I always enjoy the holiday season! I appreciate the beauty of a freshly fallen snow, the parties with friends and family, and the exchange of gifts with loved ones. I also love anything that makes my preparation quicker and easier!

We’ve created some new free downloads for the holidays that we hope will make your holidays a little easier and more merry. All you have to do is download, print, cut, and deliver, and you can get more enjoyment out of your last few days of 2012. Celebrate your accomplishments! Recognize outstanding performances! And express your appreciation for every teammate who made it possible! Download these fun printables and get started!

	Holiday Gift Tags Are you giving holiday gifts to coworkers, employees, or your boss? Enhance your presentation with our adorable gift tags! Inspired by the artwork on our Spinner Ornaments, these gift tags are the perfect complement to any gift. I plan to use them for my gifts! Download Holiday Gift Tags
	Holiday Certificates Celebrate the individuals on your team and their accomplishments with these fun holiday certificates. The holiday look and feel makes them a great addition to your last staff meeting of the year or team party. Download Holiday Certificates
	Candy Cane Wrappers Do you want to do something for your entire team but don’t want to spend a lot? Print and cut out these notes and attach one to a candy cane for an instant, low-cost appreciation gift! Your teammates will appreciate the gesture, and you’ll appreciate the savings! Download Candy Cane Wrappers
	Holiday Print and Posts  A thoughtful note can go a long way when it comes to making sure your team knows they’re valued and appreciated. A little laughter doesn’t hurt either! Our holiday print and posts will put a smile on their face and make them feel like a part of the team. Download Holiday Print and Posts

Get all our free holiday downloads on Baudville.com and visit our Recognition Resource Center for more free downloads.

Happy Holidays!

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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 holiday shopping season is now officially underway. Are you a super shopper or does your gift list intimidate you?

Confession time:  I am not a natural gift giver. This weakness of mine is most obvious during the holiday season. It takes a lot of effort to come up with appreciation gift ideas for all my friends and family members. My process usually involves starting a Google Drive document in July and tracking each and every crazy gift idea that comes to mind. I keep my eyes open for unique gifts that would impress my friends and family. Sometimes, I’m even successful!

Unique and creative gift ideas are tough for a lot of people. This is especially true during the holiday season when you want to show appreciation to so many. Who’s on your list this year? A teacher, caregiver, mail or newspaper carrier, boss, neighbor, daycare provider, teammate, stylist, doctor, or employee?  

Our Product Development Team understands the challenge of thinking up appreciation gift ideas. They put their creative minds together and developed more than 20 holiday-specific gifts, expanded to our personalized gifts selection, and updated our Gift Finder to make your shopping experience easier.

When we created our Holiday Gift Collection, we tried to capture the primary sentiments you express during the holidays: appreciation, gratitude, and thanks. Select a gift your recipient can use, like our festive Twist Top Tumblers, for a regular reminder of your appreciation. Or present a Spinner Ornament for a gift that will be cherished year after year.

Personalized gifts are memorable and meaningful gifts during the holiday season. Add the recipient’s name and the date to one of our high-quality gifts and wow everyone on your team.

Still need some help with your shopping? Use our Gift Finder to discover the perfect gift for your occasion and budget. If you’re looking for more appreciation gift ideas, visit the Recognition Resource Center where we’ve compiled lots of articles on Employee Gift Ideas.

What are your holiday shopping tips or favorite appreciation gift ideas? Share them 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.

During the holidays, we often take the time to express our thanks and appreciation to key individuals who make our days go smoothly. We often show appreciation for newspaper delivery staff, mail carrier, childcare provider, teacher, caregiver, and more.

Do you take the time to thank your team, too?

It’s easy to fall into the belief that employees don’t need recognition because they earn a pay check all year. But showing your appreciation for their efforts can go a long way in terms of motivation, dedication, and engagement. Take the time to recognize every member of your team during the holidays. I guarantee you won’t regret it!

At Baudville, our team turns to recognition themes to make appreciation easy. We carefully craft sentiments, messages, and artwork that will express your thanks in a fun way. Our four new holiday recognition themes are full of employee recognition ideas that you can use for the entire team or each individual. Choose your favorite and plan your appreciation early for a low-stress holiday season.

Snowman: Thanks for Making Our Season Bright
Our most whimsical holiday theme, gifts from the Snowman collection are great for thanking teachers and peers. Present the snow globe photo frame, and the recipient will bring it out year after year as part of their holiday décor. It will serve as a lasting reminder of your appreciation! 



Snowflake: You’re One of a Kind
One of our most popular holiday recognition themes, Snowflake: You’re One of a Kind allows you to recognize your entire team while speaking to their individual contributions. One of my favorite employee recognition ideas for this theme is presenting the Spinner Ornament with the recipient's name engraved on the back.



Candy Canes: We Truly Appreciate You
The straight forward message of appreciation in the Candy Cane theme makes it an easy choice for recognizing a group of staff members or volunteers. Hand out the Twist Top Tumbler filled with peppermint candies for a sweet and thoughtful gift of appreciation.



