Holiday Client Gifts From Financial Advisors: What Advisors Send, What They Spend, and What FINRA 3220 Says

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

• "93 out of 192 financial advisors – 48.44% – plan on sending appreciation gifts to their clients in 2020," SmartAsset found in a survey of advisors on its own platform, run December 1–14, 2020 (SmartAsset).
• FINRA Rule 3220 bars gifts "in excess of $300 per individual per year" where the gift "is in relation to the business of the employer of the recipient"; the limit was $100 until March 29, 2026 (Rule 3220; Regulatory Notice 26-05).
• The rule "does not apply to… gifts from a member or an associated person to individual retail customers" (Rule 3220, Supplementary Material .09).

This page is part of our client gifts by profession guide.

What do financial advisors send clients for the holidays?

Food first. SmartAsset says "Food or festive baskets are the most popular gifts financial advisors plan to send to their clients," and "Wine and spirits are the second-most popular common response, with about 14% of financial advisors listing that as their planned client gift." About 21% answered "Other": "personalized calendars, monogrammed blankets and various other custom items" (SmartAsset, 2020 study, updated Aug 7, 2025).

What advisors describe on r/CFP, by tier:

Another advisor wrote: "$150 gift baskets for top households, $50ish gift baskets (brownies) to my top 60 households." Some send no gift at all: "I will not be getting any of my clients Christmas gifts. But they will get a holiday card" (r/CFP, Nov 2025).

How much do financial advisors spend per client?

Under $50, for about 65% of the advisors SmartAsset asked. Its figures, for what advisors said they would spend if they sent a gift:

Source: SmartAsset, survey of 192 advisors on its SmartAdvisor platform, December 1–14, 2020. SmartAsset runs a marketplace for advisors. We found no newer survey of advisor gift spending.

Some advisors on r/CFP tier their list: one sends "something every year for about $100. to about 30 of my top clients" (r/CFP, Nov 2025).

Tiering is a budget tool: with no minimum, a box for every household is simple arithmetic (at $35 delivered, 40 households come to $1,400). How to plan the list: which clients get a gift.

Does FINRA Rule 3220 limit gifts to my own clients?

This section quotes the rules. It doesn't apply them to your situation.

FINRA Rule 3220 (Influencing or Rewarding Employees of Others) begins:

"No member or person associated with a member shall, directly or indirectly, give or permit to be given anything of value, including gratuities, in excess of $300 per individual per year to any person, principal, proprietor, employee, agent or representative of another person where such payment or gratuity is in relation to the business of the employer of the recipient of the payment or gratuity. A gift of any kind is considered a gratuity."

"This Rule does not apply to gifts from a member to its own associated persons, or to gifts from a member or an associated person to individual retail customers."

FINRA Rule 3220(a) and Supplementary Material .09, version "Mar 30, 2026 onwards". Read October 27, 2026.

FINRA's Regulatory Notice 26-05 (February 27, 2026) adopted amendments "to increase the gift limit from $100 to $300 per person per year" and says: "The amendments will become effective on March 30, 2026" (RN 26-05).

Why you still read "$100 per client." SmartAsset's survey page says "FINRA has a set limit, restricting advisors from giving gifts in excess of $100 per client, per year – with some exceptions." On r/CFP in December 2024, one reply read "There's a $100 limit on client gifts…", and the next: "If you are regulated by FINRA that is true. But not everyone is regulated by FINRA" (r/CFP). The rule's text has named $300 since March 30, 2026, and its .09 text is quoted above.

Valuation: "Gifts must be valued at cost, exclusive of tax and delivery charges" … (Supplementary Material .02). How your firm values a gift bought at one delivered price is a question for your compliance officer.

Investment advisers outside FINRA. Rule 3220's text begins "No member or person associated with a member". SmartAsset writes that "the SEC does not have a codified gift limit"; we found no SEC rule that sets a dollar limit on gifts to clients either. Ask your compliance officer what your firm's code of ethics and gift policy say.

Also insurance-licensed? State insurance laws cap gifts to insurance clients, as low as $25 in some states: see insurance agent client gifts. The full FINRA text and timeline: FINRA Rule 3220 explained.

This is information, not legal or tax advice. Check the current rule (or ask your firm's compliance officer) before you send.

The IRS $25 rule

"You can deduct no more than $25 for business gifts you give directly or indirectly to each person during your tax year."

"Incidental costs, such as engraving on jewelry, or packaging, insuring, and mailing, are generally not included in determining the cost of a gift for purposes of the $25 limit. A cost is incidental only if it doesn't add substantial value to the gift. For example, the cost of gift wrapping is an incidental cost. However, the purchase of an ornamental basket for packaging fruit isn't an incidental cost if the value of the basket is substantial compared to the value of the fruit."

IRS Publication 463 (for use in preparing 2025 returns; read October 29, 2026)

Whether a gift box counts as incidental packaging depends on the facts; that judgment belongs to your tax professional. More in are client gifts tax deductible?

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

Should the gift carry your logo or the client's name?

Advisors split on it. "There's a book called Giftology that advises that you make it personal, memorable, and long lasting. Don't put your name or logo on it, but put the client's name on it," one wrote. Another suggested the opposite: "if the gift is something you can have your logo printed on, when they have it around over the holidays with family/friends they might see your logo and ask more about what that is" (r/CFP, Dec 2024).

Surveys split too: in a PPAI trade survey, 44% preferred subtle branding over big, bold logos, and nearly 60% said a clear, visible logo helped them remember the brand (PPAI Magazine, Oct 2025). The middle path: a small, clear logo and a card about them.

Personal beats generic. "If its not personalized it will come off as weird. But if it is personalized, its perhaps one of the cooler parts of the job," one advisor wrote (r/CFP, Oct 2026). Whatever you send, ask the vendor for the contents by brand and count before it goes to 50 households.

What should the card say?

Two or three sentences about them. Our suggestion: nothing about markets, performance or referrals, so the card reads as thanks, not a pitch.

On a Personalized Gifts Delivered order, the card is printed, with no logo: one message and one sign-off for the whole order (up to 300 characters), with {first name} filled in from the address list.

• "Dear {first name}, thank you for another year of trust. It's a privilege to work with your family. We hope the holidays bring you rest, good company and a quiet cup of cocoa."
• "Hi {first name}, thank you for the conversations this year, big and small. Wishing you a happy, healthy holiday season and a peaceful start to 2027."

More lines: holiday card messages for clients.

Can an advisor's office pack and ship client gifts itself?

Yes: an office can assemble and ship client gift boxes itself, and by our estimate 25 logo mug gift boxes take about 9 hours of hands-on work (about 3½ of them packing, at about 8 minutes a box), plus a week or more waiting for supplies from about 8 separate orders. Per box, it comes out about even: 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, prices as of Oct 29, 2026).

A mug packed without a foam collar can break at the handle and must be bought, packed and shipped again, and a stale address sends a box away and back. With Personalized Gifts Delivered, you upload a logo, write one message and add one list. We print, pack and ship each box to its own address.

What to know before you order

• Gift limits. Each box is $35, delivered. Some employers and industries cap the gifts their people may accept; the limits, quoted from their sources: client gift limits by industry. The shipping spreadsheet lists each household's box at $35, for the gift log a policy asks for.
• The treats. LINDOR truffles contain milk, soy and barley malt (gluten); read the labels.
• Where we ship. The lower 48 states and Washington, DC, except Texas for now; no Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, APO/FPO or international. The order page flags any row we can't ship to, so you can fix it or take it out.

Where Personalized Gifts Delivered fits for an advisor's client households

Clients out of town need a gift that ships. One firm hands out pies in person, and "Out of town clients we will send a similar thank you gift" (r/CFP, Nov 2025); another sends a regional candy that clients "who live in other parts of the country/world" can't buy where they live (r/CFP, Nov 2024). One Personalized Gifts Delivered order ships a box to each household's own address in the lower 48 states and Washington, DC, except Texas for now:

• Each household's own address, from one list; start from our client address spreadsheet template.
• Food first, finished: 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, in a matte-black gift box with a magnetic lid.
• A card about them, greeting each client by first name, previewed before you pay.
• Discreet. A plain white carton; the label's return address shows PersonalizedGiftsDelivered.com, never your name or your firm's.
• A record for your gift log. When the boxes ship, one email brings 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. Each order prints one design, so a different family name on each mug means one order per household. We ship from New York. 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.

That is how you send each client household a holiday box: a custom logo mug gift box, shipped to each client, no minimum. Household list ready? Start your order: $35 per box, delivered.