Top Corporate Holiday Gift Designs that Aren't Red and Green

Best practice when sending corporate holiday gifts and branded client gifts is to have the gifts mirror your branding colors. But what happens when your branding colors aren't red and green and you still want your holiday gifts to look in-line with the season? Oh my goodness, do NOT worry! Your gifts can still look festive for the holidays and remain true to your brand no matter what your brand aesthetic is. Some color combinations are more challenging than others to get them to look "holiday" we admit, but it can absolutely be accomplished and hit the mark every time. We're about to show you some examples of how we know this to be true!

BLUE + GOLD WOOD BOXES FOR L.A. GALAXY

The professional soccer team LA Galaxy has hired us multiple times to create custom holiday gift boxes to send out to their business partners and clients at the end of the year. This project I'm about to show you was our third time working with LA Galaxy and talk about a design challenge! Here's why. We had to bring their brand to life in a completely new and different way and stay away from any concepts of themes we've previously done while also remaining true to their brand. 

We began with natural pine boxes and filled them with items you'd likely use while enjoying wine. With LA Galaxy being in California, we wanted elements of this locale in the gifts as well. For contents, we included wine snaps from Napa Cookie Co, branded wine tumblers, handmade bottle stoppers with the shape of California carved into the top, a luxury soy candle in a gender neutral scent, gourmet small batch chocolate bars, and branded coasters to accompany the tumblers. We created branded gift tags and notecards, also featuring the LA Galaxy logo, along with a heartfelt holiday message from the company. We used wood fill as a luxurious touch along with pine and pine cones to further reinforce the holiday feel.

BLACK + WHITE GIFT BOXES FOR ANAHEIM DUCKS

It's not everyday that we get to gift professional hockey players and their significant others which is why we were elated to be asked by the Anaheim Ducks to come up with impactful curated gift boxes for them to gift at their annual holiday party. This particular year's theme was "winter wonderland" so we kept everything white with accents of black and grey to achieve a modern, unisex gift design that would coordinate perfectly with the party. We included engraved cedar coaster sets with the Ducks logo, his & hers luxe mittens and gloves, an artisan candle in the shape of a paint can, two bottles of bubbly and last but not least, a set of hockey skate cookies by Sugar Studio. We finished off the deluxe white gift boxes with crisp white ribbon and gift tags with shiny gold foil (Just Write Studios) and the Ducks logo repeated again.

NAVY + GOLD HAT BOXES FOR NY INTERCONNECT

NY Interconnect came to us asking for custom holiday gift sets that would exude the vibe of quintessential New York City at the holidays! Their branding is navy, green, and white so we began with custom linen covered hat boxes in navy along with matching blue basket fill. We filled the boxes with NYC taxi cab ornaments (and sub-packaged them in their own mini gift boxes with their own ribbon!), FAO Schwarz movie trivia cards, locally-sourced snacks and hot cocoa, and  then rounded out the curation with custom sugar cookies depicting a snow globe featuring Rockefeller Center in December along with a pair of ice skates!  We intentionally sought out packaging and contents that would have pops of silver, gold, and metallic silver to give the gifts an extra wintery vibe. We finished the gift boxes off with tartan plaid ribbon in navy and green along with logo gift tags with navy card stock for a luxe look. And of course, fresh pine inside for an extra pop of green! These gifts were a huge hit and we love how they brought this NYC concept to life while still remaining true to NY Interconnect's branding aesthetic!

RED + BLACK HAT BOXES FOR PINTEREST

Pinterest came to us with the goal of gifting one of their largest advertising clients for the holiday season. We wanted something modern and festive while allowing the bright red logo they're known for serve as front and center. We chose sleek black hat boxes and focused on quality over quantity. Luxury candles, small batch artisan caramels, and custom made cookies mirroring an iPhone showing the Pinterest app...we had a blast with these! We also created branded holiday notes and matching logo gifts tags along with fresh pine to round out the design.

