Gifts for Interns at the End of the Internship: What to Give, Where to Send It, and What to Write

We sell a $35 logo mug gift box, printed, packed and shipped to each person's address. This guide covers the other options too.

Key facts

• 63.1%: "The conversion rate has surged to 63.1% for 2024-25 interns, a steep climb of nearly 13% from the rate for 2023-24 interns" (NACE, the National Association of Colleges and Employers, Apr 2026; 284 organizations surveyed).
• 88.3%: "the acceptance rate reached 88.3% among 2024-25 interns, up from 82.8% for their 2023-24 counterparts" (same).
• After they leave: NACE says engagement must "be maintained after interns return to campus", with "small gifts during midterms/finals" among the tactics (same).
• A year on each side: "Consider internships as being from a year before interns come in and then a year from when they go out" (same).
• Gift cards are never de minimis: IRS Pub. 15-B says cash equivalents such as gift cards, "no matter how little, are never excludable as a de minimis benefit" (Pub. 15-B, read Oct 29, 2026).

Part of our employee gifts guide.

What to Give Interns at the End of the Internship

An intern leaves with two things that matter: what they can say they did, and someone who'll vouch for it. The best gift carries both. Costs are our suggestions, not survey figures.

Give every intern in the group the same gift, and let the note be where they differ. A note naming their own project is the one thing nobody else got.

Why Send It After They Leave

NACE's 2026 Internship & Co-op Survey found the average intern conversion rate "is the highest it has been in five years": 63.1% for 2024-25 interns, with an acceptance rate of 88.3% (NACE, Apr 3, 2026). Among the strategies employers reported using to raise conversion, NACE lists "Not view intern engagement only as a 10-week summer pursuit", and explains:

"… engagement must gain momentum through recruiting and pre-internship, accelerate during the internship itself, and be maintained after interns return to campus. Consider internships as being from a year before interns come in and then a year from when they go out. Keep them engaged with regular digital newsletters apprising students about developments in the organization and industry, inclusion in company events, small gifts during midterms/finals, virtual games and polls to get them connected and involved, and more."

NACE, "Intern Conversion Rate Hits Highest Mark in Five Years" (Kevin Gray, Apr 3, 2026; survey Oct 15, 2025 to Jan 4, 2026, 284 organizations). Read Oct 29, 2026.

The timing that follows from it (our suggestion):

A box in September does something a last-day gift can't: it's addressed to them back at school, after the goodbyes, when the internship could have gone quiet.

Where to Ship It: Home or Campus

• Ask them. In the last week, ask where they'll be in the first weeks of the semester and get the full mailing address, with any box or unit number. Our address collection guide has a short form.
• P.O. boxes work. We accept P.O. boxes; they ship by USPS.
• One list, every address. A cohort spread across a dozen campuses is one order: each box ships to its own address.
• August heat. The box holds chocolate. Lake Champlain Chocolates, which ships chocolate nationwide, says that "exposure to heat and humidity can cause the chocolate to bloom or melt" in summer and in warm places (Lake Champlain Chocolates). For a summer cohort, the first cool weeks of the semester suit the box better than August (our suggestion).

The timing for a Personalized Gifts Delivered box: Ships within 2 business days of a complete order (your design, your address list and payment). Ships by USPS Ground Advantage or UPS Ground, with tracking, and usually arrives 2–5 business days after it ships. Delivery dates are carrier estimates, not guarantees, and run slower in mid-December.

Are Gifts to Interns Taxable? What Pub. 15-B Says

"You can exclude the value of a de minimis benefit you provide to an employee from the employee's wages. A de minimis benefit is any property or service you provide to an employee that has so little value (taking into account how frequently you provide similar benefits to your employees) that accounting for it would be unreasonable or administratively impracticable. Cash and cash equivalent fringe benefits (for example, gift certificates, gift cards, and the use of a charge card or credit card), no matter how little, are never excludable as a de minimis benefit." …

"Employee. For this exclusion, treat any recipient of a de minimis benefit as an employee."

IRS Publication 15-B (2026), "De Minimis (Minimal) Benefits". Read Oct 29, 2026.

The IRS's de minimis page says "Whether an item or service is de minimis depends on all the facts and circumstances" and "The IRS has ruled previously in a particular case that items with a value exceeding $100 could not be considered de minimis, even under unusual circumstances" (IRS). More: employee gifts and taxes.

This is information, not legal or tax advice. Check the current rule (or ask your tax professional) before you send.

