The scent of fresh-baked cookies and pie is in the air. Homes and businesses everywhere are hanging up mistletoe and twinkling lights. With the holidays right around the corner, it’s time to prepare for holiday employee appreciation.
Your employees work very hard all year long to provide their best work for your company. When the holidays come around, then, it’s always a good idea to offer personalized employee gifts. This boosts morale and shows your team that you care about them beyond their productivity and earnings.
Add some festivity to the workplace by calling out the best traits of your team members near the holidays. Need a good gift idea for employees? Use this guide to find the best, quirkiest, and funniest unique office gifts and holiday employee appreciation trophies.
Top 10 Thanksgiving Gifts for Employees
Thanksgiving is a time to celebrate what you’re grateful for, and chances are your employees are at the top of your list. After all, your company couldn’t run smoothly without them. No matter what industry you work in, it’s important to show your gratitude this Thanksgiving.
Here are 10 of the best Thanksgiving employee appreciation awards and gift ideas to give out during the holiday season.
1. Turkey Trot Champion Trophy
Do you know an employee whose favorite hobby is long-distance running? The Turkey Trot Champion trophy is for them. You can gift this Thanksgiving award to your resident runners, whether they’re partial to 5Ks or marathons. Our customization process allows you to order a turkey, running medal, or any other customized shape for this trophy.
2. Stir the Pot Award
This cheeky Thanksgiving award goes to the employee who often stirs up juicy details in the office. Similar to stirring a pot of soup on Thanksgiving, this worker’s behavior keeps things interesting and balanced. Consider getting a custom EDCO award shaped like a soup pot or boiler pot this Thanksgiving.
3. Silence of the Yams Award
Horror movie enthusiasts are everywhere, and chances are you have one on your team. Award them the Silence of the Yams Award for a personalized touch on their holiday gift. The name pays homage to the ever-popular horror flick “Silence of the Lambs.” Any horror lover will immediately get the joke and cherish the award.
Some custom-shape options for this award include:
- Ghost
- Old-style film camera
- Television
- Scream silhouette
- Knife
- Grim reaper silhouette
There’s plenty of room for customization with these lighthearted, personalized award ideas.
4. Thankful for You Award
Thanksgiving is all about recognizing the things you’re thankful for in life. The Thankful for You Award is the most basic way to do this in your workplace.
Give this Thanksgiving-themed award to the employee who goes above and beyond for your team. This is a great way to show your gratitude and appreciation for their work on the clock as well as their lovable personality. You can even give the Thankful for You Award to multiple team members who deserve it.
5. Bread and Butter Award
Is there an employee who is an essential member of your team? If so, they deserve the Bread and Butter Award. This recipient keeps things running smoothly at all times and is the “bread and butter” of your workplace. As a constant staple in the company, they’re irreplaceable no matter what role they play.
6. Set the Table Award
Certain team members set the stage for everyone else to succeed. Maybe they kick-started an important project or assembled a high-quality team to get something done. This team member deserves the Set the Table Award, which congratulates them for their contribution. In the inscription, include specific praise about what couldn’t be done without them “setting the table” first.
7. Serve the Team Award
Great employees will go above and beyond to serve the entire team as needed. If you know a team member who works hard to make sure everyone has what they need, this award is for them. Much like Thanksgiving dinner is served, because of this employee, so are supplies, gratitude, and joy in the office.
8. Sweet as Pie Award
Sweet and charming personalities make the workplace more enjoyable for everyone. Employees who offer their kindness and compassion without being asked can be celebrated with the Sweet as Pie Award.
We recommend ordering this award in the shape of a Thanksgiving pie to drive the point home. After all, who doesn’t love a good slice of thankfulness from their employer?
9. Office Roaster Trophy
Know an employee who always has a witty comeback and lighthearted joke at the ready? This person needs the Office Roaster Trophy. Turkey tastes best when roasted, and workplaces feel best when there’s plenty of humor to go around. Give this trophy to a team member who is always “roasting” their coworkers — all in good fun, of course.
10. Fall Festivity Award
Know someone who celebrates the autumn holidays with vigor? Reward their enthusiasm with the Fall Festivity Award. Maybe they spread plenty of fall cheer each year or decorate the office for Thanksgiving. Whatever their festive contributions, make sure you recognize them with this unique employee gift idea.
Top 10 Christmas Employee Appreciation Gift Ideas
Christmas time is around the corner, and it’s time to think about what gifts you’ll be giving to your cherished employees. This holiday gift guide for employees recognizes everyone’s unique strengths and achievements in festive ways. Once everyone is in the Christmas spirit, they’ll feel loved and cherished as part of your team.
