The holidays are here and so is gifting season. When it comes to giving gifts at work there can sometimes be some rules, and some things that you just shouldn’t gift. While you may love your boss and want to give them a token of appreciation, that may not always be a good thing to do. You will need to do your research first to see what would be best as well as check out websites like Packed with Purpose so you can get curated gifts that would better suit the situation and rules set out.

Find Out The Office Rules

Start out by finding out if you can gift to coworkers or bosses. If your company have rules that frown on this type of thing then your shopping is over and you have nothing to worry about. If you can buy gifts you may want to find out if there are any types of gifts that are not allowed.

Some businesses might frown up alcohol as a gift, while others may not want perfumes or colognes being gifted. It could be because of allergies, laws against alcohol in the workplace, or even worries about the item breaking.

Find Out What They Like

If you don’t know the person you are buying a gift for very well, like if it is a secret santa swap or you need to give a gift to everyone if you want to gift to one or two, make sure you do a little research on what that person likes. Don’t just get them something generic. You also shouldn’t get personal type items for coworkers, rather stay with more generic things like a gift card or a scarf and glove set.

Who To Buy For

If you plan to give the gifts out at work then if there is no gift swap set up where you have someone specific to buy for you should probably buy something for everyone in your department. You don’t want to make people feel unwanted by bypassing them. This is especially important for the boss.

If you are getting together with a group of friends from work and want to give them gifts that is a whole other story.

Speaking of the boss, sometimes your boss won’t want gifts. Find out before you spend the money and look like a brown-noser.

Don’t Do It Just To Get Something In Return

The holiday season is about giving, it isn’t about receiving. Don’t just buy gifts for your co workers because you want to get them to buy you something in return. And, just because someone buys you a gift, unless it’s an office rule, don’t feel like you have to reciprocate.

The most important things to remember are simply to know the rules of gift giving where you work, since you don’t want to buy a bunch of gifts only to find out that it’s not OK to give them out at work, and don’t give gifts of a personal nature (like something sexy to a coworker you’ve had your eye on).