Your 2014 Corporate Gift Plan – First Half

Don’t wait until 2014 arrives and the year sweeps you away. Start planning now for your corporate gifting strategy. There

are so many opportunities. Here is a list of a few events that you can use for your corporate gift planning. New Years – Wednesday 01 January Champagne Flutes make a wonderful New Year’s Gift. To start off the year give your clients crystal champagne flutes as a welcome to 2014 gift. If you are worried that they make not drink alcohol, find a recipe for a non-alcoholic cocktail and include into with the gift. There are so many delicious non-alcoholic recipes to choose from that you can’t go wrong. Plan to hand these corporate gifts out very early in January. After everyone has spent their holiday money, they will welcome the moral boost of a new year’s gift. Most people will start work around 06 January, so you can hand out gift between 06 January and 17 January. Other new year’s gifts include Conference bags, Dairies or Filofaxes, desk organisers, i-pad covers, mouse pads, notebooks, USBs Back to School – 15 January Children will officially go back to school on Wednesday the 15th of January. However some schools may change the dates a little. Many companies will start a back to school campaign for corporate gifts. Ideas include backpacks, book bags or conference bags, Frisbees, lunch boxes, math sets, pencil bags, pencils, pens, sharpeners, soccer kits, water bottles and yoyos. Conference season – January to end February Many companies will start the year off with planning and conferences. Whether you have your conferences at the beginning of the year later in the year, plan ahead for your gifts. Conference gift ideas include: conference bags, conference pens, custom printed notepads, folders, hampers, lanyards, mints, notepads, speaker’s gifts, trolley bags, USBs Valentine’s Day – Friday 14 February As Valentine’s Day is on a Friday, you can bet all the restaurants will be fully booked, so get your restaurant bookings done

early. Chocolates remain a popular choice, but with diabetes being on the increase, you can choose items that are easier on the hips. For example a Valentine’s Day cookie mug, heart shaped stress balls, mints, red t-shirt. There are a lot of choices for Valentine’s Day. Valentine’s is a very big event in the corporate gifting calendar and an essential for corporate morale. Human Rights Day – Friday 21 March We celebrate this day each year to remind us of the great suffering and loss of life that accompanied the struggle for human rights. It is to remind us that people in South Africa will never again be denied their human rights. We encourage people to not only promote this event within their companies, but also to use their corporate gifting spend to help others. Choose a charity for example a children’s home, home for the disabled or an old age home. Items such as beanies, blankets, caps, fleece sweaters, towels and t—shirts are all useful items to give to children, the disabled and the aged. Freedom Day – Sunday 27 April Freedom Day is a public holiday in South Africa celebrated every year on 27th April. On this day in 1994, the first democratic and non-racial national election was held in the country. Corporate gift ideas for Freedom day include, banners, South African caps, South African Flags, South African t-shirts. Good Friday – Friday 29 March Good Friday is observed on the Friday before Easter Sunday. On this day Christians commemorate the passion, or suffering, and death on the cross of the Lord, Jesus Christ. While there are a number of other religions in South Africa, this day is still taken as a public holiday and is the beginning of a religious memorial that has its climax of Easter Sunday. Many people despite religious background will consume vast amounts of chocolate over the Easter weekend and retailers really pack out quite a spread over the Easter weekend. No matter what religion your clients are, many people welcome a tasty Easter treat. Great corporate gifts for this weekend are candy coated eggs, chocolate Easter bunnies, toy Bunnies, hampers, marshmallow eggs, sugar free eggs. A great idea is to host an Easter egg hunt for a local school. Family Day – Tuesday 01 April 2014 This was originally part of the Easter Celebration. Following the first free and fair elections in South Africa the day was renamed family day to include all religions. However originally it was to commemorate the resurrection of Christ who was crucified on the Good Friday. This was part of a prophesy that on the third day the Lord would rise again. The Easter Bunny is a rabbit-spirit. Long ago, he was called the "Easter Hare", hares and rabbits have frequent multiple births so they became a symbol of fertility. The custom of an Easter egg hunt began because children believed that hares laid eggs in the grass. The Romans believed that "All life comes from an egg." Christians consider eggs to be "the seed of life" and so they are symbolic of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Freedom Day – Sunday 27 April It celebrates freedom and commemorates the first post-apartheid elections held on that day in 1994. In 2013 we bid a sad farewell to Nelson Mandela who was a key player in the journey towards freedom for our country. Corporate Gifts for this Freedom day could include books like “The Long Walk to Freedom, Hand held South African Flags, South African Caps. Workers Day – Thursday 01 May International Workers' Day is a celebration of the international labour movement that occurs on May Day, May 1, a traditional spring holiday in much of Europe. May 1 is a national holiday in more than 80 countries, and celebrated unofficially in many other countries. Youth Day – Sunday 16 June The Soweto Uprising, also known as 16 June, is a series of protests led by high school students in South Africa that began on the morning of 16 June 1976. Students from numerous Sowetan schools began to protest in the streets of Soweto in response to the introduction of Afrikaans as the medium of instruction in local schools. An estimated 20,000 students took part in the protests. The number of people who died is usually given as 176, with estimates of up to 700. 16 June is now a public holiday, Youth Day, in South Africa, in remembrance of the events of 1976. In commemoration of this day focus your corporate gifts on education. Choose a local community school and donate corporate gifts such as backpacks, conference bags, diaries; lunch boxes, notebooks, pencils, pencil bags, pens, stationary sets These are some of the many opportunities for planning for your corporate gifts calendar. With proper planning you should be able to spread goodwill through the year to clients, staff and the community. Here are some planning details to take into account. Plan for Production time Remember the following processes: 1. Plan a budget for your event. 2. Find the gifts that you like. 3. Get quotes. 4. Plan properly, just because a corporate gift was in stock when it was quoted, does not mean it will be in stock when you order. 5. Order your corporate gifts 6. Pay your deposit 7. Send through a high resolution logo. 8. Get a layout approval. 9. Thoroughly check the spelling, pantones and position of the logo an if you are happy sign off. 10. Branding will take 3 – 5 working days after you sign off your layout approval. 11. Pay the balance of your order. 12. Take delivery of the corporate gifts or corporate clothing. 13. Allow for extra days during peak season. For more information about corporate gifts or clothing contact Belle Regalo on info@belleregalo.co.za or (011) 593 2450 or 082 948 7461 or visit our website: www.belleregalo.co.za