Reindeer: You’re Essential to Our Team
This theme is designed to provide you with employee recognition ideas for your entire team. The team message acknowledges the importance of working together and gives you the perfect opportunity to talk about the major accomplishments you achieved as a team. Present each team member with a travel mug that they can use to keep their favorite beverages hot during the cold weather. Add a little something extra by including a couple packets of hot chocolate or a gift card to a local coffee shop.

 

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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.

Many organizations have annual award ceremonies in the fourth quarter to celebrate outstanding performances and team accomplishments. However, it’s common for annual events to become a little tired year after year. To keep things fresh and exciting, you need to introduce new elements to your event. One way you can enhance the award experience is by changing your recognition award.

This year we set an ambitious goal to bring you an even larger selection of new trophies and awards for your year end award ceremonies. You can now shop 75 new trophies and awards in our trophy collection, many of which are exclusive Baudville designs! For a little guidance on adding extra “oomph” to this year’s award ceremony, we’ve put together five ways you can freshen up your annual award ceremony with new Baudville trophies.

1. Select a Colorful Trophy.
Traditional award trophies are beautiful creations made out of glass, crystal, and wood. Why not add some extra pizzazz to your award ceremony by introducing some color? Our new Brilliant Colored Glass Awards still offer the prestige of a glass trophy while adding a little fun with the bright graphics. For a sophisticated award, our Art Glass Trophies double as art for an office or home.

2. Incorporate Your Recognition Theme.
Several of our new trophies incorporate our well-known recognition themes into their design to complement your existing recognition program or event theme. Your annual award ceremony is a great time to reinforce the theme you’ve been using all year. You can try the new Themed Plaques, Desktop Acrylic Trophies, or Crystal Character Trophies for formal themed awards.

3. Create a Custom Award.
Make your awards unique to your organization by adding custom engraving. It’s easy! You can add your own logo or write your own award verse. When you order $100 or any one trophy, customization is absolutely free. Our new trophies offer large engraving areas so you have an even larger canvas to use to create your own award.

4. Choose a Character Story Award Verse.
Some of our most popular awards incorporate a Character Story. Our Character Stories eloquently express appreciation for unique traits and skills. There are over 100 stories to choose from, so you’re sure to find one for every award recipient! Our Jade Character Trophies are the most popular award for delivering a Character Story, but don’t forget about silver engraved gifts. These practical gifts will be a lasting reminder of the award for years to come!

5. Add a Gift Bag.
Vital to the success of your award ceremony is how you present the awards. To make the award presentation go smoothly, download our Award Presentation Guide and practicing your speech. Then order gift bags for each recipient. Prior to the award ceremony, place the trophy boxes in the gift bags. This will make it easier for recipients to carry their awards and will create a nicer presentation at your event.

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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 fourth quarter is the most common time of year for award ceremonies. Companies are completing their fiscal year, individuals are wrapping up projects, and teams are evaluating goals. When all the analyses and evaluations are done, it will be time to recognize outstanding performers and performances from the year.

When you honor an individual at a public award ceremony, you have a great opportunity to impact their motivation, dedication, and engagement. You can also inspire everyone in attendance! Careful planning of your awards event will make sure your recognition hits the mark.

We’ve created many resources to help you to create a memorable awards event. Start with our highlighted content below then browse through our collection of Award Ceremony information  in the Recognition Resource Center.
 
Award Presentation Guide – Say all the right things during your award presentation when you practice with this helpful guide. It walks you through the key elements of an award presentation so you know what you want to say ahead of the event.

Award Presentation Ideas  Webisodes – Baudville recognition experts share valuable advice and tips for award presentations. These short videos are packed with ideas that will make your awards more memorable.

Trophy Videos – We have over 70 new trophies available for this year’s award season. To get the best feel for these new awards, watch our products videos. They are the best way to understand the size of the award and its different features.

Free Recognition eBooks – Get ideas to make your awards sparkle and make a grand impression on both your recipients and your guests. Winning Ways to Recognize Your Stars ebook   includes handy hints to make your recognition more effective. If you’re looking for ideas on how to celebrate your employees’ accomplishments, read the Milestones chapter from the Team Up! eBook. Both of these should provide some inspiration for your next awards event!

Award Ceremony Newsletters – We’ve carefully selected a few of our Recognition at Work newsletters from the archive that are all about award ceremonies. Learn more about formal awards, tips for recognizing with award certificates, and more.

Gift Finder – Don’t let the title fool you! Our popular tool can help you find a trophy that will fit your budget and occasion. Begin by selecting the “Award Trophies” product category then continue to refine the results by price, occasion, and theme until you find the award that’s just right for your event.

Formal awards and award ceremonies are part of an effective recognition strategy. If you take the event seriously and plan carefully, your employees will feel appreciated and motivated for another year! For even more resources, tips, and ideas, visit our Recognition Resource Center.

What are your best tips and advice for upcoming award ceremonies? What have you learned from trial and error? What are your best practices? Tell us about 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.