What to Put in a Gift Box to Make Your Employees and Clients Smile

Employee gift boxes are fantastic corporate gifts for employees, clients, and any other business contacts you have that you feel deserve a little something extra. Branded gift boxes enable you to get creative and thoughtful with your items and promote a positive relationship between your brand and the recipient.

However, are you wondering where do you start knowing what to put in a gift box to make your recipient truly grateful? Which gifts can be quirky, fun, useful, and well-received?

Here we explore what to put in an employee gift box to make sure that your gift goes down a treat and makes your brand memorable.

What are the Rules for Creating a Gift Box?

While there are no strict rules about creating a gift box, there are some best practices and handy tips you should know about. In regard to creating the perfect gift box, it’s acceptable to have it contain at least one snack item (food or drink) along with custom branded swag items.

Further to this, what you choose to put in the gift box can also very much depend on the season or occasion. You can create the perfect gift boxes based on a theme for these occasions, such as a Christmas gift or other holiday gifts, or you can use a branding agency to help curate, design, and produce your custom products.

If you’re making corporate DIY gift baskets or exploring gift box ideas, then here are some suggestions to help your gift always be well received.

The Perfect Gift: What to Put in a Gift Box

  • Provide a Themed Gift Basket

Themed gifts are a great way to have something to work from for the perfect items. For employees and clients, themed gifts usually work best around the holidays — especially during the holidays — for the end of the year. A themed gift basket could include all manner of items, such as food, drink, stationery essentials, snack items, or wearable items. As long as there’s a theme to it — like choosing red colored items for a Valentine’s Day gift — it can make the gift box a memorable experience.t

  • Give as a Birthday Gift

Do you know of a birthday celebration coming up? You can tailor this gift box or employeed gift basket for the occasion; you might want to make a special gift box for an employee’s milestone birthday, or maybe you’d even like to give a luxury birthday gift box to an important client whose company is celebrating a birthday.

Birthday gift boxes are an ideal opportunity to present a more sentimental and personalized thought gift, too. Think about what the recipient would appreciate on a more personal level, based on taste, style and need.

  • Make a Sweet Treat Gift Basket

A corporate gift basket filled with edible goodies is certain to be appreciated because who doesn’t want to indulge a little in food and drink?

The great thing about food or drink gift baskets, too, is that items can easily be shared between friends and family members (and especially during the holidays), so your gift has the potential to go further.

You can also tailor food and drink holiday gift baskets for the season, like ice cream for summer and hot cocoa for winter.

  • The Coffee Lover’s Gift Basket Idea

Having a recipient who is a coffee lover means the perfect opportunity for a coffee-based gift basket filled with a large variety of coffee flavors for them to indulge in. It’s also a great idea to throw in a branded mug for them to use with their new coffee, too! Ideal for the individual, or even for companies, the coffee can be shared out during meetings or within the office.

You can also throw in some hot chocolate for good measure.

  • Swag Gift Boxes

One of the top ideas with the most potential has to be company swag, and this is especially effective for clients. Including custom promotional products can make a great gift, packed with branded goodies, from tumblers to water bottles, keychains, blankets, and more.

  • Wearable Items

Items that can be worn and proudly shown off are effective gifts, as well as being perfect for gaining exposure for your brand label. You can find custom made hats to suit the season, items like lanyards, accessories, or even nail polish in one color of the brand color palette can be a great idea!

Take Away: What to Put in Your Gift Box


When you’re looking to put together a gift, the right items can depend on the holiday or occasion, but ultimately, food, drink, and custom branded swag are always going to be effective items for your gift box. Using craft stores can also mean you can upgrade the wrapping and presentation of your gift boxes too.


If you’re looking for branded swag to include in any gift boxes, our team is happy to help.