Personalized gifts to impress everyone from friends to co-workers and clients

I used to hate buying presents for people I barely knew. In fact, I hated it so much that eventually I just handed them cold hard cash. Don’t get me wrong, cash is always appreciated but it’s so impersonal.

But, despair no more. Stop worrying that your gift will either be left to rot on the shelf or, even worse, regifted. *just a little aside, the dictionary example quote for regifting is: “do you think she’ll regift that horrendous vase?”, harsh.*

Anyway, here are four companies helping you make your gift memorable and more importantly-  personal.

Snappygift

Without a doubt the most relevant and useful business involved in the personalised gift market. Snappygift was created with the aspiration to be the company “adding the joy to employee recognition with personalized gifts”.

Most of us have been part of a Secret Santa programme at work or school and I’m also sure most of us have ended up picking the one name out of the hat that you were absolutely dreading. Well dread no more.

With Snappygifts, recipients get the chance to choose what they want, working like a gift card but with a much, much broader scope. You select the price range and allow the gift receiver to pick from categories to find their perfect gift.

Sure this eliminates the element of surprise, but for myself and I’m sure many others, receiving something I actually want far outweighs the loss. It also eliminates the awkward faux-enthusiasm of unwrapping a gift and finding yet another set of Lynx Africa body spray. Are people trying to tell us something?

e-Giftify

e-Giftify offers everything from hotels to restaurants and retail. The digital gifting company allows you to send a gift to anyone, anywhere in the world, just to let them know you’re thinking of them.

They also specialise in marketing. Using e-Giftify you can organize it so that they send clients a card on their birthday (either physical or electronic), or set up reward schemes where you can surprise clients with personalized gifts.

So whether it’s a gift card, or you want to get something for someone they’ve always wanted, e-Giftify has you covered.

Printland

This India based merchant specializes in personalized gifts – literally. They have a wide selection of products to choose from such as hats and t-shirts, mugs and smartphone cases, and all are potentially great solutions if you’re in a gift rut.

Because no one loves anything more than they love themselves, why not put someone’s name, or a personal quote, or an inside joke, on something they will use every day? Even if it might seem a bit pretentious at first, it will eventually become their most treasured possession. Trust me.

If you want to let someone live out their inner millionaire (we all are, at heart), just get them a monogrammed jacket. If your desk-mate keeps complaining about people stealing her pens (and you’re not ready to admit it’s you), whack her name on a pen, she’ll never complain again.

If you want to embarrass your significant other, get couples t-shirts with each of your faces on them. The possibilities are absolutely endless.

Vistaprint

Vistaprint are very similar to Printland, but based in the US. Vistaprint also specializes in corporate gifts and design services. If you want to impress a client, or are trying to woo new investors, Vistaprint has something for you.

They offer everything from apparel to pillows. I have actually received a personalised pillow before, it was weird, so maybe steer clear of that particular gift.

Their inventory is seemingly endless. It’s not just gifts, but also personal items such as stamps (the kind your teacher used to use to tell you Good Job!) They also stock wedding items. These include menus and invitations, particularly if you hate the types of soon-to-be-spouses who just send you a lazy old e-vite.

So there you have my incredibly researched list of gift ideas, don’t say I never gave you anything!