Topic: Need Holiday retention gift ideas!

I am putting together gift bags for residents at my 83 unit community. Our retention budget is quiet limited so please don't suggest that this can be done "for only $10 or $20" per unit (one person even suggested $50 each!) My B property simply doesn't have that kind of money and neither do I.

I can spend about 30 cents per unit for each item ($25 is max I can spend out of petty cash on one purchase.)

So far I have the bags, which I purchased from Oriental Trading for $3.99 for 50. They are small plastic bags that will easily hang from the door and come in a variety of colors.

Inside each bag I put a Holiday card that I made myself out of card-stock that I found at a yard sale; one small resin ornament that I found at Big Lots for $2 per dozen, and a magnetic calendar to put on the fridge for $2.99 per dozen, also at Oriental trading. This puts me at about $41 so far. I could probably spend another $60-$100 (in $25 total increments.)

I'm thinking I could get candies to put in the bag. They have boxes of 60 candy canes for under $2 at target, but what else? Ideas greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

Rose

Make sure to visit your Dollar Tree. They have tons of cute things. Candles, candy, pens, pins, knick knacks, etc. Dollar General also has good deals on candy and cookies. Good luck!

We have the same issue and my favorite store has become the Dollar Store or Dollar Tree. Hopefully thay have one by you. They have all kinds of things you could use like 12 ornaments for $1, 12 pack of Christmas pencils $1, Bags of Christmas candy $1 each bag, and so on or you can go to their website: www.dollartree.com/home.jsp
We rely on them a lot when it comes to resident retention supplies. Also Big Lots if you have one close by.

I wrote a blog post about some ideas last week - not sure if these ideas will be good for you, but thought I'd mention it:

www.multifamilyinsiders.com/home/multifa...me-elbow-grease.html

Also, if you want items for your bag, I've done the following with great success:
1.) Ask local grocery stores for their "recyclable" grocery bags. You know the re-usable grocery bags that you can use to bag your groceries instead of using paper or plastic. Usually the local grocers have ones with their store name, and they've been willing to give to an apartment community - sort of cross-marketing effort. I've been able to get them to donate enough so that each resident got one, and I had some left over for resident move-in bags.
2.) Ask for coupons from your local vendors, like pizza, retail, salon, fitness class, dance class, etc. Many times the local shops have a coupon circulating anyway, and can provide you with extra's to include in your bag.
3.) Sometimes your residents may have some business they are running that might be a great service for someone living in your community. For instance, dog walker, someone who will water plants, etc. If they are willing to give a coupon to your residents to try their service, you can include that in your bag as well.

Hope some of these ideas are useful!

-Daisy

There are many inexpensive gifts that might work. Music CDs perhaps Christmas music, coffee cup, and similar items.

I some times hand out gift cards which can come in a number of denominations sometimes these can be found at a discount from Costco. If I have time I always like to check online ahead of time for things on Amazon or Ebay.

Thanks for all the great ideas!

I'll definitely hit the local dollar tree and look for any 4 or more packs of anything that might work, (a package of 4 or more items will serve my 83 units and fit in my $25 limit). I did go to big lots, that's where I found the resin ornaments, but I didn't find anything else in my price range (max 31 cents each)

Unfortunately, the local grocery stores here charge $1-$10 for their reusable bags, so they are way out of my price range. I do put coupons in my move in packets but my residents don't really want a coupon that requires them to spend money as a gift.

I've never seen any CD's or coffee cups for 30 cents, but if they are out there, I worry they'd be too poor quality for that price. I don't have access to amazon or eBay, our petty cash is just cash, so no way to pay for anything online, unless it's through a corporate vendor. Fortunately, Oriental Trading Co. is on our vendor list. They have a lot of inexpensive items but charge a lot for shipping.

Locally, we can spend up to $25 on one purchase, but this has to provide for 83 units, so gift cards are definitely way out of our price range.

I've attached a picture of what I have so far. It definitely needs more! If you think of any more economical ideas, please let me know!

Thanks again!

Rose

Rose: my local grocers charge for the reusable bags too - the key is to ask, and you'd be surprised at what you CAN get free.

Hi Rose...

A lot of grocery stores have 'marketing budgets'...these are a nice little secret, but I had a manager tell me about them one time...grin...

What I've done is gone to every grocery store in my area...Martins, Food Lion, & Krogers and told them that I would love to do some marketing for them and asked if they would be interested in donating their canvas bags for the cause...Krogers donated 40 bags alone and Martins donated 20 if I purchased 20...Food Lion donated about 25 (and I have 2 Food Lions within 10 minutes of me so I hit them both up)...so I had plenty of bags to hand out and even had some that I kept back to give as move-in gifts with some other items inside them...

We order through HD Supply...so I've been able to purchase things like sample laundry detergent, Snuggle dryer sheets, Sunlight dish liquid, toothpaste & toothbrushes all in bulk for very little money each...of course they are all sample sizes, but the residents seem to love the fact that they got them...and that's all that matters...grin...

I've also done the holiday pencils, the candy canes, chocolate minis, etc.

One year I was able to find Christmas Bulbs after Christmas (on sale) and kept them so that I could make them Christmas ornaments the next year...

I've handed out small notepads with pencils and my residents always put their rent checks in an envelope of some kind so I've purchased small envelopes & gave everyone envelopes...

One year, I went to Costco & purchased bulk hot chocolate packets & microwave popcorn...I gave each household a bag of popcorn and hot chocolate packets for every member in the household...with a little note that just said, "Something to fill you up & warrm you up while you watch your favorite movie"...and I also had some mints in the little bag...which I purchased white lunch bags (like the brown ones)...their Christmas Card was taped to the front & I had tissue paper tucked inside the bag...these are a lot cheaper than the gift bags...

Good luck...you sound like you have a great start so far...Brenda

Thought of something that I'm doing that might help you. Since we don't have a car wash, I'm cross marketing a loyalty card at one of my local car washes AND offering it to my residents as a perk of living at our community. Perhaps if you don't have a car wash or gym, you can ask those local vendors to give a one time pass to your residents in exchange for being your "preferred" and possibly picking up new business. If you get a one time visit to the gym or a free car wash, that would be a great gift for your residents. Sometimes the theaters that serve food will give you free admission tickets because they make their money on the dinner. Chick-Fil-A sometimes will give out those free sandwich cards if you ask (and have one near, I know they aren't everywhere).

And finally, I volunteered for something one time and the Avon & Mary Kay lady had put together some sample creams for everyone that came out. If you have one living there you might ask her. I know the men probably wouldn't appreciate this, but I thought it was fun.

Thanks for even more great ideas!

I went to dollar tree and picked up cookies, 10 packs for a buck, and peppermints, $1 per pound. Next I'll head to winco and get wrapped candies out of the bulk bins, then I think I'll have enough.

Merry Christmas. Fun to do nice things around the holiday.

What I find funny is that, in terms of time, the budget was long busted of it's $25 price point. Between the time you spent online and the time to get to the store and prepare, easily that was way over "budget."

Now, if you really want a great retention idea (in your budget), simply pick up the phone, and call every resident and wish them a Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays and thank them for choosing to live in your community. You get to make a human connection, and no resident will say "what a cheesy gift" after you give them this one. And, if you want to take the time to even add value to your property, you can either remind the resident that a referral will get them some $$$ that they can use around the holidays (if you have a referral program), or you can ask for their e-mail address to send them some sort of e-greeting card. (and now you have a full roster of resident e-mail addresses).

Let me tell you what I did... If you want something really nice, personal and inexpensive... but MUCH appreciated- Chocolate dipped pretzle twists sprinkled with peppermint chips in a festive tin container or treat box. Its work... but at small properties personal gifts are really appreciated!

Merry Christmas!

I think you may have misunderstood my budget. I know, everyone's company policies are different.

I have a total of just under $200 to spend, but I can only spend $25 increments. I don't have a credit card for my property, so I usually have buy locally and must use petty cash. This makes it impossible to purchase something over the internet, or something that costs more than 31 cents per piece (I need to have one for each of my 83 units.)

The cookies from dollar tree are ten packages for a buck, so I spent $8 on those, and the peppermints are $1 per pound. I purchased four pounds which gives me 4 mints to put in each bag, plus some left over for the office candy dish. The cards I did hand make myself so no expense there, the ornaments were $2 for a package of 12 at big lots. I spent $14 there. The biggest expense so far was the refrigerator magnet calendars, which were purchased online from an approved vendor so I was able to purchase them online for $21 and had a coupon for free shipping. There aren't a lot of approved vendors that sell affordable retention gifts. So far my gift bag total is about $40, but I've also spent a few dollars on prizes for our coloring contest. We have those a few times per year.