1. Eat, Drink, and Be Merry Award
This award is for team members who make every office party and celebration a wonderful experience. To eat, drink, and be merry is to make every holiday worthwhile. There are numerous customization options for this festive Christmas award. Make sure you recognize specific contributions this employee has made to the morale of your workplace.
2. Office Angel Award
Angels are traditionally associated with Christmas, and this is a great symbol for your most peaceful employee. Do you have a team member who keeps their head down, gets their work done, and is kind to everyone? This person wins the Office Angel Award. Their positive attitude and kind demeanor make work a happy place to be every day, all year long.
We recommend ordering an angel-shaped custom award for this great honor. After all, angels represent the good in the world.
3. Best Gift-Giver Award
Most workplaces host holiday parties and gift exchanges annually. If you know an employee who gives the best, most thoughtful gifts, this award is for them. Shaped like a present box, the Best Gift-Giver Award recognizes the personal touches this employee puts on their offerings to other people. Your inscription should include the fact that this person’s presence is the real gift in your workplace.
4. Stocking Stuffer Award
The Stocking Stuffer Award is geared toward employees who offer many small but important contributions to the office each year. They “fill the stockings” of everyone around them, offering tiny favors and finishing touches on projects. For added festivity, we recommend ordering this award shaped as a Christmas stocking.
5. The Grinch Trophy
The Grinch is notorious for hating Christmas and being anti-festive each year. Every workplace has at least one person who begrudges the holiday season, and this trophy is for them. This lighthearted award shows that they are still a valued member of your team, even if they don’t like holiday music or festive cheer.
6. Light the Fire Award
During Christmastime, many people light fires in their fireplaces and enjoy the warmth that comes from them. This appropriately named award is for team players who always lift everyone up and help spread motivation. They “light the fire” underneath your whole team and ensure things get done. Whether you choose a custom-shaped flame award or another of our pre-existing award options, the recipient is sure to feel your gratitude.
7. All Wrapped Up Award
This lighthearted, cheeky award references employees who are always tied up in time-consuming tasks. Maybe they’re often in charge of heavy projects or are just chronically busy and stressed.
Whatever the case may be, they’re sure to get a laugh from receiving the All Wrapped Up Award. We recommend presenting this award as a custom-shaped present box award from EDCO.
8. Wreath Havoc Trophy
Know a team member who always has a busy, chaotic life? Maybe they bring a messy but helpful spirit to team projects and individual assignments. They probably take many shortcuts and unconventional paths, but they always get the job done in the end. This person deserves the Wreath Havoc Trophy, which commemorates the chaos they’re always bringing to the table.
You should formulate this inscription to make it clear that this award is lighthearted. This team member shouldn’t feel like they’re a burden or being reprimanded. Highlight this employee’s strengths and the reasons why their “havoc” benefits your team and workplace as a whole.
9. Yule Never Be Forgotten Award
Yule logs are a fairly universal symbol for Christmas and other wintertime holidays. This cleverly titled award is for employees who plan to retire around Christmas time. Presenting a lighthearted but meaningful award is a good way to remind them that their absence will be felt throughout the workplace. You can pair it with a more serious, heavy-duty crystal or glass retirement award as well.
10. Best Holiday Decorator Award
Winter holidays often bring many sparkling, eye-catching decorations. Present the Best Holiday Decorator Award to an employee who makes their workspace (or the entire office) festive and merry. They pour their efforts into spreading holiday cheer through workplace visuals, so it’s only right that they be celebrated for it.
For this award, you have plenty of customization options. You can present it as a plaque or order a custom shape that represents holiday decorations (like lights or Christmas trees). Whatever you choose, you can trust that the Best Holiday Decorator in your workplace will appreciate this award.
Photographic Phenoms: Personalized Photo Frames for Staff
Most industries require some sort of photography and videography to capture the essence of brands, companies, and services. We’ve come up with the best photography-themed awards to celebrate your most photogenic and skilled employees. Whether they regularly capture the best shots for your brand or have taken up photography as a personal hobby, they’re sure to appreciate their award.
Memory Maker Award
The Memory Maker Award is for employees who capture the essence of your team’s best memories perfectly. They know how to get the best shots in the frame and allow that moment’s emotions to shine through. Best of all, though, is that they’re passionate about the memories they encapsulate with their camera.
We recommend the Curved Glass Award for this great honor. This piece is square like a picture frame with an artistic flair to it. Personalize the inscription to highlight the recipient’s best qualities and your sincere appreciation for them.
