As the year draws to a close, London diaries fill up with client evenings. It might be a private room above a Soho bar, a long table in a City restaurant or drinks in a hotel lounge after work. The host has fussed over the guest list, the wine and the music, and then the evening winds down and everyone reaches for a coat. That moment at the door is the last chance to leave an impression. The neatest way to use it is a single useful gift for each guest, carrying the firm’s name and handed over personally as they leave. Choose well and it sits on a desk all next year.
Choosing one gift for the desk
The desk is worth aiming for, because that is where most guests spend the working week. On its UK page for corporate gifts, HelloPrint sets a 330 ml full colour ceramic mug and a Spectrum A5 notebook next to Ebony matte pens and two 500 ml bottles. Every one of them can carry a logo, printed or engraved. For a host planning an end of year client evening, that turns a sprawling decision into a short one. When you browse the corporate gifts from HelloPrint, it pays to picture the people on your guest list rather than the catalogue. The client who still takes notes by hand will use a notebook, while the one who cycles in from Hackney will probably keep a 500 ml bottle within reach.
Where London hosts order them
So who in the UK can brand Christmas gifts for clients and staff without a long hunt for a supplier? An online print service is the easiest route. On HelloPrint’s UK storefront a host can order mugs, pens, notebooks or drinking bottles that turn up with the firm’s logo already on them. Its consultants advise on the best way to personalise each piece and the team suggests where the logo should sit, so the only thing a host has to send over is the artwork. That keeps the planning where it belongs, on the room and who is in it. Whatever you pick, stay with the things people reach for at work every day. A pen, a notebook and a mug are still in use long after the party.
How to hand the gift over
The way a gift changes hands matters as much as the gift itself. Keep everything by the door or the cloakroom, so nobody has to juggle a parcel and a glass. Our guide to throwing an elegant cocktail party puts the secret down to a host who greets every guest personally on arrival, and the goodbye deserves the same care. Hand each person their gift yourself and tuck in a short handwritten note thanking them for coming. That way it belongs to the night instead of feeling like an afterthought.
One good gift, chosen for the right desk, is the whole idea. Any London firm entertaining clients in the weeks before the end of the year will find mugs, notebooks, pens and bottles among HelloPrint’s corporate gifts, all of them made to carry the company logo. Pick one, give it at the door, and the evening keeps working well into January.
