Swag Ideas, Team Building, Team Morale

7 Employee Appreciation Day Ideas to Boost Employee Engagement

Employee Appreciation Day is right around the corner: are you ready to show some love?

The first Friday of March marks National Employee Appreciation Day (that means March 5th in 2021.) It’s a time when the people who drive organizations forward get recognized for their hard work and celebrated for their achievements. Though employee recognition should happen year-round, marking one day out of the year to go above and beyond makes for a fun tradition that your teams will look forward to. 

With the rise of remote work, hybrid offices and other digital means of working, it’s more important than ever to keep employee morale high. Boosting it with a nice gesture on employee appreciation day goes a long way in helping your organization maintain a positive company culture even outside of the office place. Employee engagement is also essential for maintaining healthy retention levels. 

So what’s the best way to celebrate employee appreciation day? One easy way to let your employees know you care is to send them customized gifts right to their door. Whether it’s custom tech swag, a box of great wellness items or a meaningful note with a luxury corporate gift, we can help you find the perfect way to send a more personalized message than a simple gift card.

Without further ado, here are some employee appreciation day ideas to inspire your celebrations:

Deliver the custom high-tech gadget everyone wants:

Tech gifts are great because they are, for the most part, one size fits all. You can order custom products in bulk for the whole team or dole them out individually for celebrating things like employee of the month. We carry some of the top brands in the tech space. 

ZSome of the most popular tech items we sell are Painted Apple Airpods, Urbanista Los Angeles Headphones, and FitBit fitness trackers.

More inspiration: The Best Swag Tech Gift Ideas and Gadgets

Send a self-care box full of wellness items:

Well-being is priority number one these days, and employee appreciation day is a great opportunity to help your team center themselves and rejuvenate. Make the employee experience great by sending a fully custom swag box chalked full of wellness items they can use to relax. 

Some of the best items to include are a spa set, a neck wrap for relaxation, and a customized wine glass that just screams “treat yourself.”

More inspiration: Top Ideas for Employee Wellness Kits or Gifts

Help make WFH a little more comfortable:

Now that the break room is the living room, and the kitchen is the cafeteria, job satisfaction is tied to how comfortable the work situation is in your remote employees’ homes. Though there are perks to WFH, employers must be sure that they have given their employees every opportunity to succeed in the new normal. 

To make life easier for WFH, consider sending useful items like a cable organizer (this is actually a massive help), custom desk set or even a blanket that can let people feel happy and productive in their space. 

View the full collection of WFH swag here!

Treat employees by sending gifts to their family:

For many WFH employees, the work day and the home day are combined into one great big juggling act. And because it’s still difficult to escape even to a coffee shop, you consider sending employee appreciation day gifts that satisfy the entire family, and make their lives easier!  

Fun presents that kids love include a custom 1,000 piece puzzle (get creative with the image!), professional frisbee, and a custom rubik’s cube. Consider packaging them into a box for the full effect. 

Learn more: 9 Swag Ideas for Distance Learning and Remote Schooling

Send a few customized books to inspire and delight:

Books are a fantastic way to send a specific message to employees. We offer tons of great titles, ranging from motivational books, to memoirs, to fiction and pretty much anything else you can think of. If there is a specific title you’re looking for, you can also reach out to customer@swag.com and we can help you get it!

All books come with customizable messaging that you can use to thank your employees. Some of our favorite titles include Dare to Lead, Finding Gratitude and Creativity, Inc. 

Further reading: 6 Ideas for Gifting Books for Employees and Customers

Set up interactive teambuilding activities:

Time off from the regular work day to do fun stuff with coworkers is another excellent way to celebrate employee appreciation day, and boost overall morale. If you can, try to plan some activities that get them out of the office (field trip!) or otherwise shake up the day-to-day of WFH.

This can be as simple as a trivia night at the local bar, or a virtual happy hour, or even a catered lunch sent directly to their doors! The point is to do something fun to remind employees that their hard work does not go unnoticed.

Swag Idea: Send remote employees a box with some boozy popcorn, customized glassware and a cocktail-in-a-kit for the ultimate virtual happy hour.

Let employees choose their own gift:

No one knows what your employees would enjoy most better than they do! So offer them a choice of a few great gifts and let them make up their own minds. 

With Swag.com’s giveaways feature, you can easily create a link that lets remote employees choose a gift to be sent right to their door. You pick the items, they pick their favorite! We’ll handle all of the logistics.

Want to learn more about swag giveaways? Here’s everything you need to know for successful swag giveaways!


The sky’s the limit when it comes to creative ways to celebrate employee appreciation day! Just remember that the ultimate goal is to make people feel valued, appreciated and cared for. What will you do for your employees?