Top Employee Appreciation Gifts of 2021

After tough few years, let's face it - your employees have been through a lot. A lot of changes, a lot of stress, a lot of isolation and more.  So what better way to lift spirits and show them that they are appreciated for all they do than with a thoughtful gift curated just for them! You may recall our past post on how to create an employee appreciation campaign linked here.

Below is a quick list of some of our favorite employee appreciation gifts from 2021. Although the specific occasion for gifting may vary slightly with each example below - the fact that these gifts were designed to surprise and delight employees remains consistent throughout. And if you're not into a custom design or branded products? No problem! We also have you covered with gifts from our pre-designed collection curated with employee appreciation in mind. 

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Employee Mother's Day Gifts for Scorpion 

When our repeat client Scorpion wanted to create these sweet gifts to celebrate all the mothers working in the company, we were so excited! We wanted these gifts to be beautiful and feminine, without being overly personal or 'pink.' Soft blue accents throughout the gift subtly reinforced branding colors, and resulted in a gift that was both useful and thematic, but still highly appropriate for a corporate setting. Contents include luxe soy candles, branded wine coolers, champagne gummy candies, and a lightly scented hand lotion. Talk about special!  

 IPO Celebration Gifts for DoubleVerify

With a looming IPO, DoubleVerify asked us to create these NYSE-themed gifts so everyone on the team could celebrate the special occasion! Filled with branded t-shirts, an engraved glass desktop plaque, champagne candy, and a custom logo cookie, these gifts were nothing short of celebratory! The best part? The mini hand bell with a custom hang tag instructing employees to ring in tandem with the stock exchange bell!

Black and Gold Honey-Inspired Gifts for Honeycomb.io

Now this is a fun one! Our client Honeycomb.io had specific branding colors and aesthetics, which we were excited to transform into the most luxury holiday gift for their clients! We knew we wanted to play up the "honeycomb" theme in these gifts, but needed to do so in a way that would make the gifts appear high-end and luxurious. Thus, we began with custom made pine gift boxes, filled with richly-scented candles, white chocolate cocoa mix, self-heating ember mugs, peppermint cocoa caramel corn, and honeycomb toffee (of course!) Each gift was finished with a pair of gleaming gold pinecones and a handwoven honeycomb tassel throw secured to the top of each gift with honey gold satin ribbon and custom branded gold foil gift tags.  

Beach-Themed Incentive Trip Gifts for Hyland Software

For their top performers, Hyland Software sent their employees on a fabulous beach getaway! Filled with everything required to send off the recipients in style, these gifts were the perfect way to say "mark your calendars!" Contents included a pair of branded face masks, hand sanitizer (essential for any trip these days), piña colada candies, a custom beach-themed cookie, sunscreen, a handwoven Turkish towel, and 2 pairs of bluetooth earbuds. These gifts were filled with items both useful and indulgent to spoil top employees!

Nightly Room Drop Incentive Trip Gifts for Samsara 

When Samsara asked us to create three distinct gifting concepts, one for each night of their annual corporate incentive trip to Hawaii, we immediately envisioned useful, yet luxurious gifting concepts filled with items recipients might have forgotten to pack or wouldn't purchase for themselves. Each design featured a curation of both branded and unbranded items that recipients could use on the trip or bring home as keepsakes, and each gift was beautifully packaged in an equally special custom vessel.

With a "Fun in the Sun" concept to kick things off on night one, each gift was packaged in a custom embroidered tote bag and contained beach essentials such as guava-mango sunscreen, hydrating facial mist, a handwoven beach towel, and an underwater camera perfect for the pre-planned snorkeling excursion later that day! These gifts certainly set the tone for a high-end and indulgent trip.

On night 2 of Samsara's incentive trip, each guest had a choice between 'stay' or 'play.' As such, we created a dual-concept gift that included all necessary items for either a day on the golf course or a day of indulgent spa treatments! It was important that these gifts be appropriate for either activity as guests could make their selections at the last moment. To accommodate, each gift included items such as a Callaway golf hat, a custom etched water bottle for hydration. a silicone travel towel (perfect to attach to any golf or beach bag), a handwoven chair cover/wrap, an SPF50 sunscreen stick, facial recovery lotion for some after-sun skincare, and a package of coconut exfoliating cubes to revitalize tired sun-soaked skin. Each gift was packaged in a luxe magnetic-closure gift box, and featured custom notecards and gift tags for some subtle brand recognition. 

The final gift concept for Samsara's tropical incentive trip getaway was the "Rest and Recharge" concept, meant to send guests off on a safe journey home. Each gift was packaged in a custom branded Dagne Dover backpack (perfect for travel!), and included a branded dual-device charging pack, a custom-etched travel mug, Hawaiian coffee beans as a keepsake, pineapple rum cashew trail mix for an in-flight snack, and of course, hand sanitizer, which is critical for any flight these days!

Modern Cocktail Gifts for Willamette Dental Group

As a 'cheers' to their dedicated employees, Willamette Dental Group sent these luxe cocktail-inspired gifts to each of their employees this past year! A pair of decorative-cut rocks glasses, cocktail cubes, the most delicious gingerbread chocolate bar, caramel corn, and a custom soy candle filled each gift inside high-end magnetic-closure gift boxes. But we can't forget the handwoven metallic gold throw blankets that adorned the top of each gift with branded gift tags and white satin ribbon!  

While we have certainly enjoyed working with each of these clients to create beautiful and unique gifts to spoil their employees, we hope you will find this list of our 2021 favorites inspirational! We would love the opportunity to work together to treat your top employees, because who deserves it more?! If you are interested, please reach out here. We'd love to learn more about your gifting goals!

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All images: Lissa Ryan Photography