If you’re a global company or have a global team, it’s likely that not everyone from your team will be gathering around for a Christmas or end-of-year celebration. Most likely, you’ll have members of your team working from their homes/co-working spaces/hotel rooms in Asia, Australia, and/or Europe.
That said, a holiday swag item may be the only physical thing that can connect your employees to your company during such occasions. This is actually something you should consider having because Gallup’s 2025 workplace research found that fully remote employees were the most engaged group at 31%, but they were also more likely than hybrid or on-site employees to report loneliness.
While gifts for remote employees during the holiday season won’t exactly solve that kind of problem, it can still give your remote employees something tangible that will connect them to your team and company.
To help you with your holiday swag campaign this 2026, we’ve compiled a list of the top 15 holiday swag ideas for remote employees. In addition to that, we’ll also cover how you can send them globally to ensure their arrival before the holiday season.
How To Choose Holiday Swag for Remote Employees
There are five questions you should ask yourself when looking for the best swag ideas or holiday gifts for remote employees that they will actually want to use.
Would they actually use it at home? A conference tote might make sense at an event, but it probably won’t get much use during a workday at home unless your employees go out during the day to work elsewhere. That said, it’s best to think about what your remote team members might actually use between a morning stand-up meeting and logging off.
Do you need to guess sizes? Blankets, mugs, and desk accessories are easy to include in your swag options list because they work for everyone. On the other hand, if you want to send apparel, you might need to ask them for their own sizes individually. The easy way to resolve this is to send a redemption link so your remote employees can choose their own size. Alternatively, you can skip apparel for your holiday gifting campaign altogether.
Can the swag item be shipped to every country on your list? Some swag items are harder to send internationally compared to others. Take, for example, India. The country has restrictions on imported drinkware and certain tech accessories, while power banks and other lithium batteries can create customs issues, including in Canada. If one holiday swag item won’t work everywhere, either choose something else or opt for regional options instead.
Have you budgeted for home delivery? Shipping one pallet to an office is very different from sending 200 individual swag items to 200 homes. If you have a remote or distributed team, leave more room in your budget for fulfillment. That, or you store inventory closer to where your employees live.
Will your employees use it together during a virtual celebration? Remote gifting can still feel shared among your employees. To do this, you can have everyone on your remote team open the same kit or package at a virtual holiday party. This gives your team a small common experience even when they’re in different places.
What are the best 15 holiday swag ideas for remote and distributed teams?
A soft blanket is one of those gifts that tends to be used throughout all winter (that is, for your teams who live in countries that get snow). It can be on the back of someone’s desk chair during the workday and be used on the couch after hours. It’s also easy to send because there’s no sizing involved. A small embroidered logo in the corner is usually enough.
A good hoodie is already part of the remote work uniform for a lot of people, so this is one of the safer apparel picks for the holidays. Go for something heavyweight enough to feel substantial and keep the branding subtle so employees will still want to wear it outside work. For sizing, let people choose their own through a redemption link or a swag store rather than trying to estimate quantities yourself. You can also check out our branded apparel guide, which goes deeper into fabric weight, fit, and decoration.
Cozy socks are simple, inexpensive to ship, and usually one-size, which makes them easy to add to a remote holiday swag campaign. They’re also a good place to have a little more fun with the design. A holiday pattern using your brand colors will usually feel more seasonal than putting a small logo on the ankle. For a global program, though, don’t assume socks will land equally well everywhere. They tend to be less popular with employees in India, so you may want to swap in another item for that group.
For employees in colder cities like Toronto or Berlin, a beanie can be used almost every day through winter. For teams in Australia or New Zealand, though, you’ll want a completely different option. Our guide to shipping swag to Australia has better ideas for teams heading into summer during the holiday season.
Long days in front of a screen and dry winter air aren’t a great combination. A small wellness item alongside a hero swag item gives your remote employees a few things they can actually use during the workday. For example, this hot or cold eye mask can work well after hours of screen time. You can also find more ideas in our list of wellness swag ideas.
An oversized desk mat can make even a basic laptop-and-keyboard setup feel more put-together. This one has a smooth polyester surface and a rubber base that helps keep it in place. It also gives you plenty of branding space without needing to cover the whole thing in your logo. Keep the design in one corner, and employees can use it every day without it feeling like an ad on their desk. Because there’s no sizing involved and it rolls up for shipping, it’s also one of the easier remote employee gifts to send.
