10-07-2021
How we Curated our New 2021 Curated Gift Box Designs
FILED IN: Behind-the-Scenes, Client & Corporate Gifts, Employee Appreciation Gifts, Give Back Collection, M&G Happenings, Ready-to-Ship Gifts, Self-Care Gifts
Posted By: Jamie Kutchman
If you've seen our new 2021 Fall Collection that launched in our online shop last week, you may notice some distinct things about this collection that differ from our collections in the past. This new collection was a year in the making, involving a ton of time, energy, thought, and effort to get it across the finish line. But most of all, it involved a lot of intention.
Time to share with you how we approached these new designs and how these new curations came to life.
USE OF COLOR
Let's be honest, we are fond of neutrals. Really fond of neutrals. In this new collection though, we wanted to take our long-time focus on creating self-care gift boxes to another level and sometimes this involves the use of color. And when I say color, I mean bright colors and all colors! Specifically in our 'Breakup Box' and 'Day Brightener' gift box, you'll notice almost every color of the rainbow boldly used with the intention of bringing smiles to people's faces in times in life when they need it the most. There are certain times in life when beige just isn't going to cut it and we wanted to step outside of our comfort zone and give you guys options for those exact occasions. Let's go bold and spread some joy!
INCLUSIVITY
We've been offering gender neutral gift boxes as well as gift boxes for same sex couples for a long time. But we took time when designing this new collection to bring inclusivity to other gift categories as well, particularly our 'Mom & Baby Collection'. It is not lost on us that not every parent is a mom. And not every mom is a biological mom so we acknowledge that our traditional mom gifts that contain items intended for pregnancy aren't speaking to everyone. For these reasons, we have expanded the collection! We designed our 'Doting Dad' gift box to recognize Dads and the important role they play, whether it be with a partner or whether they're parenting on their own. We also created a 'New Parent' gift box and 'Bunny Bébé' gift basket that very intentionally lack items for pregnancy or items that are intended for moms only. We wanted to make room in our collection for those of you gifting for adoptions and other ways of becoming a family. And lastly, not everyone is a parent to a human baby. We are crazy dog lovers around here and so we knew we needed something for all those fur-baby parents out there in the world, hence how our 'Decadent Dog' gift box was born!
GIFTS THAT GIVE BACK
While we've done things for charity in the past, we've never launched an ongoing, year-round program that involves us designing gifts specifically with this intention in mind. Until now. Our all-new Give Back Collection donates a portion of the proceeds of each gift box to a charity specifically related to the theme of each gift box. For example, proceeds from our 'Decadent Dog' gift box donates to the American Humane Society, our 'Women Made' gift box donates to Ladies Who Launch, our 'Move-In Ready' gift box donates to Habitat for Humanity, and so on and so forth. To read all about our Give Back Collection, visit here and to shop our Give Back Collection, visit here.
EMPLOYEE APPRECIATION
If the pandemic changed anything in the gifting world (besides decimating supply chain and making getting our hands on inventory a daily challenge), it's been the shift from client gifting over to employee appreciation gifting. Don't get me wrong - it's not that client gifting is no longer important. It's more so that employee appreciation has become hugely important. In fact, we are currently working on more employee appreciation gift design projects than we are any other category. This phenomenon, that we referred to as a trend early-on in the pandemic, now appears to be here to stay. To address this need, we designed gifts for employees to address self-care (ie Mindful Meditation and Digital Detox), organization and productivity (ie Rise & Grind and Seize the Day), as well as gifts for returning back to the office (ie Back to the Office and Desk Refresh).
SPECIFIC GIFT THEMES
In this collection more so than any other, we have created gifts for very specific occasions. Each curated gift box has a very defined purpose and in doing this, our hope is that the intention behind each gift design will shine through and make the recipient feel seen and valued. For example, our 'Doting Dad' gift box is very clearly intended for new dads. Our 'Move Your Body' gift box is is very clearly intended for fitness and wellness. Our 'Eco Essentials' gift bag is very clearly intended for those wanting stylish and eco-friendly items for everyday living.
We hope that you recognize our efforts to bring to life a collection that is colorful, intentional, charitable, and inclusive. While we certainly aren't perfect and always have room to improve, we believe that taking steps forward and never resting on our laurels is of utmost importance. What do you think of our new 2021 Fall Collection? Leave us a comment on this post or contact us here. We'd love to hear from you!
All images: Lissa Ryan Photography
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