5 Creative Business Holiday Gift Ideas

As a child, I loved being the center of attention and standing out from the crowd. Being an entrepreneur in a relatively overcrowded field, being unique has been a tremendous asset.

Over the past couple of weeks, I've been jotting down some creative holiday gift ideas to send to my clients. Here are my top five ideas:

1. Custom Labeled Homemade Wine
   This is a gift for your best customers or clients. It will really wow them and keep them talking for months. If you've never made your own wine, the process is surprisingly easy and relatively cheap. Even with buying a kit from your local store and the base ingredients, the cost per bottle is roughly $4-6 and each batch yields roughly 30 bottles. You can then make your own custom labels to include your logo and other information. The actual time from fermentation to bottling is roughly 4-6 weeks and then depending on the kit you buy, the wine will be drinkable in 2-6 months. Don't have the time to make your own? There are retailers that will sell their wine and you simply slap a label on it!
   
   
2. Homemade Rootbeer or Gingerale
   Following on the same theme, if you know your client or customer doesn't drink alcohol, opt to make your own rootbeer or gingerale. The process only takes a few days and can be made with items around the house. Again, the personal time you put into this will surely impress your client.
   
   
3. Chocolate Bar with your Logo
   At my wife's company holiday party, at each seat, there was a handmade bar of chocolate with the company's logo on it. While waiting to get served, we all decided to open it up and it was surprisingly good (and I'm pretty fussy about my chocolate). You could also easily make this yourself if you had a mold created from your logo or a stamp. Otherwise, look for a local bakery or chocolate maker.
   
   
4. Movie Tickets or Theater Tickets
   One of the best gifts I received from a vendor were movie tickets. Nearly everyone enjoys going to the movies. The only thing the vendor did wrong was that they sent two tickets for two employees. Send enough tickets to EACH contact at the company so they can bring their loved ones.
   
   
5. Donate to a Charity in Their Name
   Unless you know of a local or focused charity that your customer supports, I would suggest donating to a larger national organization. Either way, this is a great way to give a present without cluttering up their desk with a bunch of trinkets.

These are just a few of the ideas that I came up with. Hopefully these will come in handy or at least get your creative juices flowing. Also, if you have any ideas, please leave a comment for other readers.

Just remember...whether you simply send a holiday card with a personal note or go all out and brew your own wine, taking the time to give thanks to your client, customer or vendor will leave a lasting impression for the year ahead.

Small Business Musings

I'm not sure this will ultimately be the most appropriate title for WebGamut's business blog, but it's all I could come up with at 6:30am.

I have been personally blogging for several years now and the thought of keeping up another blog was a bit daunting. There were two things that kicked me over the hurdle:

1. I visited a fellow local business, Lincoln Sign Company, yesterday to pick up my new sign. J.D., the owner has been blogging for his business for a couple of years now and he sees incredible viral growth.
2. What really put me over the edge was that I had a client who wanted me to spend a half hour teaching him basic HTML. Now, I love getting paid to teach; however, if I have to do it more than once than I should be writing a tutorial.

So, what will you find here at WebGamut's new business blog?

• Original takes on old boring subjects (think marketing methods);
• Fanatical cheers and jeers on new technology, trends and services to help your small business (and mine);
• Minor techie geek know-how (just enough to make you cool at the dinner table);
• Occasional personal rants that I will try to keep to a minimum.

I encourage feedback and suggestions, so PLEASE comment. Until my next post....