BRIGHT + LIVELY JEWEL TONES FOR iHIRE

We always preach that corporate gifting doesn't have to be boring but we're going to go a step further and say that holiday gifting doesn't have to be red and green either! Our client iHire gave us full creative freedom to bring their brand to life for their holiday gifts this year. We of course wanted something that stayed true to their blue and white color palette but that wasn't enough. We also wanted to express the fun, young, and upbeat vibe of their brand too. 

We knew we wanted to brand a few items inside the gifts as well as having the logo custom printed on the outside of the boxes. We selected bright blue Corkcicle tumblers along with matching logo coasters. Beyond that, it was a selection of fun sweet treats all the way! We included toffee and caramel candies from Dylan's Candy Bar, shortbread cookies, as well as brightly colored rainbow sours from Sugarfina. We finished the gifts off with several mini ornaments to match the custom branded holiday notecards featuring the same. We also added some fragrant pine for a festive last touch!

BLACK + LIME GIFT BOXES FOR OMS NASHVILLE

These oversized gift boxes were designed for a large Nashville-based oral surgery practice to gift to their referring dentists. We wanted to include some nods to Nashville and did so with locally-sourced chocolate as well as small batch coffee. To accompany the coffee, with even included one of our favorite tech gadgets of this entire season...the temperature controlled Ember mug! 

For packaging, we selected black boxes to allow the lime green of their brand to really pop but not TOO much. We wanted to keep these warm, sophisticated, and gender neutral. We finished them off with logo gift tags, custom branded holiday notecards, and fresh pine and pine cones. 

RED + AQUA GIFT BOXES FOR PARRISH ORTHO

This project is proof that bright aqua really can become a holiday color! Parrish Orthodontics has multiple locations in their large practice and receive referrals from countless dentists in the area. When the holidays roll around, they want thank the referring dentists for all for the patients they're sending their way. This particular year, Parrish wanted something unique and fun that would get people's attention and stand out amongst all the other gifts coming through the door in December. We used the aqua in their branding and paired it with bright red for a fun, festive spin on the traditional holiday red and green. We included a trio of gourmet cookies, holiday themed chocolates by Chouquette, Virginia peanuts and an artisan candle by Brooklyn Candle Co in a spruce scent. But the most unique part of all...custom cookies in the shape of a tooth with braces. Just love what Sugar Studio came up with for these! Custom logo gifts tags by Just Write Studios and red ribbon finished off the look.

BLUE + WHITE GIFT BOXES FOR OCEANIA CRUISE LINES

Fairly often at the holidays, clients come to us and request a tiered approach to their gifting. For example, they wish to create a higher price point gift for larger offices to be able to share and then a "tier two gift" that will go to much smaller offices or even just to one individual recipient. This project for Oceania Cruises is a great example. We kept the overall blue and white color palette and vibe the same for both tiers, just at two very different price points!

For the larger tier gifts, they included handmade snack bowls as well as larger sized packages of some of the same contents found in the tier two gifts. Regardless of tier, they all received custom accordian style holiday cards that unfold to a 2020 calendar with each month on its own page! 

GOLD + PINK FOR GOLD PR

Gold PR's branding is hot pink and gold. Hardly traditional holiday colors! But we didn't let that bother us one bit! We wanted to bring the 'Better Together' concept to life with items that Gold PR's clients could use together at home while enjoying wine and cheese. We include really special handmade cheese boards along, modern geode wine tumblers, a set of gold cheese knives and a few accompanying snacks to round out the curation. The result? On-brand, festive and fun holiday gifts completely representative of Gold PR's overall vibe.   

We hope this lineup has convinced you that you do not need to have a red and green branding aesthetic to send out on-brand holiday gifts! Practically any color combination can be made holiday appropriate with just a little bit of creativity and imagination. If you need help with your corporate holiday gifts and would like to outsource the entire process from design to delivery, reach out here. We'd love to help!

All images: Lissa Ryan Photography