Unbeatable gift ideas for VIP clients

I sat on the plane on the tarmac at Vancouver International Airport and thought about the adventure I’d just been on. I remembered a week ago when Carole had called me into her office and said,

“Barry, you’re into your tree.”

I looked at her quizzically.

“Don’t you mean I’m out of my tree?”

I’d been getting stressed, tired, and more crabby than a crab that had to walk forwards. I liked to think I was gifted at my job, sadly they weren’t luxury gifts, and I was running the risk of being returned with a receipt.

I’d snapped at colleagues and even fallen asleep in a couple of meetings. Powerpoint was a joke as when somebody needed to poke me to wake up. Carole thought that she had a gift for snark, but she got to be my boss because she also had a gift for thinking of gift ideas for vip clients; she had better taste than your first-morning coffee.

“You act like you’re out of your tree, so we’re going to send you on a one-man retreat to the Pacific Northwest in Canada.”

“Into my tree?”

“Yes, we own a treehouse in a rural retreat, nobody but bears, mounties, and possibly Sasquatch for miles around.”

Ah, I had been acting like I was out of my tree, and now I was going to be getting into a treehouse and taking a week off.

Reading my mind, Carole said,

“Take two weeks off.”

“I suppose you’re going to tell me to leave my phone?”

“If you can find a wifi signal in the middle of the forest primordial, you deserve a job as a miracle maker, or the new Elon Musk here take this instead.”

Carole handed me a moleskin notebook; it was the sort of thoughtful luxury corporate gifting she always thought of.

I felt like I had gone to sleep in my beautiful Canadian wilderness and woken up in hell,

Well, if it wasn’t hell, somebody was yelling,

“Hell, damn, blast!”

And the light was incredibly bright, I had a sense of an upset stomach from a disturbing journey, and it was so hot.

Then it struck even worse. I wasn’t in hell; I was in LA.

I was going to ask my Uber driver to turn the air conditioning on, then saw his red neck, burnt neck, and back of his balding head that was amazingly even redder. Like a tomato that had evolved to the point, it could drive around LA and swear at traffic. But not one whose corporate boss thought suntan lotion with maybe a deodorant built-in was a creative client gift

“Hey, sleeping, you’re awake; welcome to LA.”

What am I doing here? I must be out of my tree, literally out of my tree.

I smile at him and pop my earbuds |(another luxury branded gifts idea from Carole) in, and flick through my sound files on my phone till I find

“peaceful woodland sounds”

Pop on my eyeshade, and quietly, I could almost be back amongst the trees. I had been high amongst those majestic Redwoods, like upscale client gifts someone had thrown up there.

I had been preparing myself for the big question mentally on the journey to the airport in Canada; fortunately, not on the flight, I’d slept through that. Had I decided to stay? Did I want to be a Lumberjack? Did Mounties wear those hats and red jackets?

I hadn’t seen any Mounties the whole of my stay, and fortunately, nobody was cutting down the trees in my part of the forest.

No, the big question was,

“Did you meet Sasquatch?”

If I had, I’d have gotten some of his giant toenail clippings; that would be a unique gifts idea for employees moment even Carole hadn’t thought of.

The office had had a betting pool, and Hernandez, the janitor, had taken,

“Yes, he met Sasquatch, and they went out for supper.”

If that had happened, he was going to win enough to take his family to Disney Land.

I got to my apartment door and pushed it open; it was stuck.

I leaned my should against it and gave it a firm push. There was it a lumberjack or a Sasquatch when you needed one?

Then the door opened.

The floor was piled high with letters, could these all be bills? There hadn’t even been anything to spend money on.

Then I picked them up, they were handwritten, and as I opened all of them, they were from my colleagues. Each one is hoping I had a good time, each one handwritten, some on colored paper, Sanchez’s one hopefully on a sheet of Disney brand paper.Some of that paper might have been an creative client gifts kind of vibe.

If only we could turn this thoughtfulness into unique corporate gifts, we’d all be rich.

I wasn’t even sure how I was going to pick up all of these letters?

Did I stack them carefully, so I was treating them reverentially like precious cargo?

