Give the gift of branded swag

The entire office is flooded with branded gifts. From custom vests to branded coffee tumblers, no one can take a few steps without practically tripping over corporate branded gifts. 

How did all of this happen? Well, the story begins with our boss's initiative to boost engagement after returning to the office.

Our boss is always looking for new ways to boost engagement in our office. Especially because we spent nearly 2 years working from home because of COVID. Returning to the office has been a real shock to our system and our boss is doing everything she can to ease the transition.

We’ve tried it all from corporate field days to social outings. We even got table tennis and air hockey tables for the staff lounge room so that employees could engage in a little friendly competition during free time.

The reason our boss is so adamant about these team bonding activities and opportunities is because she knows how important team-building and bonding are for engagement. Plus it’s also great for productivity, better communication, and morale and it creates an overall more positive work environment. 

However, our boss felt that the team-bonding activities she’d implemented just weren’t cutting it. It wasn’t until her birthday that inspiration struck. 

We love our boss. Cliche, we know, but she really is the best. She’s always giving us unique corporate gifts for employees to show appreciation, and it’s only right that we return to favor. So when her birthday came, we all showered her with unique executive gifts. We gave her everything from gift baskets with branded items to personalized knick-knacks for her office. This is what gave her an idea…

Our boss loved the branded corporate gifts that we’d gotten her for her birthday so much that she decided to put together a little birthday program in the office to boost engagement and morale. She’d always given someone a card and a gift basket on their birthday, but we never celebrated as a team. She figured that this would be the perfect way to have team-bonding experiences all throughout the year.

The plan was that on each employee’s birthday (or the Friday before if it’s a weekend birthday) there would be an office party with games, activities, and of course unique corporate gifts for each and every attendee (our boss really loved the branded gifts we gave her and wanted to spread the wealth). And of course, the employee whose birthday is was would get their own customized corporate gifts as a present. 

Our boss wanted to go all out for the gifts and used the budget for employee gifting on a bulk order of expensive unique gifts. These branded gifts for employees would include: 

Branded Apparel

She stocked up on hats, vests, jackets, sweatshirts, shirts, and just about everything in between. 

Branded Drinkware

There are a lot of coffee lovers in the office, so this was a no-brainer.

Home and Leisure Products

She ordered a tasteful array of home products, such as plants, blankets, cutting boards, and more.

Branded Bags

From backpacks to briefcases, she picked out bags that everyone would love.

She knew that these corporate gifts for employees would be a big hit at the birthday parties and was so excited for us to receive them. 

So while our boss was putting together the schedule of birthdays, she noticed that the first birthday wasn’t for at least 2 months. She’d been so excited to give out these gifts, that she was disappointed she wouldn’t be able to throw a party with them anytime soon. Plus the bulk gifts that she’d ordered were starting to pile up in her office, so she decided she’d give out a few branded gifts for clients. Our company was always looking for unique client gift ideas and she decided that these branded gifts would make great gift ideas for clients.

And of all the inexpensive gift ideas for VIP clients we’d come up with, she figured that giving out the branded drinkware and branded bags would be the easiest since she already had them on hand. 

Of course, she knew that she’d have to order even more gifts so that she’d have enough for the birthday parties coming up this year…

So after giving away about a third of the branded gifts for business to clients, our boss had to order another batch of premium corporate gifts. She made sure to order branded gifts for men, such as a custom men’s vest for Gary on his birthday, and branded gifts for her, which included a purse for Kelly on her birthday. 

Coming up with luxury gifts for men who have everything can be difficult, but our boss was a pro at picking out the best luxury gifts. She found some amazing unusual luxury gifts for her, such as a custom lady’s North Face jacket.

So finally it’s a week before the first birthday celebration – Gary’s — and our boss is so excited to hand out the luxury corporate gifts. There was just one problem, a couple of days before Gary’s birthday, his wife had to urgently move back to her hometown, 10 hours away, and Gary went with her. 

So with no Gary, there was no birthday. Our boss checked the birthday schedule and the next birthday wasn’t for another 3 months. For some reason, 90% of our office was born in September, which wouldn't be for MONTHS. So basically, our boss had boxes and boxes of branded gifts ready to give out at these birthday parties and there were no upcoming birthdays.

There were so many branded gifts in the office that she had to store them in the strangest places. She’d put some custom blankets in the HR office (I caught Linda from HR taking a nap with one), and there were branded mugs in the accounting office, and custom jackets hanging in the staff room closet.

It was practically impossible to step foot anywhere in the office without finding a branded gift.

Well, our boss felt bad that she had all of these gifts and no upcoming birthdays. That’s when she had another bright idea. Employee Appreciation Day was coming up. Why not hand out all of these gifts on Employee Appreciation Day?

So for Employee Appreciation Day, our boss threw a huge party. I mean quite literally 30 birthday parties worth of parties in one. It was honestly such a fun time and we all got to bring home the gifts that she’d been saving for the birthday parties that wouldn’t have happened for another few months.

In fact, so many branded gifts were given out that day that some of us had to call our friends with pickup trucks just to help us transport our gifts out of the office. 

Our boss decided that she still wanted to throw birthday parties for everyone, even if she had to wait a few more months. She knew she couldn’t store all of the bulk-branded gifts in the office again, but she also knew she didn’t want to have to wait until the last minute to order these birthday gifts and corporate goodie bags.

That’s when she discovered swag locker. With a swag locker from SwagMagic, she could store all of the branded gifts that she’d created at the SwagMagic warehouse until she wanted them shipped out. They’d take care of all of the hard work for her, all she had to do was keep track of when everyone’s birthday was!

All in all, everything worked out. We got a few great parties, some fabulous gifts, and engagement is as high as it’s ever been!