Christmas gifts for staff: a good bag, filled

Staff gifts are hard. Hoodies need sizes, food needs a list of allergies, and anything with the company logo plastered across it quietly goes in the bin. A good bag avoids all three problems. It fits everyone, it's something most people use every week, and it doubles as the wrapping for whatever you put inside.

It also means the gift doesn't end on Boxing Day. The hamper gets eaten; the bag goes to the shops, the gym and the allotment for years. That's a better return on the budget than another box of biscuits, and a nicer thing to be remembered by.

The mistake we'd avoid is a Christmas-jumper design. Reindeer and snowflakes look lovely on 20 December and odd on 20 February, and a bag that only works for one month spends eleven of them in a drawer.

Let the bag colour do the festive part instead. A red, bottle green or deep navy bag with a single white or cream print feels Christmassy under the tree and still looks right in spring. Then give the print a reason to be carried:

• A drawing of your city, street or building, with a small company name underneath.
• The team's in-joke, if it's printable. People carry bags that make them smile.
• Every first name in the team in one design, set into a shape or a list. Screen printing puts the same print on every bag, so this is how you make it personal: everyone finds their own name on it.

One to two ink colours is plenty, and it keeps the screen charge down. If you want each person's name on their own bag, that's a job for embroidery or individual personalisation, which we don't offer. We'd rather say so now than in December.

Our standard turnaround is 7 to 10 working days from your approved proof. Add a few days for picking a bag and settling the artwork, and a few more for filling the bags once they arrive. If you want them handed out at the Christmas party, November is the month to order.

If December has already arrived, all is not lost. Our express range can be printed from the next working day: four recycled bags we keep in stock (two of them in black or natural only), up to 500 of each per order, with orders after 1pm counting from the next working day. Keep the whole order on express bags, because an order ships together and one standard bag makes it all standard.

We deliver by DPD Next Day to UK mainland addresses. For more festive ideas, including bags for shops and markets, see our Christmas printed bags page.