Should Freelancers Send Clients Holiday Gifts? Yes: Small, Personal and Led by the Card

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

• A health writer, as Contently reported in 2021, "gives cards to smaller clients and gifts to those that provide the majority of her freelance work" (The Freelance Creative, Dec 2021).
• The case against, from a freelance screenwriter and translator: "I wouldn't want my client to feel obligated to reciprocate" (same article).
• A consultant's ceiling on r/consulting: "That's the furthest $20 will go, and it stays in the price zone that nobody would say I'm trying to influence decisions" (r/consulting, Jul 2026).
• Gift-givers expect pricier gifts to be appreciated more; "Gift-recipients, in contrast, reported no such association between gift price and their actual feelings of appreciation" (Flynn and Adams, 2009).
• One freelancer stopped sending cards when clients went remote: "it was too difficult to track down addresses" (Contently, 2021).

This page is part of our client gifts by profession guide. Agencies and consultants have their own page: agency client gifts.

Is it weird for a freelancer to send a client a gift?

Not when it's small and personal. In "Should You Send Your Top Freelance Clients a Holiday Gift?" (Contently's The Freelance Creative, December 2021), four freelancers answered differently:

Contently's 2014 piece on the same question called it "a dilemma many freelancers face this time of year." Freelance writer Lisa Evans: "I was a bit worried about doing this because I didn't want to appear to be pushy or desperate to drum up business." Then: "I've realized that my relationships with editors are more than simply asking for work and getting an assignment. It's about building rapport" (The Freelance Creative, Nov 2014).

Plossignac's concern is a reason to keep the gift small and the card free of asks (our suggestion).

Which clients get one?

Two of the freelancers above tier by how much work a client sends. Seitzer, in Contently's words, "gives cards to smaller clients and gifts to those that provide the majority of her freelance work." Ramunno planned "a bigger (read: more expensive) item to an old friend who ended up getting me a ton of work at her company... I really appreciated the referral."

Contently's 2014 piece widened the list: "You can minimize the sycophantic angle of sending gifts by including everyone who was instrumental to your year's success, not just those who pay you." And it drew a line. New York freelancer Cynthia Potts: "Give them to someone you've worked with for a period of time, or [worked with] on a large, intense project, such as a book... [Sending them to] someone you would like to work with, with as a way of opening the door or introducing yourself, could be off-putting."

Including everyone who mattered is arithmetic: with no minimum, at $35 delivered each, 5 clients come to $175 and 12 to $420. Which clients make a list: which clients get a gift.

How much should a freelancer spend?

We found no survey of freelancers' gift budgets. What freelancers say:

• Quality over amount. Seitzer: "For me, it's more about the quality of the gift than the amount, and also what my budget is for gifts that year."
• About $20, on purpose. A consultant on r/consulting gifts "a book or an affordable pen" and explained: "That's the furthest $20 will go, and it stays in the price zone that nobody would say I'm trying to influence decisions. Obviously depends on compliance -- a lot of people can't even accept a regular lunch under some conditions."
• Price isn't what gets thanked. In Flynn and Adams's studies (Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 2009), givers assumed pricier gifts would be appreciated more; recipients "reported no such association between gift price and their actual feelings of appreciation."

A freelancer's gift doesn't need to compete with an agency's. It needs to be clearly from you, to them.

What "small and personal" looks like

Personal means something only you would send. The same r/consulting consultant: "here is a book that reminded me of the conversation we were having and I hope you enjoy it." Seitzer: "I knew she loved Dunkin' Donuts, so a gift card there wasn't random; it was something I knew she would use." Ramunno, on the alternative: "I've heard of fruit baskets sitting uneaten and attracting fruit flies in offices… that doesn't leave a great impression."

The note carries most of it. Contently's 2014 advice: "Insert a brief note with your gift to make sure the recipient knows it's not part of a mass mailing." Its example: "John, two years ago, you were one of the first editors to buy my work for a national magazine. Thanks for helping propel my career forward!"

Keep it neutral. From the same piece, writer Lisa Evans on holiday cards: "No mangers or religious imagery."

Logo or not. A solo consultant on r/consulting wanted a gift with a logo ("a reminder that I exist") but not one that would scream "unreasonable expense/ must decline due to gift policy" (r/consulting, Mar 2025). A freelancer without a logo file can type a website (we find the logo there) or print a few words, such as your name or your studio's.

The address problem

Remote work moved clients out of offices. Ramunno: "Now that most people are working from home, I'll send e-gift cards since I don't want to have to ask for their personal address." Billock: "once everyone started working from home, it was too difficult to track down addresses... I'd do it again if I could easily figure out where to send them."

Asking is a one-line email: "We'd love to send you something small for the holidays. Where's the best address, office or home?" More wording: how to ask clients for their address.

Can freelancers deduct client gifts?

This section quotes the rule. It doesn't apply it to your business.

"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; page last reviewed April 30, 2026; read October 29, 2026)

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.

What should the card say?

Name one thing from the work:

• "Hi {first name}, thank you for a year of good projects and better feedback. Working with you made my year. Wishing you a restful holiday season."
• "{first name}, thank you for trusting me with your work this year, and for the referrals. I'm grateful for both. Happy holidays."

On a Personalized Gifts Delivered order, the card is printed (not handwritten), with no logo or brand: one message and one sign-off for the whole order, up to 300 characters. The message can include {first name}, filled in from the address list, and you preview every person's card before you pay. The order page tells you if a message is too long to print. A line about one client's project makes that client's box its own order; one box is a complete order. More lines: holiday card messages for clients.

What sending these yourself takes

Yes: you can assemble and mail client gifts yourself. 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 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, prices as of Oct 29, 2026).

For a freelancer, those supply orders are the catch: the supplies come in retail packs, with leftovers. With Personalized Gifts Delivered, one box is a complete order: we print, pack and ship it to the client's address.

What to know before you order

• One design and one message per order. Every mug in an order carries the same logo or words, and every card the same message and sign-off, with each client's first name filled in. One box is a complete 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 treats. LINDOR truffles contain milk, soy and barley malt (gluten); read the labels. The allergy and diet checklist covers what to ask first.
• Where we ship. The lower 48 states and Washington, DC, except Texas for now; no Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, other US territories, APO/FPO or international. The order page flags any row we can't ship to, so you can fix it or take it out before you pay.
• Order by Tuesday, December 15 for Christmas delivery. That date covers printing, packing and shipping.

Where Personalized Gifts Delivered fits for a freelancer

A freelancer sends a handful of gifts, each one personal. Personalized Gifts Delivered is built for small orders:

• One gift at a time: no minimum, no setup fee, no sales tax added at checkout. One client is a complete order at $35 delivered; 12 clients are $420.
• Your mark, small: your logo printed small on an 11 oz white ceramic mug, or a few words, such as your name, in one of 3 fonts.
• A finished gift: a 1.5 oz packet of Ghirardelli premium hot cocoa and 4 Lindt LINDOR milk chocolate truffles packed inside the mug, black tissue closed with a gold "Happy Holidays" seal sticker, in a matte-black gift box with a magnetic lid.
• The card leads: your message, printed, greeting each client 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.
• To their door, home or office: packed by hand in foam, inside a plain white shipping carton; the label's return address shows PersonalizedGiftsDelivered.com, and nothing on the carton names you.

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. 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's a custom logo mug gift box, shipped to each client, no minimum: small, personal and led by your card.