Gift Guide: Care Package

Send a client a well-chosen gift and kick off a new year of goodwill. We've got a wide range of shopping ideas that will help you say, "We value your business." Or at least, "Keep paying those invoices on time." Even better, all of the products are made by entrepreneurial companies.

Tweet

Taking care of the people who take care of you is always a smart move. Send a client a well-planned gift, and you could kick off a whole year of goodwill, especially if your prezzies deviate from the typical boring gift basket. No matter your price range, you'll find something to wow 'em in this selection of items made by entrepreneurial companies. (And because we're feeling generous, we've included a few gift ideas for you, too.)

$20 or less

Oh, Honey
Van Morrison only sang about tupelo honey; Ted Dennard staked his livelihood on it. In 1998, Dennard borrowed $5,000 so he could buy 50 hives and launch a company, Savannah Bee. He now contracts with 22 beekeepers, mostly for honey from the nectar of the tupelo tree and a few other varietals, which he sells in slender flutes for easy pouring. Savannah Bee honey is carried by Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) and Whole Foods (NASDAQ:WFMI).
$19.99, savannahbee.com

A Long Shot
Give the gift of a lower handicap. In 2002, Keith Blakely founded NanoDynamics, based in Buffalo, to manufacture materials for electronics and fuel cells using nanotechnology. Recently he applied the company's technology to the links. The NDMX HMS110 golf balls have a patented hollow metal core that Blakely says keeps the ball rotating on its axis for longer, straighter drives. This year the United States Golf Association approved the NDMX balls for tournament play.
$19.95 for three, ndmxgolf.com

Up the Ante
Here's one way to ensure your clients are playing with a full deck. Give them Swing Design's playing cards, which come in colorful faux leather cases embossed with a chirpy phrase like "one good turn deserves another." Designers Mark Hazel and Everett Bramhall founded the Concord, Massachusetts, company in 1991. Today they and their 35 employees design frames, coasters, and other gifts that are sold at more than 2,000 retailers.
$14, plumparty.com

Carry On
Wine buffs and picnickers will appreciate this little tote bag. Made of neoprene, the material used for wetsuits, the bag prevents the Chardonnay from banging against the Bordeaux and will keep cold bottles chilled for up to three hours. Aaron Lown, John Roscoe Swartz, and Carter Weiss founded New York City-based Built NY in 2003. The company expects to sell about $15 million worth of neoprene products this year, including baby bottle totes and laptop sleeves.
$19.99, builtny.com

Local Flavor
When Thurman Roberts and his wife, Hisako, founded the Salt Lick restaurant in 1967, it was just a roadside pit and a picnic table. Today the Driftwood, Texas, barbecue mecca draws up to 2,800 customers on Saturday nights, many of them hankering for Salt Lick's distinctive sauce--a mix of cayenne pepper, chile dulce, vinegar, and some secret ingredients. When the couple's son, Scott, took over operations, he decided to bottle and sell the heady mixture in a three-bottle gift pack.
$19.95, saltlickbbq.com

$20 to $50

Upper Glass
Designer Angela Adams says she finds inspiration for her products in things that "provide a little comfort," like stones on the beach and the old television in her childhood home. She uses these motifs for the patterns on her handmade wool rugs, sateen duvets, and chunky glasses like these mod Manfred tumblers. Eight years after its founding, her Portland, Maine, company has 22 employees; about 400 retailers, including Design Within Reach, carry its products.
$32 for four, angelaadams.com

A Little Leverage
For its signature trick, the Houdini will free the cork from a wine bottle in a few seconds flat, using a rack-and-pinion gear system. Riki Kane, a former journalist, founded her New York City company, Metrokane, to sell juicers. In 1999, when the patent on another company's lever-pull corkscrew expired, Kane designed her own biomorphic take on the mechanism and called it the Rabbit. Now, Metrokane sells about 725,000 lever corkscrews a year.
$30, metrokane.com

Sneak Attack
An improbable cure for long meetings, the Ninja Attack can catapult plastic ninja fighters farther than the length of the average conference table. The novelty item, sold by Seattle-based Accoutrements, is part of founder Mark Pahlow's irreverent catalog, which includes Devil Duckies--rubber ducks with horns--and the Deluxe Librarian Action Figure, with integrated push-to-shush technology.
$4.95 for the gun and $24.95 for a tub of 72 ninjas, mcphee.com

Play It As It Lays
Siblings Jay and Guy Holland founded Mulholland Brothers almost 20 years ago to meld two passions: field sports and leather craftsmanship. The product line began with fishing rod cases and shooting bags, then expanded into luggage and golf accessories. Jay--CEO of the San Francisco company, and a self-described "lousy golfer"--finds plenty of use for this practice putter hole, available in rugged lariat- or stout-colored leather, with scalloped edges to trap the ball.
$46, mulhollandbrothers.com

 1 | 2 | 3  NEXT 

Read more:

Sign-up for our Technology Newsletter

Email Address: