It’s the ultimate festive time of the year when the wealthy and even the not-so-privileged open their purse. Diwali nights are lit up by Cartier blinkers and the air is filled with swish of satin fills. Elaborate card sessions, dazzling diyas, and crackers are the flavor of the season.

The party circuit perks up irrespective of economic conditions and recession. Every host wants to exude splendor. The venue resembles literally ‘mini-wedding’ scene. The food is served on shiny silver plates, and the gifts are hand-painted for that personalized touch. Invites with glittering gold-embossed logos are sent with beautiful boxes of choco-truffles. The guests are treated to an era and aura of royalty.

From designer kaftans to gazebos by the poolside, the pomp and extravagance reaches its crescendo. A touch of flamboyance is evident in everything in Diwali from designer playing cards to handcrafted boxes filled with pearl chocolates and edible diamond. This is the occasion when everybody who matters tries to ‘make a statement’. Baskets of imported Belgium chocolates, rare honey, gourmet snacks, and oysters for gifts are imported. The jazzier the offering, the better…

In gifting, giving and partying during Diwali, signature style is considered important as it is expected to reflect one’s personality. Those with exquisite taste and money in their pockets do things in a real classy way. There are Diwali melas that offer unusual stuff including Baklavas and Swarovski-studded candles.

Amidst all the ostentatious display and pomp, there are few who harp on tradition with old world décor and authentic Indian cuisine. For them celebrating Diwali is about reviving the spirit of Indian-ness. The hosts hence try to keep everything from the food and flowers to gifts traditional. On the other hand, glitzy glitterati gifts could comprise anything from a custom-made Louis Vuitton bag to a Cartier watch.

Have money, will spend, is the mantra this Diwali!

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The gesture of gifting has now taken a whole new context and meaning. Ethical gifting seems to be the buzzword, not restricted to the corporate sector alone. The trend now encompasses a range of actions like raising funds for a noble cause or pledging your wonderful wedding gift, supporting and helping an NGO, etc.

A DNA India news report by Sanghamitra Bhowmik points out that gifting has taken on an entirely new dimension with the internet. GiveIndia’s is one among the noteworthy innovations. The site has a webpage titled ‘iGive’, which can be used by visitors to raise funds for a specific cause or mission that they support or espouse.

Amita Chauhan of GiveIndia has been quoted as saying: “We once had a couple that donated the money they had received in gift during their wedding to an NGO of their choice.” 

Gifting eco-friendly products also has caught the fancy of the socially conscious class.
The proprietor of eco-friendly gift shop Eco Corner, Urvashi Mody has been in the business for over two and a half years. They already have several repeat customers for such gifts. Mody sources these eco-friendly products from across the country, as she claims. Her shop displays a variety of them including jute items, stationary, craft products designed by the tribal people and the underprivileged.

Nyassa in the western suburbs of Mumbai is another body that has on offer its line of nourishing natural body & beauty products that it produces and distributes. It was launched in 2007 by Ishwin Anand. The products are manufactured with essential oils and entirely natural materials.

Eco-friendly packaging is also becoming popular.

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Here are a few (affordable and higher end) cell phones that you can consider for gifting: These are mobile models that are made in order to help a user deal with everyday personal and business-tasks more successfully.
Fly LX610 Mega: a perfect work and entertainment combo
This is one of the premium brand Fly models in the line of their business telephones. It scores on both looks and functionality. The miniature, light-weight device lies comfortably in your palms. The steel frame in the rich black color in the combination with the chromium-plated details and control key of the multimedia abilities make it appear stunning.

Fly LX610 Mega comes with 2 mpix camera with auto-focus. This telephone is ready for shooting both video (maintaining formats: MPEG4 and 3GP) and photos with the full resolution 1600×1200 pix. It contains the special camera’s work modes like multi shooting, auto-timer and digital zoom. The multimedia files may be stored in the embedded memory (88 MB) or by using the micro SD card. The melodies may be downloaded in any format both from Internet and from PC. The downloaded or embedded JAVA-games will help you relax.

The browser WAP 2.0 allows access to the WAP resources and for Internet-surfing. The admirers of the mobile office will appreciate the GPRS-modem function. Priced at Rs 8000 plus, it is a perfect gift for the young working men and women.

Intex IN3333: for those who want to gift a simple yet fabulous phone
For those who want to gift a simple phone with no complicated controls, this could be the perfect choice. It’s a simple candy-bar that can be used as an USB PC webcam and doubles up as an integrated webcam.
User-friendly Intex IN3333 mobile phone features and accessories include 1000 number phonebook, 100 SMS memory, 300 SMS storage, GPRS Class 10, Bluetooth v2.0 connection, MP3 Audio Player, FM Radio Tuner, Live Recording, Video Recording, 1.3 Megapixels Digital Camera, Up to 5 unwanted caller block, Java Games and Handsfree Speakphone
It also comprises applications like Alarm, Calendar, Stop Watch, Calculator, Unit Converter, Currency Converter, To-do-list, World Clock and Bio-rhythms. Hinglish Messaging provides language support in Hindi and English. The new Intex IN3333 mobile phone is available for Rs 5,000 plus. This device is as simple to operate as a basic electronic gadget can get.
Check more Intex models here
http://www.intextechnologies.com/mobile-phones.aspx

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The number of chief executives who are planning to make their presence felt at the Beijing Olympic Games is likely to rival the number at the annual World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland that often attracts over 1,000 business leaders.