The Reference-Style Note: What to Write

Four parts: what they worked on, one result, one strength you'd put in a reference, and an open door. Each message below is under 300 characters, with no sign-off inside; "{first name}" fills in from the address list, and bracketed words are yours to replace.

For the whole cohort (one message, every card greeting its intern by name)

{first name}, thank you for a great summer. You did real work here, and it shows. Good luck this semester, use us as a reference, and stay in touch.

An intern you'd hire back

{first name}, your work on [project] is still in use, and the team keeps asking when you're back. Finish strong at school. We'd love to talk about what's next.

A software or engineering intern

{first name}, the [feature or tool] you shipped is live, and your code reviews got sharper every week. Thank you for a strong summer. Reference anytime.

A marketing intern

{first name}, the [campaign] you drafted went out to [number] customers, and it worked. You write clearly and you ask good questions. Thank you, and keep in touch.

A finance or accounting intern

{first name}, your reconciliation work made our month-end faster, and you never once guessed when you could check. Thank you for a careful, steady summer.

A remote intern

We only met on screens, {first name}, but your work showed up every day. Thank you for [project]. Good luck this semester, and count on us for a reference.

A small business's intern who did a bit of everything

{first name}, you answered phones, fixed the website and ran the spring event, sometimes in the same afternoon. Thank you. Any team would be lucky to get you.

A research intern

{first name}, your analysis of [topic] is in the report we sent [client or board]. You found what we'd missed. Thank you, and good luck finishing your degree.

Every card in one order carries the same message. The cohort message above works for a group order; a note naming one intern's project goes in its own order, and one box is a complete order.

What Sending It Yourself Takes

Yes: you can pack and mail the cohort's gifts yourself, and a summer class of 25 interns is exactly the size of our estimate. By our estimate, 25 logo mug gift boxes take about 9 hours of hands-on work, plus a week or more waiting for supplies: a mug printer's proof, about 8 supply orders, 25 labels, 25 cards and about 3½ hours of packing. Per box, the cost comes out about even with our $35: about $38 with USPS counter postage and about $34 with commercial postage, with $1,192.84 paid up front for the mugs, the retail supply packs and 25 postage labels (our DIY cost comparison, as of Oct 29, 2026). Then someone tracks 25 packages to 25 campuses, and a mug packed without a foam collar can break at the handle and has to be bought, packed and shipped again.

Ordering from us, by contrast: upload a logo (or type your website), paste the list, check the preview, pay. We print, pack and ship each box to its own address.

What to Know Before You Order

• The seal says "Happy Holidays". On every box today, the black tissue inside closes with a gold "Happy Holidays" seal sticker; your card, read first on the lid, carries the thank-you.
• One message per order. Every card carries the same message and sign-off, each greeting its intern by first name.
• The treats. LINDOR truffles contain milk, soy and barley malt (gluten); read the labels.
• Where we ship. From New York to the lower 48 states and Washington, DC, except Texas for now: no Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, other US territories, APO/FPO or international addresses, including an intern heading home abroad. The order page flags those rows, so you can fix them or take them out before you pay.
• Up to 100 boxes per order. For a bigger program, email us at hello@personalizedgiftsdelivered.com.
• If something goes wrong. If a box arrives broken, send us a photo within 7 days of delivery and we'll reship it free. If a box goes astray because of an address on your list, we'll reship it to the corrected address for what the reship costs us, with no markup, and tell you the amount before we send it.

Where Personalized Gifts Delivered Fits for an Intern Program

An intern cohort is a list of addresses that changes every semester, and a gift that should follow them back to school. Personalized Gifts Delivered ships it with no minimum: a logo mug gift box with Ghirardelli cocoa, Lindt truffles and a personal card, $35 per box, delivered, whether you had 1 intern or 50.

• Something from you on their desk: an 11 oz white ceramic mug with your logo printed small, a 1.5 oz packet of Ghirardelli premium hot cocoa and 4 Lindt LINDOR milk chocolate truffles packed inside it, in a matte-black gift box with a magnetic lid.
• The note: your message, printed on a textured card that greets each intern by first name, in an envelope closed with a gold wax-seal sticker, lying on the lid so it's read first. You see every card before you pay.
• Wherever they are: each box packed by hand in foam and shipped to its own address, home or campus, from one list.
• A record: one email when the boxes ship, with a spreadsheet of recipient, ship date, carrier, tracking number and $35 per box.

Add your logo (or type your website and we'll find it), or a photo or a few words for a personal gift; check the preview of your mug and card; add your address list; and pay $35 per box. We print, pack and ship each box to its own address. Cohort list ready? Start your order.