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.

A retirement gift has to carry more than most. It marks the end of a career rather than a single occasion, it usually comes from a group rather than one person, and it tends to be opened in front of the very colleagues chipping in for it. A full chocolate hamper handles all of that with a generosity the moment deserves.

The case for a hamper over a smaller gift is scale. A career of thirty or forty years is not marked by a modest box, and Lily O'Brien's a hamper reads as the send-off such a stretch has earned. It arrives as an event, it gives the leaver something substantial to open at the desk or the gathering, and it shares around the team who came to say goodbye. That shared element matters, because a retirement is as much a moment for the people staying as for the person leaving.

On dietary questions, and there will be some, point guests to the published ingredient information rather than vouching for suitability yourself. It is the accurate way to answer.

For an early anniversary, a first or a second say, the register is warm and unshowy. A mid-size collection, perhaps with a short printed message or the date, says you remembered and you made a small effort, which is precisely the tone those years call for. It is a gift between two people rather than a public statement, so restraint reads better than grandeur.

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.