CLIENT GIFTING RECOMMENDATIONS AND TRENDS
The Who, What, When, Why and How
THE WHO
The gifting season is upon us, and I love every minute of it! Whether for clients, friends, family or as part of my incentive events – I LOVE GIFTING no matter what time of year. Finding the time to purchase the perfect gift can be tricky but thanks to the interwebs, the possibilities are literally endless. Gifting the perfectly curated momento for someone brings me joy. And when I receive a gift that I love dearly, I’m tickled. Like the Herbs de Provence salt my friend Lisa brought back for me from France. I used it like mad and wondered how did I have a kitchen without it? Now I’m craving fancy salts and really have become a salt connoisseur. But that’s a whole other story. Targeted gifting is a timeless tradition whether for clients, friends or as part of your job.
THE WHAT
The perfect gift in my mind is something useable. It should speak to the person and/or location of origin. When I’m gifting to a friend, I try to go local. Depending on the occasion and price point I focus my shopping at independent stores. In San Francisco and many cities throughout the US, small, privately owned gift shops tend to be highly curated and have all sorts of hidden gems. Even when I’m not shopping, I take photos and write down the name of eye-catching pieces so that I can refer back to them later. One store I’ve spent some time recently, is Rare Device in San Francisco. It has such a perfectly curated mix of items for sale. Jewelry from local designers at a wide range of price points plus home decor items, bath and body, kids, stationery and socks. Another great place for local items is Local Take in the inner sunset, whose California-branded locally-designed products are my favorite. In particular, I love the shirts with local icons like the N-Judah train and San Francisco Giants logo, made out of vintage train tickets.
THE WHEN
I always recommend gifting quality items, things that will last and be used many times. Gifting at anytime is great, going over to a friend’s for dinner and of course bringing back nifty items when we travel. Studio Patro is one of my favorite places for linens which are paired perfectly with something homemade like my famous brownies or beautiful farmers market strawberries. One of my all time favorite gifts received was a ceramic fruit basket like the plastic mesh square kind your strawberries come in. Every time I use it, it immediately makes me think of the friend who gave it to me. Another favorite store is an LA-based company that make gifts that pair well with wine gifts is Graf Lanz. They make these perfect little charm wine markers called wine-O’s, stylish totes and have other modern home decor items. I’m eyeing their mini leather vases (100% vegetable based).
THE WHY
THE HOW
Incentive gifting is so fun. At any budget, special gifts can be discovered. I enjoy walking the streets in the towns where we are producing events and finding gems produced locally. Other great places are high-end hotel gift shops, they curate the perfect mix! The hotel we stayed at in Sicily (Masseria della Volpe) this year had tiniest gift corner ever and it was SpotOn! Beautiful waxed paper beach bags, woven linen beach blankets and gorgeously branded olive oil from the property we stayed on.
I like to offer one edible, one wearable and one object d’art. Scarfs, wraps, jewelry and bags all great for ladies and for men a wearable, a hat, cufflinks or custom socks for the gala. Edibles we have gifted are fancy alfajores from Argentina, a box of Pastel de nata from the most famous bakery in Lisbon and handmade small batch chocolate in Costa Rica. My favorite wearables recently that we gifted are a wool poncho from Arandu and custom leather jacket at Uru both from Argentina.
SpotOn specializes in curating the perfect collection of gifts for your incentive that your attendees will taste, use and admire and spark joy when they do! I enjoy planning all aspects of my clients’ incentives, and the gifting segment is always a personal highlight.
Happy gifting and receiving this holiday season!
Happy Holidays ~ The SpotOn Team
