Gift Bags & Swag Bags for Your Event
Creative Ideas for gift bags that will keep your guests remembering you and talking about you.
Oh, the dreaded, boring gift bag - filled with logos, coupons, and the tiniest of samples.
If you’re not going to make your gift bag or takeaways fabulous and on-brand, don’t do them. Seriously. It’s more of a negative than a positive. I’ll give you a few examples below. And if you’re already thinking about holiday parties, here is another post about gifts for your guests during the holidays.
Remember this: it doesn’t need to be big or extravagant - just on-brand, creative, have value, and be memorable.
1 | Going Away Party - I know this isn’t a company event, but it still has fun ideas.
We were moving to a new state, in a small town. It’s a town on the water, thus the blue and white vibe. We included a card that, in a creative way, listed what we loved about our new town, our new address, and an invite to come see us.
Then, there was a card to each couple, explaining what we loved so much about them (continuing the theme from the other card)
There was a bottle of bloody mary mix that is harvested and made in our new place, as well as a card with that story and Dave’s personal recipe.
Finally, cookies that are made in Charleston that we ordered for this.
2 | Restaurant Relaunch.
The event was a relaunch of a restaurant that had the reputation of high-end and a bit stuffy. We were relaunching it as something still elegant and formal, but surprisingly fun, creative, current. This restaurant also served an amuse bouche (the complimentary little bite that the chef sends out before the meal). Amuse Bouche actually means, “to amuse the mouth.”
So, we filled the gift bag with just that - surprises for the mouth, get it? We collected a combination of high-end and low-end, to keep it fun.
A small bottle of champagne
A bag of Pop Rocks
A tube of gorgeous red lipstick
Locally-made chocolate truffles
A tin of gourmet sea salt
A beautifully designed card with upcoming restaurant events, etc.
3 | Company Retreat: an in-room hotel turndown
The attendees received gifts throughout the event, but this was a turndown and a poem on their beds.
We included an eye mask and a satin pillowcase. The message said sweet dreams, and then went on to recap the past few days and their goals, and how they would implement once returning home.
I’ll do another post on all of the gifts from this retreat soon, and will update this to link it here.