Snapshot Star Award
Capturing the best snapshots of your company’s activities and events isn’t easy. The Snapshot Star Award is for employees who can quickly frame and capture these impeccable memories. They somehow translate your team’s most important moments into long-lasting relics with their camera.
Our Photo Frame Award works well for this title. After all, this person is used to doing the snapping and shuttering; let this award do the work for them for once.
Picture-Perfect Performer Award
From social media marketing to brand releases, there are many roles your employees can play in company photography. The Picture-Perfect Performer Award is for team members who put their all into their work performance. They don’t take shortcuts, and they make sure everything looks perfect before publishing.
Any of our picture frame awards will help commemorate this wonderful employee. Come up with heartfelt personalized inscriptions to make this holiday gift that much more meaningful.
Freeze Frame of Fame Award
Was there one specific snapshot that blew everything else out of the water this year? One great way to commemorate this stunning piece of photography (and the person behind the camera) is by giving them the Freeze Frame of Fame Award. This award celebrates a particularly gorgeous photograph that encapsulates a project, product, or whole brand’s essence perfectly.
Our Horizontal Curved Glass Picture Frame award draws attention to the star photograph right away. With plenty of customization and inscription potential, this award is perfect for celebrating the Freeze Frame of Fame.
A Toast to the Best (and the Rest!)
Toasts are normally made with alcoholic beverages to celebrate someone’s accomplishments or major milestones. In the office, this is especially important. If you have wine lovers and champagne drinkers galore on your team, these engraved wines and other inscription ideas are perfect for you.
The Art of Giving Engraved Wines: Uncork the Personalities of Award Recipients
Wine is a pretty good catch-all gift for your employees. It gives them a beverage to enjoy after hours and decompress following a hard day in the office. Our engraved wines and scotch bottles make for the perfect holiday employee appreciation gifts.
It’s important to pair the right inscriptions with the right people on your team. For example, some team members might offer comedic relief, and they deserve a humorous inscription. Others might appreciate more serious, targeted praise on their engraved wine.
Inscription Ideas
Don’t know where to start with engraved wine inscriptions? We have you covered. We’ve come up with the best wine engravings for each of your wonderful employees. They can keep this gift on the shelf for years to come.
Here are some ideas for your engraved wine inscriptions:
- Most Likely to Wine About Work: For the office complainer
- I’ll Drink to That: For the resident alcohol enthusiast
- We Have a Win(n)er: For someone with a recent accomplishment
- Improves With Age: For an employee celebrating a 50th birthday or above
- Well-Red: For someone who always has a good book
- Glass Half Full: For the office optimist
- Mr./Ms. Mos-Cat-O: For the office cat lover
- Served Chilled: For employees who always keep things calm and collected
These are just a few clever ideas for your employee appreciation engraved wines. However you choose to honor their individuality, your team members are sure to love this personalized employee gift.
Uncorking Creativity: Not Your Standard Wine Opener
Customized wine opener gifts pair well with engraved wine bottles. At EDCO, we offer customized wine opener gift sets. We can engrave or monograph these for no extra charge.
Consider adding humorous titles to your customized wine opener gifts this holiday season. For example, “Vino Virtuoso” wine openers can go to the cheap wine enthusiasts in the office. “Bottle Battle Champion” wine openers are for those who excel at this unique outdoor game.
Giving out customized wine opener gifts shows your employees that you care enough to pay attention to the fine details of your holiday gifts. It makes things feel more personal and warm, which is exactly what every custom employee recognition recipient wants.
Chop, Chop! Time for Recognition
If your field relates to culinary delights or kitchen work, engraved cutting boards can be the perfect holiday employee appreciation gift. Engraved cutting boards are practical, as they can be used to prepare food. They also add a personalized touch to traditional culinary awards and trophies. Celebrate your team’s culinary victors and kitchen warriors with customized engraved cutting boards from EDCO.
Even if you don’t work in food service or another culinary field, you can give out food-themed awards. For example, consider awarding an engraved cutting board to the resident “Midnight Snacker” or “Chopstick Champion” (the employee who often orders Chinese takeout).
Drinkware Delights
Drinkware is always a good gift category, especially around the holidays. Give your employees new vessels for their favorite beverages that show your appreciation for their hard work. As they sip on their morning coffee or tea, they’ll be reminded of your gratitude. Since this is such a broad category, you have plenty of options for these personalized employee gifts.
Customized Mugs for Employees
Our customized mugs are perfect gifts for employees and superiors alike throughout your workplace. They are relatively inexpensive and offer a personalized, thoughtful token of your appreciation for their hard work.
