The holidays are here! It seems like all the major retail areas are already bustling with holiday shoppers looking for the best gifts for everyone on their list. Have you thought about appreciation for your team yet?

The holidays and end of the year are an important time to reflect upon the contributions, accomplishments, and successes of your team. At Baudville, we celebrate with our Year End Party which includes awards, employee gifts, and lots of fun! Our employees always look forward to our event, so I’ve put together three areas of tips and ideas to help you make your own year end efforts successful. You can also get all these tips in our Recognition TV video.

1. Event Themes
Your year event or award ceremony should have a theme! It can be simple or as creative as you can imagine. Some of our past themes for the Baudville Year End Party have been game show, roaring twenties, and casino. Regardless of the theme you choose, you should always make it about the guests of honor: your team.

Your theme gets applied to all the communication about your event including the invitation, presentation slides, menu, directional signs, table cards, ID cards, even your follow up newsletter article. ID cards are an important element of our year end party. Every employee receives a card (we make them with the IDville ID Maker system) when we arrive at the party. The ID card reveals table assignments and makes employees and guests more comfortable because they don’t have to remember everyone’s name! 

2. Awards
The end of the year is a popular time for the presentation of awards. Most organizations have some form of an award program. Award programs are an important part of your culture because it expresses what’s important at your organization and gives real life examples of your values. When it comes to presenting awards, your speech and prepared remarks are extremely important. Download our Award Presentation Guide for help writing an excellent award presentation.

Earlier this week, I wrote a post about popular year end awards. You can get all the details in my Popular Year End Awards Motivate Performance article. These awards are great for public recognition at a company-wide year end event.  However, not every organization gathers together at the end of the year.

Even if your organization doesn’t throw a holiday bash, you should celebrate and recognize your team! I recommend using award certificates because they’re an inexpensive option and can be personalized for the recipient. My tip for recognizing a small team is to create a unique award title for each recipient. We have some sample recognition award titles you can download from our Recognition Resource Center. Bring your team together to enjoy some holiday treats and call each member up to the front to receive their certificate. The camaraderie and public recognition may make this your employees’ favorite holiday event!

3. Gifts
Finally, the holidays wouldn’t be complete without gifts! What’s your plan for recognizing your team? When you give your team a gift at the holidays, it expresses your appreciation for their presence, contributions, and loyalty. In our last Recognition TV webisode, our product manager shared a few of her favorite gifts. Watch her video and read her suggestions on the Baudville blog. Here are a few more tips to help you with your team gift shopping:

Make it personal. Recognition that’s sincere and personal is the most effective. When your gift is personal for the recipient, it shows that you know them and value their preferences. Of course, you’re faced with the challenge of selecting something personal for every member of your team. To streamline your gift giving, you can get variations of the same item. Our gift books are perfect. They focus on a variety of different topics, like teamwork, making a difference, or thank you. Select a different book for each member of your team and write a note on the inside cover. Sign your name and date it, so the recipient will always remember where it came from.

Make it last. You also want your gift to last - not be tossed out in the post-holiday rush. Choose a gift that your team can use in the office. Take a look at ourdesktop gift collection. You can engrave the character story of your choice on several of the items, so your gift is personal and lasting. Some of my favorites are the journals and folios. We've found this kind of gift to be very effective. For example, for her first holiday at Baudville one of my coworkers received a folio from her manager. Her manager had written a personal note on the inside of the folio expressing how excited he was to have her on the team. That’s memorable!

Make it meaningful. Your recognition during the end of the year is purposeful: you want to reinforce desired behaviors and make your team feel appreciated. But your team won’t know what you’re recognizing if you don’t tell them. When you present your awards, be sure to give specific examples of the award recipient’s successes and accomplishments from the year. At Baudville, the accomplishments and contributions of our Inspire Award winners are listed before their names are revealed! It’s very effective and fun for everyone in attendance.

How do you recognize your team during the holidays? What are your best practices?

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Cori is Baudville's in-house Recognitionista (she's officially a Certified Recognition Professional, too)  and a member of the Millennial generation. Get her employee recognition tips and special discounts by liking Baudville on Facebook.

Although some people say the art of gift giving has fallen by the wayside in our fast-paced lives, I say not so! Lots of managers, companies, and coworkers give meaningful, memorable gifts to employees during the holiday season.

I know it may seem a little early to talk about gift shopping, but the time is here! As you plan your employee gifts for the end of the year, keep these tips for gift giving in mind for an effective and impactful gift moment.

1. Keep it Simple. Your gift doesn’t need to be extravagant in order to make an impact. Brainstorm gift ideas your recipients will appreciate, such as a favorite candy or desktop gift. Remember, it really is the thought that counts!

2. Shop Early. Holiday gift items are often limited in quantity, like our popular Spinner Ornaments. For the best selection, shop early!

3. Stick to your Budget. There’s no need to overextend yourself for employee gifts.  Shop by price on Baudville.com to find gifts that will fit budgets of all sizes.

