Diwali Corporate Gifts to Avoid (With Better Alternatives)

Many companies still give Diwali gifts that spoil quickly, feel generic, or offend unintentionally. These poor choices create a negative experience and damage your brand image during a festive time meant for celebration. Employees may feel unappreciated, and clients may question your attention to detail. 

However, the good news is that you can avoid these mistakes. 

In this guide, we share the most common Diwali corporate gifts to avoid and offer better alternatives that are practical, inclusive, and memorable. 

Here are the corporate gifts you may want to replace with better options this Diwali:

1. Perishable Sweets

These are traditional Indian sweets like rasgullas, gulab jamuns, kaju katli, soan papdi, and laddoos. Many companies pack them in decorative boxes as festive Diwali gifts for employees and clients.

Why to avoid:

Perishable sweets spoil quickly, especially during long-distance shipping in warm weather. Delays in courier services, poor packaging, or exposure to heat and humidity can lead to leakage, odor, and contamination. If an employee receives spoiled food, it reflects badly on your company’s gifting standards. It also creates hygiene concerns and disappointment, especially during a happy occasion like Diwali.

Alternative gift ideas:

Choose dry fruit combos, roasted snack boxes, or gourmet gift boxes with longer shelf life. Vacuum-sealed Indian sweets or chocolates with expiry labels are safer for nationwide gifting.

2. Low-Quality Branded Merchandise

Basic promotional items like plastic pens, low-cost mugs, or flimsy t-shirts may seem convenient, but they rarely make a lasting impression during Diwali. These are often mass-produced with little focus on quality or presentation. 

Why to avoid:

While branded items like mugs, t-shirts, and diaries can be valuable gifts when sourced from trusted suppliers like TapWell, they should be thoughtfully designed, well-made, and part of a premium gift experience.

Such items work better for everyday brand promotion or internal events. For Diwali, a more thoughtful gift that reflects celebration, appreciation, and premium value is expected.

Alternative gift ideas:

For Diwali, you should opt for premium quality gifts with subtle branding. Examples include stainless steel bottles, leatherette organizers, bamboo desk accessories, or smart gadgets that combine functionality with design.

3. Overly Religious Gifts

These gifts include idols of gods and goddesses, religious paintings, spiritual books, or puja kits with incense sticks, kumkum, and diyas. They are often gifted during Diwali to symbolize tradition.

Why to avoid:

India is culturally diverse and your team may include people from various religions or beliefs. Gifting overtly religious items in a corporate setting may unintentionally exclude or offend someone. Even among those who celebrate Diwali, personal beliefs and religious sensitivities differ. What feels respectful to one person might feel uncomfortable to another.

Alternative gift ideas:

Stick to festive but neutral gifts. Good options include aroma diffusers, scented candles, decorative diyas, indoor plants, or elegant home decor pieces that are welcoming and non-religious.

4. Generic or Difficult-to-Use Gift Cards

These are prepaid gift vouchers issued by unknown brands, local retailers, or limited-availability outlets. They may have restrictions like location-based redemption or short expiry periods.

Why to avoid:

When a gift card cannot be used easily, it becomes frustrating. If the store is not in the employee’s city or the website doesn’t function well, the voucher feels useless. Some cards also come with hidden charges or unclear usage instructions. This leaves employees confused and undervalued, which is the opposite of the intent behind gifting.

Alternative gift ideas:

Use gift cards from trusted platforms like Amazon, Flipkart, Croma, or food delivery apps like Swiggy and Zomato. These are accessible to everyone and easy to use from any location.

5. Clothing That Requires Size Selection

This includes t-shirts, shirts, sarees, or kurtas gifted in bulk with company branding or festive messaging. They often come in standard sizes or require the employee to select a size in advance.

Why to avoid:

It’s very difficult to get clothing sizes right across a large team. People have different body types, and one-size-fits-all rarely works. If the fit is wrong or the design is too bold, employees may never wear it. Gifting clothing also feels too personal and may not align with everyone’s fashion or cultural preferences.

Alternative gift ideas:

Stick to free-size accessories like stoles, scarves, socks, or caps. If you really want to gift apparel, use a custom company portal where employees can choose their size, color, or style.

6. Fragile or Heavy Items

These are items like ceramic mugs, glass bowls, crockery sets, delicate figurines, or heavy décor items. They may look premium, but they require careful packaging and handling.

Why to avoid:

Fragile gifts often break during shipping or in transit between offices. Cracked or damaged gifts ruin the festive experience and add to replacement hassles. Large and bulky items are also hard for employees to carry home, especially if they use public transport or live far from the office.

Alternative gift ideas:

Gift portable, sturdy items like mobile holders, Bluetooth keychains, wooden table organizers, or foldable accessories. These are practical, lightweight, and easy to carry or ship.

7. Overbranded Promotional Items

These include gifts where the company’s logo or tagline is printed in large, prominent areas. Examples include mugs, t-shirts, notebooks, or bags with bold branding.

Why to avoid:

Gifting is a chance to appreciate employees, not advertise your business. Overdoing the logo makes the gift feel impersonal and self-serving. Employees often avoid using such items outside work because they don’t want to carry corporate branding around in public.

Alternative gift ideas:

Add branding in subtle places, like inside a diary cover, on a tag, or at the base of a mug. Let the design and usefulness of the product take the spotlight, not the logo.

8. Highly Personal Grooming or Skincare Kits

This includes shaving kits, perfumes, deodorants, moisturizers, and makeup items offered in beauty hampers or wellness boxes.

Why to avoid:

Skin and scent preferences vary greatly. Some people have allergies or avoid certain ingredients. What smells good to one may irritate another. In a corporate setting, gifting personal care items can be seen as intrusive or insensitive, especially if gender is assumed in the selection.

Alternative gift ideas:

Offer neutral self-care options like herbal teas, sleep masks, soy candles, or bath salts. These are more universal and less likely to cause discomfort or allergic reactions.

9. Obsolete or Poor-Quality Gadgets

Outdated tech like old USB drives, cheap Bluetooth speakers, slow smart bands, or unknown-brand power banks. These are usually sourced in bulk and look attractive but have poor performance.

Why to avoid:

When gadgets stop working within weeks or fail to meet expectations, it creates frustration. Employees feel like they received leftover inventory. Low-quality electronics can also pose safety risks if poorly built or untested.

Alternative gift ideas:

Choose tech accessories with good reviews and lasting value, such as wireless chargers, foldable laptop stands, or smart organizers.

Where to start with customized Diwali Corporate Gifts

Customized Diwali gifting is more than just placing a logo on a product. It’s about creating a thoughtful experience that shows appreciation and strengthens relationships. 

To get started, define your gifting goals—do you want to boost employee morale, thank clients, or build brand recall? 

Next, set a clear budget and shortlist products that match your brand tone and audience preferences.

Once your plan is clear, partner with a trusted expert like TapWell. 

With over 9 years of experience, we have completed 1,800+ projects and served 400+ happy clients. We have delivered more than 621,000 products across India and beyond.

We offer 4,300+ gift options across categories like tech, apparel, eco-friendly products, Diwali gifts, hampers, and wellness. Our product prices range from ₹20 to ₹50,000 per piece. We work with over 120 well-known brands.

Our team customizes products with your company logo or employee names. We also create personalized hampers for events, onboarding, and festivals. And you can order as few as 30 pieces, and we provide free samples for corporate clients.

👉 Contact our experts and get a free quotation