Any industry can take advantage of customized holiday mugs. Almost every employee enjoys a nice warm beverage at the start of their shift. What better gift than a new, appealing mug to enjoy it in?
Since mugs often hold coffee and tea, there are lots of good puns and superlatives you can use for their inscriptions. Here are some ideas for various industries:
- Java Genius: For software coders
- Office Mom/Dad/Parent: For office nurturers
- Office Trendsetter: For those who pave the way to innovation
- The Brew-tiful Mind of (Year): For any industry
- We Beleaf In You: For any industry
- World’s Best Tea(m) Member: For tea lovers
- Social Media Rockstar: For social media marketers and managers
The options are truly endless when it comes to customizing holiday mugs for your employees. You can change the titles and inscriptions to best fit your industry.
Engraved Glasses and Cups
We have an extremely extensive collection of engravable drink cups, glasses, and bottles. Our customizable drinkware adds personal flairs and meaningful celebrations to your office holiday gifts each year. Whether you choose an engraved wine glass or a crystal decanter, your employees are sure to cherish their gifts.
If your office or other workplace regularly hosts parties and celebrations with alcohol, these are the perfect gifts for your team. They can carry their customized drinkware with them to show their status and appreciation within your company.
You can choose almost anything to engrave on our customizable drinkware. From just employee names to heartfelt inscriptions, the options are endless with EDCO.
Celebrating Employee Milestones Around the Holidays
There are plenty of quirky, specific awards and trophies to give around the holidays. But what about the employees who are retiring or celebrating specific milestones within your company? The holidays present the perfect opportunity to recognize these team members with vigor.
EFestive Retirement Awards
Since all of our awards and trophies are customizable at no extra charge, it makes sense to add a festive touch to retirement awards. After all, this person has chosen this time of year to retire for a reason.
When retirement happens during the holiday season, we recommend giving out two awards. One should be a timeless, classic retirement award made of heavy-duty glass or crystal. The other can be a festive, holiday-themed retirement commemoration.
Choose from a wide variety of EDCO’s custom award shapes to make this holiday season extra special for your upcoming retirees.
Service Awards for the Holidays
Know a hard worker who has their employment anniversary coming up? What better time to give out recognition and celebration than during the holiday season?
Our service awards clearly communicate your company’s appreciation for this person’s hard work and dedication. By staying with your company or brand for several years, this employee has proven their loyalty. They deserve a tangible reminder of the work they’ve put in.
We offer the following customizable service awards:
- 5 years
- 10 years
- 15 years
- 20 years
- 25 years
- 30 years
- Excellence awards
- Creative employee awards
- Flame awards
You have plenty of options for celebrating this employee’s commitment to your company this holiday season.
Annual Achievements
Since most common holidays fall around the end of the calendar year, we recommend lumping in annual achievements. Your employees will feel like their specific accomplishments are meaningful and worthy.
We have a wide variety of achievement awards and trophies at EDCO. You can choose the shapes, materials, and employee award inscription examples that best match your industry and employee accomplishments.
Some examples of achievement awards include:
- Major project completion
- Quarterly milestones
- Biannual milestones
- Annual milestones
- Sales figures and milestones
- Client acquisition
- Accurate financial projections
- Consumer base growth
- Social media following figures
Don’t stop here, though. Call out everyone’s wonderful achievements in unique, meaningful ways to make your employees’ holidays extra special this year.
How to Get the Best Customized Awards for Employees: EDCO’s Ordering Process
Holiday appreciation means a lot to your team. And with EDCO, you don’t have to stress about shipping times, extra charges, or other worrisome matters. We have several advantages when it comes to personalized holiday employee appreciation gifts.
Guaranteed On-Time Delivery
We can guarantee that your awards and trophies are going to arrive on time. Having been in business for over 50 years, we’ve perfected the manufacturing and delivery process splendidly. This means you can trust our timelines. Your awards and trophies will arrive in time for any relevant holiday celebrations and ceremonies.
Responsive Customer Service Team
If you ever have any questions or concerns, our responsive in-house customer service team has you covered. We can assist you with all aspects of the ordering process. All you need to do is present your ideas and customization specifications; we take care of the rest.
No Extra Charges for Engraving and Shipping
We offer free engraving and shipping, as it’s included in the price of your order. This means you don’t have to worry about hidden costs or fees. We make personalization easy and affordable for your company.
Engraved Awards and Employee Gift Ideas From EDCO
If you want the finest-quality awards and trophies, we’re here to deliver. Choose EDCO for your holiday employee appreciation gifts this year.