Maybe I should have a small wheelbarrow for these jobs? Now that would be a unique corporate gift

Did I fill my arms with them like a kid grabbing all the Halloween candy?

Or if I was going to be a bit of a meany, did I count them to make sure nobody had decided not to send one?

In the end, I shoveled them up, held them in my arm, and then stacked them, walked through to the lounge, and sat down, deciding to take the time to appreciate my gift truly.

I put the music on Forest sounds two this time, birds chirruping and wind blowing, and the aircon. This was LA, after all. These sounds left me feeling grateful; if we gave them to customers, they’d be unique client gifts, especially if I described having spotted the birds.

And began opening my letters one at a time.

These woods were like some amazing luxury corporate gifting companies of the soul.

I wasn’t even paying attention to my phone; the ring tone was set to forest sounds. So if somebody had called me, they would have sounded like just another bird singing in the background.

As I carefully scanned through each letter, my colleagues asked if I’d had a good time? Did I feel refreshed? And of course, Hernandez wondered if I’d made a new hairy friend and invited him to dinner?

I was glad the lockdown had eased enough for me to fly, as this wouldn’t have a corporate gifts for employees during covid; they’d have had to get me a VR headset.

It had been one heck of a year, Barry, I thought to myself. The funny thing was Zoom meetings had brought me closer to the team than I had imagined possible. Something about sitting at home and seeing other people’s lives going by. The office in the laundry room, kids walking in, cats walking, and sometimes knocking the laptop on the floor. He was leading to a hilarious outburst of swearing from the unlucky communicator. Barry didn’t realize till he’d gotten all of those letters how much he had meant to his team, and now he realized how much they meant to him. Although a cat toy with the company logo would make a helpful branded gift for employees

He opened his moleskin notebook and looked at the pages within, notes and short stories—one of those thoughtful luxury employee gifts that gave form to the companies affections.

And a photograph, a photograph of Barry having supper with Sasquatch, hairy and big-footed and sitting in the one diner in the whole forest enjoying a Quinoa salad. Hernandez, this picture would be one meaningful gifts for employees vibe like you in particular or rather significantly.

So how did I meet Sasquatch? Her name was Sharonda, and she was from Quebec, and her job was dressing up as Sasquatch and sneaking around holiday resorts in the woods. It was an excellent job for a 7-foot tall girl with the size of 13 feet, and I was in love. I even got to see one of her basketball matches at the weekend of my stay. What was even better was she had Wifi, so I’d be able to move out there and work remotely for the company. But how would I tell my colleagues I was only back for a week?

With unique high end corporate gifts, I could buy and plan and let everybody know quite how much I cared about them. Pens, mouse pads when they saw my luxury office gifts, they’d start looking forward to our next Zoom meeting. And I’d be welcome back, Sasquetchawan. The few gas stations and shops near my luxury treehouse were full of luxury corporate gifts with logo, that logo being, of course, that I was coming back for good.

A week later, I was in an Uber again, heading out back towards the airport and my new life. It was an exciting time. The sun was out, the birds were singing on my app. At least they were. And the Uber driver was perfect; he didn’t talk, had the AC on, and in every other way might as well have not been there. I was going to tip him, but maybe one of these new corporate gifts I’d been researching for my new life? Everybody should sometimes get expensive employee appreciation gifts; his email was in the cab. So I could even send him some luxury virtual gifts. My holiday and my isolation during the pandemic had made me think about gift ideas for employees during covid.

My one big puzzle was, would Sharonda be waiting for me at the airport in her Sasquatch costume? Or her basketball costume, funnily enough, I liked the idea of both. We were going to start a blog together and call it “One big foot forward together.” There had been tears when I’d announced I was leaving. Firstly, I recognized all the kind letters and messages from my colleagues, how much I’d miss them. Then Carole, who was happy that I was happy and her plan to cheer me up, worked out. Even if it meant she wouldn’t see much of me other than down a computer screen. And finally, Hernandez, who had won the pool, took his family to Disney World and insisted I gave Big Foot a big hug and kiss for me. That I assured him was the first thing I was planning on doing.