Remote workers still move their laptops around more than you might expect, whether they’re working from a café for the afternoon or traveling home for the holidays. A padded laptop sleeve gives them something useful for those trips and can keep working well after the holiday season.
A small tech organizer can help keep charging cables, adapters, and other accessories in one place instead of scattered around the desk. They can also use it whenever they go out to work in cafés or during vacations.
The TYESO BRISK Slide Lid Coffee Mug | 13 oz is a desk-friendly mug with a wide, comfortable handle that feels natural wrapped around a morning coffee or afternoon tea. The easy slide switch lid opens smoothly for sipping and closes to keep drinks warm and spill-free between sips. It’s a polished, everyday branded mug that replaces disposable cups and earns a permanent spot on the desk even after the holidays.
For someone working at a desk, a 12 to 16-oz mug with a lid is usually more practical than a huge tumbler. The Rambler® 14 oz. Stackable Mug is over-engineered with double-wall vacuum insulation and a welded handle for a solid grip. If you’re sending two pieces, your employees can then stack them together. And for stainless steel drinkware, such as this YETI mug, laser engraving tends to give you the cleanest finish and keeps the branding subtle.
Instead of filling a box with several smaller swag items, you can spend the budget on one item employees already know and want. The fun part is building a little anticipation around it. Share a blurred photo in Slack, post a countdown, and reveal the item during the holiday party. You can also let employees choose their preferred color before you have it shipped out. If you’re deciding on the best Stanley color you can use for your holiday gifting campaign, our guide to best-selling Stanley colors can help.
For employees who care about their morning coffee, a pour-over set turns something they already do every day into a nicer little routine. The VSSL set works well on its own as it already has everything that your remote employee will need for their coffee break. If you’re shipping internationally, be careful with coffee beans. Food products come with their own customs rules, so one easier approach is to send the brewing equipment and pair it with a local coffee shop gift card.
If you have employees in India, Diwali is a major gifting moment and falls on November 8 this 2026. Dry fruit and sweets hampers are a familiar choice, while larger budgets can add something employees will continue using after the holiday, such as a backpack or headphones.
For this gift box that you can also use for Diwali for your remote teammates in India, make sure to keep the company branding subtle. A branded outer box is usually enough, and it’s better to avoid making the gift feel tied to one specific religion when your team may celebrate in different ways. For fulfillment, source or pack the hamper in India rather than importing it. Our guide to Diwali gift hampers and our guide to sending swag to India cover more of the details.
Remote employees may work from home most of the year, but the holidays are when many of them travel. Weekender bags and carry-ons show up more often in holiday programs. They don’t require sizing, they work for both personal and work travel, and your remote employees can keep using them well into the new year. Since this duffel is more expensive compared to the other swag items in this list, make sure to send this to your top employees, or only when you have a high budget for the season.
A Holiday Gifting Timeline for Remote Teams
If you’re planning holiday swag for a remote team, start as early as August. But if you’re already in October, you still have time. You’ll just need to move through the remaining steps quickly and prioritize the employees who are farthest away first. You can see the full five-month timeline in our guide to planning holiday swag for employees.
First half of October: Catch up and place your final orders
If you haven’t finished the August and September steps yet, take care of those first. Confirm which employees are getting swag, decide whether you’re sending bulk or On Demand, finalize your products, and approve your proofs.
If you’re short on time, skip embroidery. Embroidery proofs can take 15 to 20 days, which can eat up a big part of your remaining production window. For remote teams, this is also when you should collect everyone’s home address and apparel size. You can send your employees a redemption link or use a simple form if you’re managing the information yourself.
Try to place your bulk orders by October 16 if you want employees to receive their boxes at home before the holidays. Some non-standard items need 20 to 25 days for production, and international shipments can take another 25 to 30 days door-to-door. If you have employees in India, prioritize those orders first. Diwali falls on November 8, so you’ll want those shipments moving before the rest of your holiday sends.
