There is no universal “right” amount to spend on a corporate Christmas gift. A useful budget depends on who the recipient is, what the relationship means, how many people you are buying for and what you want the gift to communicate.
The best starting point is not “what do other companies spend?” It is “what feels proportionate for this audience, and what can we execute well at scale?”
Clear budget bands make that decision much easier.
Three useful corporate gift budgets
Our current Christmas range deliberately gives you three clear starting points rather than an enormous catalogue.
| Budget | What it can do well |
|---|---|
| £35 | A thoughtful, scalable Christmas thank you for larger teams or broader recipient lists. |
| £49.50 | A more generous all-rounder for employee or client gifting, with enough room for a present to feel substantial. |
| £120 | A standout, more substantial gifting experience for key clients, smaller teams, VIP groups or people you particularly want to recognise. |
These are current Proper Presents price points, not rules. A beautifully chosen £35 present can be far better than a poorly assembled £100 one.
If none of the three fits the brief, Bespoke gives you a route built around your audience, quantity and budget.
Start with the relationship, not the number
Spend should feel appropriate to the relationship.
For an all-company employee gift, consistency, broad appeal and total project cost may be the main considerations. For a smaller number of key clients, the budget per person can be higher because the audience is narrower and the relationship different.
The important thing is that the gift feels intentional rather than arbitrary.
Calculate the whole project, not just the product
A £50 product is not necessarily a £50 gifting project.
Before approving a per-person number, decide whether your internal budget needs to include VAT, individual delivery, custom packaging, branded elements or other fulfilment costs. Comparing suppliers on different bases is an easy way to think one route is cheaper than it really is.
A simple working formula is:
Per-person gift cost × number of recipients + delivery + custom work + sensible contingency = project budget.
Should employees and clients have the same budget?
They can, but they do not have to.
If the audiences are different and the purpose of the gift is different, separate budgets can be perfectly sensible. Define the groups clearly rather than making ad hoc exceptions one recipient at a time.
For example, you might choose the £35 gift for a wider team, the £49.50 gift for a client group and the £120 12 Days of Christmas present, or a bespoke route, for a smaller VIP group.
Is £35 enough for a corporate Christmas gift?
Yes, if the gift is well edited.
At £35, the goal should not be to make the package look enormous. It should be to choose good things, present them properly and make the result feel considered. That can work particularly well for larger teams where thoughtfulness matters more than extravagance.
Is around £50 a good corporate gift budget?
For many briefs, around £50 is a useful middle ground. It gives enough room for a gift to feel substantial while remaining realistic at larger quantities.
It is also a clear figure to take through internal approval, particularly when the contents, presentation and delivery route are easy to explain.
When does £100+ make sense?
Higher budgets make most sense when the recipient group is more selective or the relationship justifies a more significant gesture.
Our £120 12 Days of Christmas present is designed for exactly that kind of brief: a bigger opening experience, more variety and a present that keeps going rather than a single high-value item.
At these levels, quality matters even more. Spending more should buy a better experience, not simply more filler.
Do not forget precedent
Christmas gifts can create expectations.
If you are dramatically increasing or reducing spend from a previous year, think about how that will feel to the recipient group and whether there is a clear reason. A budget you can repeat confidently can sometimes be more useful than a one-year flourish that becomes awkward next Christmas.
So, what should you spend?
Choose the lowest budget that still allows you to give something you are genuinely pleased to put your name to.
Then make sure the total project cost works at your quantity, the gift suits the audience and the delivery plan is realistic.
If you know the audience and quantity but cannot decide the level, talk to us. Or start with our three ready-to-go Christmas presents and see which one feels right.