Keep the presentation neutral and consistent. A uniform look across every gift you send reads as deliberate, which matters when clients compare notes or when the same box appears on several desks. Avoid anything that dates quickly or ties you to one season if the gifts will go out over several weeks.

It also suits the man who is hard to buy for precisely because he says he wants nothing. A collection asks nothing of him, needs no assembly, and does not sit around as clutter. He opens it, shares some, keeps the rest, and that is the whole transaction. For a certain kind of recipient, that ease is exactly the appeal.

Corporate gifting has a low ceiling for effort and a high one for judgement. Send nothing and you look indifferent. Send the wrong thing and you look like you did not think about it. Chocolate sits in the safe middle, provided you match the format to the recipient.

Start with presentation. A favour that sits at each place setting is part of the table styling, so the box matters as much as what is inside. Lily O’Brien’s Chocolates O’Brien’s has been handcrafting chocolates in Newbridge, Co. Kildare since Mary Ann O’Brien started the brand in 1992, and the small-format boxes suit a place setting without crowding the glassware. Neutral tones sit comfortably with most colour schemes, which spares you matching favours to napkins.

A share bag suits the smaller, easier version of the same idea. It is right for a casual drop-in, for a flat rather than a house, or for a friend who would find a full hamper too much. It still says you thought about it, and it disappears happily over an evening rather than sitting on a shelf.

A few practical checks save disappointment. Confirm the image resolution the personalisation needs, since a screenshot pulled from social media often prints softer than you would like. Check the character limit on text boxes before you write your message, and read it back for spelling, because a printed typo is permanent. Look at the proof if one is offered.