Early November: Ship to the farthest employees first
If you’re shipping from the US, start with employees in Asia and Australia before sending to people closer to home. Treat the first week of November as your cutoff for anything that still needs to cross a border. This is also a good time to check who has completed your redemption link or address form. Follow up with anyone who still hasn’t submitted their shipping details, so one missing address doesn’t hold up the rest of the send.
Late November to mid-December: Switch to On Demand or gift cards
By this point, your bulk orders should already be in transit. If you missed the October 16 bulk deadline, move those employees to On Demand instead. Give On Demand orders about three weeks for production and delivery, so try to place them by late November.
For anyone you add after that, including late hires, you can send a gift card instead. Gift cards arrive by email the same day, so you still have an option right up to your holiday party.
Should you pick bulk, On Demand, or gift cards for holiday gifts for remote employees?
Let’s assume that you’ve already picked the holiday gifts for remote employees that you want to send for the holiday 2026. The next step, then, is to determine how you want to handle the swag items. Will you be sending the same holiday gifts? Send a redemption or swag store link for your remote teammates to choose on their own? Will you order in bulk or On Demand?
For most remote teams, a redemption link is the easiest option because your employees can enter their own addresses and sizes. Bulk swag works better when you already know what everyone is getting and want a lower per-unit cost. Gift cards can be used when physical swag isn’t practical. The same setup works whether you call them Christmas gifts for remote employees or simply an end-of-year thank-you.
Send a redemption link to an On Demand collection. With On Demand swag, each item is produced after the employee places the order. There’s a one-unit minimum, so you don’t have to buy extra inventory just in case. Pricing is all-in and covers the item, decoration, shipping, taxes, and duties, with the same price across available sizes.
Order bulk swag and store it closer to your employees. With bulk swag, you produce the inventory upfront and store it in a warehouse until you’re ready to send each package. Holiday swag kits work this way, too. Bulk usually lowers the cost per unit, but you’ll need more time. Around the holidays, plan for roughly six to eight weeks from production through home delivery. Our guide to building a holiday gift box for employees covers how to put one together.
Use gift cards when physical swag doesn’t work. Gift cards avoid international shipping and customs entirely, and digital options can go out the same day.
Shipping is usually where remote holiday gifting gets more complicated. If some employees live near an office, you can use that location as a pickup point and send one bulk shipment there, then reserve home delivery for everyone else. For country-specific customs guidance, see our guide to sending holiday swag globally.
When should you order holiday swag for remote teams?
If you’re planning a mid-December virtual holiday party, aim to order bulk swag by mid-October and send On Demand redemption links by the third week of November. Gift cards can wait until the day of the party, but physical holiday swag for employees needs more time, especially when everything is going to individual homes.
Bulk swag and swag kits need about five weeks before shipping and 6-8 weeks if you’ll be sending them to home addresses. If this is your plan, you need to have your orders finalized by mid-October. Otherwise, the swag items will be received by your remote teams after the holidays.
For On Demand swag, you need about three weeks to ensure that they’ll arrive on time. If this is the path you opt for, make sure to order by November at the latest.
For gift cards, as mentioned, you can order them the day before as they can be delivered to your remote employees’ emails immediately.
If your gift is tied to a virtual holiday party, work backward from the event date rather than Christmas itself. For bulk swag, give yourself five to six weeks before shipping and then enough time for individual home delivery. For On Demand, send the redemption link three to four weeks before the party so employees have time to order and receive their item.
India needs an earlier timeline because Diwali falls on November 8. Those gifts should be planned before the rest of your December program.
How PerkUp Gets Holiday Swag to Remote Employees
PerkUp is a swag management platform built for global teams, and holiday gifting is one of the moments when PerkUp can help you with your global swag fulfillment. Here are the different ways PerkUp can do that:
Every order type in one place - Different holiday sends call for different ordering methods. And with PerkUp, you can use bulk swag when everyone is receiving the same item, On Demand swag for smaller groups or sized apparel, and swag kits when you want several products packed together. You can also use event swag for a virtual holiday party and choose from 5,000+ gift cards when a physical gift isn’t practical.
Regional warehouses and suppliers - PerkUp stores swag in warehouses and has suppliers in the US, Canada, Mexico, the UK, Europe, India, China, and Australia, and ships to more than 65 countries. That gives you more options to fulfill orders closer to your remote employees instead of shipping everything internationally from one location. For cross-border shipments, duties are prepaid wherever possible, which helps prevent your employees from receiving an unexpected customs charge when their holiday gift arrives.