We require email addresses on our application, but promise residents when they move in that we wont spam them with subjects that are not related to their housing. I do call my residents not frequently enough to be a complete pest, but to follow up on maintenance and such or inquire about anything we can do for them. Usually my contact with my residents is in person, since most of them leave the building by passing by my office, giving me the opportunity to touch base with them.

I am well known for my 'cheesy' gifts and my constant referral bonus reminders. I always maintain a pleasant, friendly attitude, so not only do they not mind it, they have a cheesy little reminder in their sight for a short time that keeps a smile on their face, and keeps my property full up from referrals. :cheer:

Here's a new pic of gift bag & contents. I think they are filling up nicely! I am thinking about adding a packet of hot chocolate and a microwave popcorn, then calling it done! I'll probably hang them out on each door this Sunday.

Rose I think you did a wonderful job! It is hard to work in a budgett when you don't have one that is big or is really small. I took $15 went to target and got 160 holiday cards to give to my residents. This year we were told that there was no money for a christmas party so I went to the Vendors we used all the time and ask them to help sponsor the dinner. I have also found coupons and started cutting them to make the giftcards that i received from the vendors strech. The extra effort that you put into the gifts make a diffrence.

Wow, 160 cards for $15! What an awesome deal! Good job! :)

I was thrilled to find a ream of card stock paper at a yard sale for a buck (and a ream of yellow card stock too!)

A guest of one of my residents drew a beautiful picture of my office that I use for all of the cards I use. At Christmas I just put a little wreath sticker on it.

Someone mentioned that I go over budget just in the time I spend on retention, but my motto is "find a job you love and you'll never work a day again", so the time I spend shopping for retention gifts, creating cards, and stuffing gift bags is free because it's not 'work.' for me. :cheer:

I love crafty stuff, but being creative but talentless requires a little bit of effort.

I also called and hit up vendors for donations in June, and we had a fantastic summer party with over $300 in prizes, but I don't think I could convince them to donate again so soon.

Rose you hit it on the dot. If you love your job then what we do extra is not a waste. The guy who said that you blew your budgett by time shopping and making is an edit. I do the same things also. Your owners and management company is fortuant to have you.

Today I put gift bags on each residents door. I think I did pretty good for staying under a buck each!

Here's the final breakdown cost:

.10 Cocoa (big boxes of swiss miss from Winco)
.25 calendar (2.99 per dozen from Oriental trading
.13 package of cookies (8 packs for a dollar at dollar tree)
.08 four peppermints ($1 per pound at dollar tree)
.06 Christmas chocolate ($2.48 per lb @ winco)
.17 Holiday ornament ($2 per dozen at Big Lots)
.08 plastic bags to hang on the door ($3.99 per dozen @ Oriental Trading)
.00 Christmas card hand made by me with love. (I donated the paper, I found a ream of card stock at a yard sale for $1.50 last summer.)

I'm sure there was some cost to for the ink to print out the cards, but I'm not sure how to calculate it.

Thank you to everyone for the suggestions!

I am already looking for ideas for my next retention, so please let me know of any successful ones you have!

Rose

Wow! You did a great job putting together wonderful goodie bags while remaining under budget. I am super impressed! And it was said earlier, but I will repeat it, your management company is lucky to have you. So are your residents!

Rose...Great job on the gift items...your residents will love the fact that you did this for them...if your residents are like mine, they know you don't 'have to' do this, but you 'choose to' do this for them...and that means more to them then any expensive gift...Happy Holidays!

IMPRESSIVE ROSE!!! Thanks for the awesome ideas!!!

I took a super simple approach yet kind of time consuming...

I contacted all of the businesses around us and asked for discounts, free stuff, etc. Then wrote out cute little Christmas cards with a humorous picture of the maintenance man & myself. Stocked the card full with the coupons, discounts & put it in a tiny gift bag with holiday candy. Also invited the residents to join me online on facebook & twitter for contests, free stuff...yadda yadda. It was fun. And I'm getting a really nice reaction out of it. People are getting their holiday hams with a discount coupon!

Robert, if you look again her budget was not $25, that was simply the amount of petty cash she was allowed to spend at one time.

I think you did great Rose.

At our property we have 119 units and I did something similar. I bought cards at the Dollar Tree for $1 per box of 20, candy canes for $1 per box of 16, and several bags of candy at $1 each plus gift bags decorated with snow flakes for $1 for a bag of 40. Every resident got a card with a hand written note and a goodie bag of candy. They really appreciated the time we took to do this for them and it cost us under $30.

Alisha,
I really love your idea!
How did you approach the business?