Best gift cards for clients that do not feel generic

Think of the clients you deal with most. One is saving for a trip, one is doing up a kitchen, and one would happily spend the lot on dinner out and a new pair of runners. You'd never get all three right with one object.

That's where the All-in-1 Choice Gift Card earns its place. You set the amount, anywhere from €10 to €500, and they decide where it goes: clothes, a meal, a few bits for the house. It's the sensible answer when you know the company well and the person a lot less.

When the occasion is simply a thank you, the Thank you Choice Gift Card says it on the front, so your note can stay short. It suits most occasions through the year: a contract renewed, a referral that came good, a busy project wrapped up on time.

Both keep the focus where it belongs. You're not asking them to share your taste. You're handing them the choice.

Anyone who deals with a few suppliers has a shelf of branded mugs, notebooks and USB sticks they never asked for. Adding one more isn't much of a thank you, however nice the logo.

An experience is a different kind of gift. The Global Experiences Card turns your thank you into something they go and do rather than something they keep. They pick the experience and the day, so it gets used on a day off with the people they like, not at a desk, and that's where it'll be remembered.

For the handful of accounts that deserve a bigger gesture, the BucketlistGift Gift Card points at the thing they've been meaning to try for years and never got round to booking. It's the kind of gift that gets mentioned at the next meeting, before the agenda.

The rule for any client gift is simple: keep it about them. The gift doesn't need to mention you at all. They'll know who sent it, because you wrote the message.

December is when most client gifts go out, and it's also when the list tends to land on someone's desk with a week to spare. The office party is booked, half the team is on leave from the 20th, and suddenly nobody's sure who has the contact details.

The Merry Christmas Gift Card is made for the December send. It reads as a Christmas present rather than a payment, and it sits well next to a card or a short note from the team.

Client gifts at Christmas are best sorted in November, not the week before the break. Agree the names and the amounts early, and check the email addresses while people are still answering them. If you're buying for more than a handful, our page on corporate Christmas gifts covers the ordering side. Gifts land best when they arrive while people are still at their desks, not after they've switched off for the year.

Not every client gift has to be a big one, and a smaller amount isn't a smaller thank you. What counts is that it feels thought through.

A coffee card suits the contact who runs from meeting to meeting on flat whites. A card for a good lunch works nicely for a client you've only ever met on a video call. And a bookshop card is hard to get wrong: the National Book Tokens Gift Card starts at €5, and they pick the book themselves, whether that's the new thriller or a cookbook for Sunday.

If you need something inexpensive enough to send across a longer list, these are a good place to start. One tip for gifts at a modest value: keep the amount the same for clients in the same group. People talk, and the only awkward thing about a small gift is finding out someone else got a bigger one.

Fifty names is a different job from one. Start with the list, split it into groups, then decide the amount per group and whether each client gets a digital or a physical card.

Digital cards arrive by email within minutes, which suits clients spread around the country. At checkout you can choose to receive the cards yourself or have them sent straight to each client.

For quotes, payment options and what can be done with the card itself, have a look at our business gift cards. That's also the place to ask about anything beyond a standard order. On tax, one general point: the rules for client gifts differ per company and situation, and they change, so check what applies to yours before you settle on an amount.