Swag stores that combine bulk and On Demand swag - Through swag stores and redemption links, you can have your remote employees choose their own item and size and enter their own shipping address. You can also create different collections by country. Employees in India can see swag items available locally in their area, while Canadian employees see options that can be fulfilled there. That gives you a way to keep the overall holiday program consistent without forcing every region into the exact same catalog.
Swag designers and custom sourcing - PerkUp’s in-house designers can help build your holiday collection and prepare the artwork and proofs for each swag item. If you want something outside the standard catalog, PerkUp has a custom sourcing feature that can help you create the swag from scratch (like a plushie of your own company mascot!).
Integrations and SSO - PerkUp can be connected to more than 200 integrations and also supports SSO.
All-year-round and flexible swag campaigns - In addition to holiday gifting, you can also use PerkUp for birthdays, work anniversaries, and onboarding events. This is all thanks to the platform’s integrations, allowing you to have automated milestone gifting, so swag sends for the aforementioned occasions can happen without someone from your team manually keeping track of every date.
Examples of PerkUp clients who have sent swag to their remote employees
HigherVisibility
HigherVisibility’s employees are spread across the US. For its 2024 holiday gift, the company skipped a larger gift box and chose a Stanley Quencher in Ash with the company logo. Before anyone knew what they were getting, the team teased the gift with a blurred image and a question mark. Employees then redeemed the Stanley through PerkUp and had it shipped directly to their homes.
Cornerstone OnDemand
For its 25th anniversary, Cornerstone OnDemand built a metaverse experience for employees around the world. Instead of sending everyone a standard gifting email, PerkUp swag links were embedded directly into the virtual experience. Employees completed tasks, clicked through, and selected apparel from a custom collection created with PerkUp’s design team.
Euna Solutions
For Employee Appreciation Day, Euna Solutions launched a swag store and gave more than 650 employees the chance to choose what they wanted. A holiday program can work the same way. Build a seasonal collection, set a redemption deadline, and let each employee choose the swag that makes the most sense for them.
Key Takeaways
Before you choose the holiday swag, look at where your employees actually live. The best gifts for remote workers are the ones they’ll use at home and can receive without a customs problem. Blankets, notebooks, and desk mats work in a lot of places. Headphones, food, drinkware, and other holiday swag items may need a different plan depending on the country. If you have employees in India, start earlier because of Diwali. For everyone else, lock in bulk holiday orders by mid-October so you still have On Demand swag and gift cards available for late hires or last-minute additions.
And if you want help building a holiday collection around your team’s countries and budget, book a quick PerkUp demo, and we’ll walk through the options with you.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you handle customs and duties when sending holiday gifts to remote employees abroad?
Whenever possible, fulfill the order from within the employee’s region instead of sending every package from one country. PerkUp stores swag in warehouses and has suppliers in the US, Canada, Mexico, the UK, Europe, India, China, Hong Kong, and Australia, which gives teams more options to keep fulfillment local or regional. For shipments that still need to cross a border, PerkUp prepays duties wherever possible. If an unexpected customs or duty fee comes up, PerkUp reimburses it so the employee isn’t left paying to receive their company gift.
Is shipping included in the price of On Demand holiday swag?
Yes. PerkUp’s On Demand pricing is all-in and includes the item, decoration, shipping, taxes, and duties. Available apparel sizes are also priced at the same rate, so you don’t need a separate budget for larger sizes. The price shown at checkout is what your company pays for the order.
Can remote employees in different countries see different holiday swag options?
Definitely! You can create different swag collections based on country or department and control which items each group sees. That makes it possible to offer locally produced options to employees in India while giving employees in Canada a collection that works better for Canadian fulfillment. Canadian employees can also see prices in CAD.
What holiday swag works for remote teams at finance and fintech companies?
For finance and fintech teams, it usually makes sense to keep the swag more understated and practical. A quality laptop sleeve, large desk mat, or premium vest from a brand like Peter Millar or The North Face can work well, especially with smaller branding. A swag store can also make sense because employees choose what they want within a budget that your finance team has already approved. For more options, see our list of swag ideas for fintech companies.