Lured by the increasing importance of the Chinese market and the opportunity to help Beijing in celebrating its biggest international event yet, the corporate honchos are heading to Beijing. No surprise, tickets for the Olympics opening ceremony are going for $50,000 in the gray market.

Indicating the interesting trend, a report in the Wall Street Journal mentions that in addition to thousands of athletes, over 80 heads of state and close to 30,000 members of the media, another group that is expected to invade Beijing in full force for the Olympics is corporate executives! The report quotes chief executive of advertising conglomerate WPP Group PLC Sir Martin Sorrell as saying: “You could call it a sporting Davos. It goes beyond just a wonderful sporting occasion. There are political and economic implications.”

In fact, many executives perceive the Olympics as a must event for firms that do business in China, or hope to. Bill Gates is set to attend, for example, as is Rick Wagoner, General Motors Corp. CEO. Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries, India’s largest business house is also said to be heading for Beijing. Few other leading industrialists are likely to follow suit.

Among prominent global CEOs expected to attend the Games are Blackstone Group LP’s Stephen Schwarzman; BP PLC’s Tony Hayward Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s H. Lee Scott Jr. and Terry Leahy, of Tesco PLC; Motorola Inc.’s Greg Brown; News Corp.’s Rupert Murdoch, and. Yahoo Inc. CEO Jerry Yang may also be there. Randall Stephenson, the AT&T Inc. CEO, plans meetings with customers, partners and employees in Beijing.

The top executives of dozens of Olympics sponsor firms, including Volkswagen AG’s Martin Winterkorn and McDonald’s Corp.’s Jim Skinner are also going to be there. Many of these firms will hold board meetings in Beijing. The Olympics is looking more like a corporate meet than a sporting spectacle!

Tags: low cost gifts, , Best corporate gifts, Best business gifts, Business etiquette, gifting to clients, corporate gifting for employees, Gifting occasions, corporate gifts companies, promotional gifts

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We live in a society which consists of different kinds of people from different walks of life. There are certain people who are different, absolutely in every sense. They have what it calls courage to do a thing that makes a difference to society in ample.

They do everything to establish ‘ a uniform society ‘. Some even commit their whole lives and some even give away their lives in order to make sure that the world, after they are gone, sleeps with peace. They are special and they have to be honored even though if it has to be done within a small budget.

For them, day and night are all the same. They truly reform and transform the lives of millions of people by doing an emotional but magnifying deed.

What matters is to appreciate a brave social worker’s courage and commitment to society, to the world, and to you. Corporate gifting a memento describing the outstanding efforts of the brave social worker along with a rewarding cash/kind gift can be great.

Such people must be honored in a way that the world remembers to do much more than what they did for the society. Corporate gifting such kind of people is not only essential but one of the most important things a corporate company must do. Especially during times of earthquake when you require courageous people to help out the victims, it becomes essential that we take pride in their efforts.

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Corporate gifting is mainly done to strengthen a relationship with people, we know in person, who will enable us to grow in all aspects of our life. Many a times, we gift people just as to get a favor done from them. The point is, is this really a gift or a bribe?

The spirit of corporate gifting enables us to connect with people and make them a part of our lives. Generally, corporates gift a person because corporates feel that the person deserves a special gift and not because they require them to do us a favor. But in corporate circles, instead of wishing and congratulating clients, employees and others for being with us; many corporates tend to bribe them with a corporate gift so as to get some favors. Now this practice will have many backfiring effects as it is encouraging a corrupt practice and increasing the expectations of the person to receive a gift in order to do something for others.

Moreover, it cuts down the motivation factor into pieces and promotes bad performance.

So….

Are we doing good enough by practicing corporate gifting as a means of getting a return favor?

or is it ethical to do just that?

Please let me know your comments.

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It’s children’s day today and a child is the smile of everyone’s face.

Children are like those dreams that we see when we are asleep;

“Those very colorful landscapes that include a rising sun between two mountains during dawn which is fully and warmly expressing its light with clouds spreading all across the sky as if the day is all new, fresh and surprising.”

Children are considered to be the gifts of god. Children are the foundations of the country. Children are the present and the future.

For corporates, gifting children can help them build the foundations of the society. Corporate gifting to children can act as a motivation that will last a lifetime. Corporates can create a very good image of their company by gifting a child an education that will change his life.

Corporate’s can gift under-privileged children their bare necessities such as blankets, toys, clothes, books and other things to change the future of India and the whole world. Corporates must gift orphanages, child welfare institutions, child NGO’s, blind/deaf/dumb children, children with cancer/aids/tuberculosis/other disabilities, children hospitals, children hostels, schools and other children institutions to celebrate a happy children’s day and wish them a great life.

Wishing all children a Happy Children’s Day!

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Corporate Gifting as a social responsibility: Charity begins at home

Corporate houses have realized that the society requires business houses to steer unprivileged individuals with better education and healthy living conditions. As a social responsibility, corporate houses are beginning to create gardens, make road repairs, build schools, build colleges and connect to the social citizen directly. This helps in branding the corporate identity and helps improve the social conditions universally.

Corporate gifting helps a society ‘evolve’ comprehensively by building a strong community of volunteers that take care of the urgent needs of society.

Especially during conditions when a person requires monetary help for medical operations and surgery, online corporate giants such as MSN, yahoo, and others such as IBM gift people with the necessary financial and emotional support.

Corporate gifting to society helps multiply the benefits and can also be marked as a fruitful investment that will benefit the corporate houses themselves over a long period of time.

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