4. A Gift is as Good as its Wrapping. Make your gift beautiful for the presentation! Always give a gift after its been gift wrapped. If you’re not very good with all that folding and taping, use a gift bag. A beautiful gift bag and matching tissue paper can make a memorable impression on the recipient.

5. The Presentation is as Memorable as the Gift. Giving employee gifts at the end of the year is a great opportunity for motivating your team. Think about what you will say when you present gifts to get the most bang for your buck.

DO NOT simply leave the gift on your employees’ desks while they are in the bathroom! Take your team out to lunch or organize a special team meeting with refreshments. By taking the time out of your busy schedule, you let your employees know their contributions are important.

Can you think of a gift that a boss or coworker gave you that was given just right: memorable and personal? Or do you have a gift giving horror story? Share it here!

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Cori is Baudville's in-house Recognitionista (she's officially a Certified Recognition Professional, too)  and a member of the Millennial generation. Get her employee recognition tips and special discounts by liking Baudville on Facebook.

When we first created our line of eco-friendly greeting cards, our environmental standards put our FSC certified recycled cards ahead of the industry. In the Baudville collection, every card is made with at least 50% recycled content and 30% post-consumer content. This season, we’re continuing to provide beautifully crafted cards that are doing great things for our environment.

Once again, we’re partnering with American Forests, the nation’s oldest nonprofit citizens’ conservation organization, to plant trees during the 2010 holiday season. For each holiday greeting card purchase, we’ll make a donation to the American Forests Global ReLeaf project to plant three trees in the United States.

Over the past 2 years, we’ve planted over 5,000 trees!

It’s common business practice to send a holiday greeting card to customers, clients and employees to show your appreciation for their business over the year. This year, choose a Baudville holiday greeting card,  plant trees, and help our environment!

Baudville has over 100 holiday greeting cards designs! Choose your favorite and send your best wishes during the holiday season.

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Cori is Baudville's in-house Recognitionista (she's officially a Certified Recognition Professional, too)  and a member of the Millennial generation. Get her employee recognition tips and special discounts by liking Baudville on Facebook.

As the fourth quarter marches on, and the holiday season quickly approaches, it’s time to start thinking about recognizing your team. Celebrating the accomplishments and efforts of your team at the end of the year can be very important to motivation and engagement in the New Year.

Join me next week Thursday for a brief webisode about Year End Awards and Recognition. I’ll discuss why it’s important to recognize your team at this time of the year and provide recognition ideas for all budgets. Register here!

Baudville’s webisodes are only 15 minutes long and are live video feeds, so it’s like a coffee break with a friend! Participate in our chat room to ask questions in real time and discuss year end awards with other webisode attendees.

Don’t know what to expect from Recognition TV? Watch previous webisodes!

To ensure the best webisode experience possible, please test your system prior to the webisode by making sure Flash Player is updated.

See you Thursday!

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Cori is Baudville's in-house Recognitionista (she's officially a Certified Recognition Professional, too)  and a member of the Millennial generation. Get her employee recognition tips and special discounts by liking Baudville on Facebook.

The holidays are right around the corner, and managers are already thinking about the perfect holiday gift for 2010. At the end of the year, it’s important to recognize the accomplishments and efforts of your teammates or employees.

A small act of recognition can boost spirits and motivation for the New Year. If employees don’t feel appreciated, they won’t be as engaged or put forth as much effort.

As the recognition experts, we’ve learned a lot about holiday team recognition gifts through the years. Here are a few of our top recommendations:

 Award Certificates
Award certificates are the most affordable way to recognize your team during the holidays. With an award certificate bundle, you can create 50 personalized awards for only $2 each. The award certificate bundle includes everything you need, so creating certificates is easy.

 Greeting Cards & Sweet Treats
Pair a personalized holiday greeting card with a small gift, like our Sweet Treats, for a tasty treat your employees can enjoy any afternoon. For the greatest impact, write a personal note to each of your employees.

 Our Most Popular Team Recognition Gift, Spinner Ornaments
If you pride yourself on being a part of the latest trend, then you’ll want to give our Spinner Ornaments for your holiday team recognition gift. Spinner Ornaments have been our most popular holiday gift for several years. Make your unique mark on the gift by personalizing each ornament and writing a personal note on the inside of the gift box.

We’ve given ornaments to our staff the last few years, and they are becoming a collector’s item among employees!

 Office-Friendly Gifts
Team recognition gifts that can be used regularly around the office are always well received by employees. Portfolios, travel mugs and gift sets are been popular because most employees can put the gift to good use. As a gift giver, it’s always fun to see your gifts in use!

 Award Trophies for Major Accomplishments
If you’re celebrating a major accomplishment on your team, celebrate in style! Present award trophies to the team. Customize trophy verses to reference the specific accomplishment and personalize each trophy with the recipient’s name.

Regardless of what team recognition gift you choose for this year, make your gift personal for each recipient by including a greeting card with a handwritten note. Employees will treasure and remember your kind words!