How to Order Corporate Gifts in Canada: The Step-by-Step Playbook

Someone said “can you sort the gifts this year?” and now it's yours. The good news: corporate gifting is eight small decisions, and most of them take minutes. The bad news is that people make them in the wrong order, start in December, and spend a week chasing addresses. Here is the order that works, with the numbers I would use.

1. Make the list, and split it in two

Start with names, not products. Put everyone on one list, then mark each person as staff or client, because the two are different jobs. A staff gift says “we noticed you”; a client gift says “we value working with you” and has to be careful not to look like it wants something back.

Before a client goes on the list, check their gift policy. Banks, public bodies and some large companies cap what their people can accept, and a quick “are gifts okay?” saves an awkward return.

2. Set a budget per person, not a total

Decide what one person gets, then multiply. Deciding the total first is how the last ten names end up with a smaller gift than the first ten. Here is how my three sizes line up with the people on a typical list, and what an order comes to.

3. Get the addresses before you order

This is the step that eats the week, so do it first. Decide whether the gifts go to one office (cheaper at ten or more, and simple if everyone is in) or to each person's own address (better for remote and hybrid teams, and for clients). Then collect the list in one place. A shared sheet with three columns is all it takes:

The people and addresses are made up. Those three columns paste straight into my order form: copy the rows from your spreadsheet and the names, notes and addresses fill themselves in. Ask for a phone number with each address; a courier with a number rarely brings a box back.

4. Choose what goes in

The best corporate gift is something people actually use, chosen for the person rather than stamped out by the hundred. Here is an example of what goes in each of my sizes. The exact pieces change with the season and the person, and anyone on your list can have something left out or swapped, coffee for tea, say.

Two boxes I packed. Every size comes in the same sturdy, rigid box with a magnetic lid, the kind people keep. There are more on the page of baskets I have packed.

5. Write the cards (this is the part people keep)

A gift is opened once. A card with something true on it gets kept in a drawer. The formula is short: their name, one specific thing they did, and a line that looks forward. Here are ten you can borrow. The names are made up; swap in your own.

One message for everyone is fine too, and far better than nothing. If you'd like more, there is a free card message writer with lines for every occasion. When you order with me, the wording goes in the order form and I write every card out by hand.

6. Put your logo on the card, not the gift

A logo printed on the gift turns it into promotional merchandise, and people can tell straight away. On the card, next to a note written to them, it simply says who it is from. I print your logo inside every card for free: add it as a PNG or a PDF when you order. Nothing is printed on the box.

7. Work back from the date

Give a team order two weeks: about a week to pack, then 1 to 7 days in transit, anywhere in Canada. Nobody can honestly promise an exact arrival date across the whole country, so leave room rather than paying for speed.

For December, there are two dates to put in your calendar: Monday, November 16 if you are sending me a list to quote, and Monday, November 30 if you are ordering 5 to 25 boxes online. After that I still say yes when I can, and I tell you plainly when it is tight.

8. Pay, and keep the paperwork

With me, 5 to 25 boxes are paid by card in the order form, and you get a receipt with the order on it. More than 25, or a company that needs to pay by invoice or with a PO number: send me the list and I quote it, then invoice. Nothing inside any box shows a price.

For staff gifts, the CRA generally does not treat non-cash gifts to an employee at arm's length as a taxable benefit while their total value stays at $500 or less per person in a calendar year, taxes included. One box of any size sits under that line. That is a summary of public policy, not tax advice: check with your accountant before you build a program around it.

The mistakes that sink corporate gifts

• Starting in December. The single most common one, and the hardest to fix.
• Chasing addresses after ordering. Collect them first, with a phone number each.
• Shipping to an empty office. Ask who is in. A box at a locked door over the holidays is a sad box.
• The same card for twenty-five people. One specific line each takes an evening and is what gets remembered.
• The logo on the gift. Put it on the card.
• Forgetting the coffee people from the tea people. One line about each person fixes it.
• Not checking a client's gift policy. A gift they have to send back helps nobody.

The checklist

Common questions