come up on any list longer than about twenty. The clean answer is gift cards for anyone you are unsure about: nobody has to disclose anything and nobody receives something they cannot use.

Check your own compliance rules too. Some employers cap the value of a gift and some industries have their own limits. Ask once, before you build the list.

Recognition that repeats

“You know, you could give them a year long subscription where they're getting something from you every month. And, you know, they're, you're continuing to feed them throughout the year, just as they help feed you.”

Gray Shipley

For a milestone that deserves more than a parcel, something recurring says the thing being recognized was not a single moment. It also spreads the cost across the year, which is often easier to approve than one large December line.

The one to send when it should feel like an occasion

The Steakhouse Box

Steaks, chosen so the person opening it knows immediately that someone spent thought rather than money.

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When the gift needs to carry some weight

Shipley Farms Gift Card $250

Enough for a real box and the shipping, with room for them to add what they actually want.

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A gift that keeps turning up

Curated Family Pack

A recurring pack of everyday cuts. The gift is remembered every time it arrives, not just once.

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To put a list together, here is how corporate gifting runs, and for a long list, sending 25, 50 or 100 without a hundred orders.