Promotional products and custom items make smart gifts to bring to a gift exchange. Useful freebies branded with a company logo build name recognition and stay in circulation long after an event. Apply that branding concept to make one-of-a-kind personalized gifts for your swap that will stand out from the typical wine bottle or gift card. With a little creative thinking, the options are endless!
Functional Promotional Items
Choose useful gifts the recipient needs and appreciates. Then customize them by adding names, monograms, photos or color schemes that coordinate with the person’s style.
- Tech accessories – Stylish cords, power banks, earbuds, phone wallets
- Office tools – Notepads, sticky notes, mouse pads, pens, clips marked up with fun slogans
- Home goods – Water bottles, coffee mugs, mini cutting boards, oven mitts printed with photos or jokes
- Accessories – Totes, wallets, scarves, hats, gloves, umbrellas displaying custom images
- Snack pack – Trail mix, cider packets, candy, cookies shrink wrapped in branded wrapper bags
Sentimental Promotional Gifts
Build off the idea of custom labeled freebies by intentionally branding your gift for the specific person. Create:
- Ornaments printed with photos from your years of friendship
- Key chains etched with inside jokes or bucket list trips you want to take together
- notebooks titled with their nickname and contacts listed for secret messages
- Socks embroidered with their favorite snack, animal or local haunt slogan
- Playing cards or coasters displaying a shared Spotify playlist code to scan
Wearable Swag Gifts
Apparel makes great keepsake gifts and free advertising long after the initial imprint. Have fun with wearables printed just for your person like:
- T-shirts featuring portraits or funny meme moments
- Aprons with recipes you’ve shared over memorable meals together
- Their nickname or superlative on baseball caps and visors
- A canvas duffle adorned with patches from places you’ve traveled as friends
- Scarf screen printed with lyrics from a band you introduced each other to
Edible Custom Creations
- Make mouths water with delicious gifts wrapped in custom packaging.
- Photo cakes from the bakery covered in an edible image of a running joke or embarrasing moment between you two
- Chocolates with imprinted funny captions and quotes said often amongst your circle of pals that only you understand
- Your friendship timeline mapped out on a graham cracker timeline with icing detail
- Their favorite obscure soda or candy bar with an overwritten flavor name poking fun of an quirky habit they have
Outrageous Gag Gifts
Humor is a huge part of many swaps. Play into that expectation by picking impractical yet personal and promotional novelty items sure to get big laughs.
- Custom bobblehead doll depicting them with any funny distinctive trademark attributes of theirs
- A body pillow with their awkward school picture as the graphic
- An oversize coffee table book you make featuring other hilarious photos and moments of them over the years
No matter what gift you choose, using customization to play up recognizable references about the recipient makes for swap success. With a DIY spirit and sharp sense of humor, promo products can become legendary among your circle of friends. Hopefully these ideas spark your creativity for making signature branded freebies just for your person!