Last-Minute Branded Christmas Gifts: How to Order in Time

Whether it's too late to order branded Christmas gifts depends on the product, and at Hotline you can check before you spend anything, because every product page shows the date it can be delivered by before you order. Set the date you need in the delivery date filter on our Christmas range, and choose from the gifts that can still arrive in time.

The quickest orders are a product that's in stock in your colour, a Visual Proof™ approved the same day and payment by card. For what to give, see our ideas on Christmas gifts for staff, corporate Christmas gifts for clients, premium branded corporate gifts and cosy Christmas gifts. This guide is about getting your gifts there in time.

What date do you actually need?

The date you need is the day the gifts have to be in people's hands, which is usually the last working day before your team breaks up, or the day of your Christmas party or last team meeting. Leave a little room before it to sort the gifts and hand them out.

Our staff gifts ideas makes the same point: work backwards from the last working day before your team breaks up, rather than from Christmas itself.

Two things about our delivery dates help here. Each one is a delivery by date, so your order arrives on or before it. And someone needs to sign for the delivery, so make sure someone will be in on the days leading up to your date.

How do you find gifts that can still arrive in time?

Set your date in the delivery date filter on our Christmas range, or on any of our category pages, and the range narrows to the items we can deliver on or before it. Each product page then shows its own delivery date before you order, so you can check it against your date before you upload a logo.

Where a product offers them, you choose Free No-Rush, Standard or Express delivery for each product in your basket, and each option has its own date. The dates on Standard and Express are guaranteed, while the Free No-Rush date is an estimate, so choose Standard or Express when the date matters. Once you've placed your order, that date is locked in, and we guarantee to deliver on or before it. The only exception is paying by BACS, which moves the date until your payment clears.

Our articles on shopping by the date you need and guaranteed delivery dates explain how the filter works and how each date is worked out, and our guide to ordering for a deadline covers how we deliver on or before your date.

What should you choose when time is short?

Choose a colour that's in stock, and if your date is very close, start with our Express range. In stock means the blank product is available today, and the delivery date on the page already includes production, so stock on its own doesn't make a product quicker.

Stock matters for another reason, though. We only prepare a Visual Proof™ for a product that's in stock, so if your colour's out of stock, there's nothing to approve until it's back. Our article on stock levels explains what the product page shows.

Each product in the Express range shows its own guaranteed date on its page, along with any conditions on its express service: the Express Curvy Pens, for example, base theirs on a one colour print on one side of the pen. Our idea on express promotional products for a last-minute event goes through the range product by product, and our guide to fast turnaround promotional products covers what's possible when time is short.

Clothing that comes in sizes is the slowest choice when time is short, because collecting everyone's sizes usually takes longer than the production, as our staff gifts idea points out. With a gift that has no sizes to collect, the date on the product page is the one to plan around.

Why approve your Visual Proof™ the same day?

Your own approval time counts towards your deadline, because nothing goes into production until you've signed off your Visual Proof™. So decide who's going to approve it, request it early in the working day and approve it the same day.

Your Visual Proof™ is free. Our in-house designers put your logo on the product and send it back with the price for your quantity and the delivery date, usually in around 20 minutes during working hours, which are Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm. You can ask for as many changes as you need through Request Changes, and the price on your proof is held for 14 days.

Upload your logo when you request your proof. A vector file gives the cleanest result, but a clear JPEG or PNG is fine to start with. If colleagues have to agree the spend, share your basket with them as one link, so everyone sees the same products, quantities and prices.

How should you pay for a late order?

Pay by card when your date is tight, as our payment and pricing FAQs recommend. If you pay by BACS, your order goes into production once the payment clears, and your delivery date moves forward each working day until it does.

BACS is the only way to pay that moves the date, so paying by card, Apple Pay or Google Pay keeps the guaranteed date you chose from the moment you place your order.

Where should the gifts be delivered?

Have your gifts delivered to your office, or to another address where someone can sign for them, ahead of the day you need them. A signature is needed on delivery, and while we can deliver to a venue, we don't recommend it, so it's safer not to send gifts straight to the party.

Each order goes to one delivery address, and we deliver across the UK apart from Northern Ireland, though delivery to some locations can take a little longer. Gifts for people working from home mean an order for each address, so when time is short, one delivery to the office, handed out or posted on, is simpler. Our staff gifts idea has a section on gifts for staff who work from home that covers what to send them.

If your order has more than one product, each has its own date, so they may arrive separately. Our delivery and returns FAQs cover the rest.

What if nothing you wanted can make it?

Choose from what the delivery date filter shows can still arrive by your date, and check each product's own date on its page before you request a proof.

For clients, there's a calmer option. As our client gifts idea says, a gift that arrives in mid-January, when nobody else is sending anything, gets opened properly and remembered, so a thank-you in the New Year is worth considering.

Six steps to order branded Christmas gifts in time

These are the six steps, in order, and where each one happens on our website.

To start, browse our Christmas range with your date set in the delivery date filter, or our Express range if your date is very close, and request a free Visual Proof™ on the product you choose.