When sending Christmas gifts to friends, loved ones, employees or clients, it’s important to note that there are certain unspoken ‘rules’ to follow. Choosing the right gift will depend on the recipient and your relationship with them. The relationship you have with the recipient will determine the types of gifts that are considered acceptable.

Gifts for family

Family Christmas gifts are usually fairly easy to find because you know the recipient on the most intimate level. Of course, you want to avoid things like socks, the dreaded Christmas sweater, a pet of any sort (unless they have specifically stated that they want one) or exercise equipment. A pet could be an acceptable gift if the intended recipient is sincerely looking for this specific type of gift. Other excellent family gifts include wine hampers, food hampers and pamper hampers.

Gifts for friends

Friendly gifts should never be too intimate. While you could buy perfume for your spouse, this is not something that you would send to a friend. You might love particular scent but your friend may not. Perfume is a personal gift because of preferences as well as the fact that each scent reacts differently with each person’s natural scent. Some excellent Christmas gifts for friends include mixed food hampers that include a variety of goodies. If you know that your friend is a diabetic, vegetarian or follows another specific diet, make sure that you shop for a gift that will suit this diet.

Corporate gifts

This is often the trickiest of all because you want to make sure that the gift you send will reflect positively on your business. Wine gifts, whisky gifts and even non-alcoholic hampers are all excellent Christmas gifts for clients and employees alike. When buying gifts for employees, make sure that you treat everyone to the same gift so that there is no perception that one employee is being favoured over another.

Whenever in doubt, remember that the best Christmas gifts are those that you would be delighted to receive yourself. If you feel underwhelmed by the gift, it is most likely not going to have a great impact on the recipient.