Sweatshirt
A sweatshirt they’d wear anyway
Choose a heavy cotton in a colour people actually wear, with a small embroidered mark. It turns day one into the first time they wear your logo by choice, and it posts flat to anyone working from home.
Welcome pack ideas for new starters
Short answer
Good welcome pack ideas are things a new starter will use in their first week and keep using: a sweatshirt they’d wear at the weekend, a notebook and pen, a bottle, a bag for the commute. Keep the branding quiet, add a handwritten card, and make sure it arrives before day one, not after.
Eight welcome pack ideas.
Some to wear, some for the desk, some that travel. Filter by what you’re looking for.
Notebook and pen
A notebook and a good pen
The first week is all notes: names, logins, acronyms. A hardback notebook with a debossed logo and a pen that writes well gets used from the first meeting, and stays on the desk long after.
Branded notebooks
Bottle
An insulated bottle or tumbler
Used every day, in the office or at home, and it carries a clean engraved or printed logo well. Pick one that keeps drinks hot as well as cold so it works all year.
Tote bag
A canvas tote for the commute
Laptop, lunch, the notebook from the box. A sturdy canvas tote is carried every day, so a simple printed logo travels a long way.
Cap
A cap with a quiet mark
Easy to size, easy to post and worn well beyond the office. Tonal embroidery keeps it wearable at the weekend.
Laptop sleeve
A felt sleeve for the new laptop
If your new starters get a laptop on day one, a felt sleeve protects it on the way home and gets carried every working day after that.
Welcome card
A card from their manager
The personal touch in the box. A printed card with a handwritten line, signed by the person they’ll work with, makes the rest of the pack feel chosen rather than ordered.
Stickers
Stickers for the laptop lid
Cheap to add, fun to use and an easy way to spot who’s new in a video call. Design a sheet that teams want to collect, not just a logo.
Managed
Want these in one box?
Pick the ideas you like, and we’ll pack them into one welcome box.
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Know what you want and just need to place an order? Shop Select (opens Go Swag Select, a separate site)
What makes a good welcome pack.
It’s useful in week one. A new starter has a desk to set up, a commute to work out and a lot of names to learn. Give them something for each.
It looks like a gift, not a uniform. A tonal logo or a small chest mark gets worn. A big logo on a cheap T-shirt goes in a drawer.
It arrives before the first day. A pack waiting on the doormat says “we’re ready for you”. One that arrives in week three says the opposite.
Someone signed the card. A note from their manager does more than any product. It’s the one thing in the box nobody else can send.
Rules and policies to check.
Tax on staff gifts. Check how gifts to new employees are taxed with your payroll provider or tax adviser before you plan a programme.
Home addresses. A new starter’s home address is personal data. Collect only what you need for the delivery, and agree who can see it.
Hires in other countries. A pack that crosses a border carries import charges. Decide who pays them before you send.
Sending gifts from the UK to the EU
Running it for every new starter.
Reaching remote and international hires.
With a branded Claim Page, a new starter shares their size and delivery details themselves, and we use that information to prepare and send their pack. We deliver to 180+ countries and send international orders DDP, so new hires abroad have nothing to pay on arrival.
Claim Pages™Making it automatic.
If you hire every month, stop ordering one pack at a time. Your approved collection can stay with us between sends, and the Go Swag API connects gifting to the systems you use, so a new starter can trigger a pack.
Welcome packs
From our work
From our work for n8n: a kit box opened to black tissue, with an n8n cap and a card on top. One box, a few useful things and a note.
Worth knowing
In the UK, an employer must give a new employee the main written statement of their employment terms on their first day, which makes day one the natural deadline for a welcome pack too.
Source: GOV.UK, “Employment contracts: written statement of employment particulars”, accessed 6 October 2026. Source 1
Questions about welcome packs.
What should a welcome pack for new employees include?
Three to five useful things and a personal note. Something to wear, something for the desk such as a notebook and pen, something for every day like a bottle or tote, and a card signed by their manager. Choose fewer, better items over a box of filler.
What should we leave out of an employee welcome pack?
Anything nobody would choose for themselves: flimsy gadgets, oversized logos and sweets that won’t survive the post. If an item wouldn’t make it out of the box on day one, it doesn’t belong in it.
When should a welcome pack arrive?
Before the first day, so it’s waiting rather than chasing them. Branded packs need planning: a typical managed order takes 3–4 weeks from brief to delivery, and samples usually take 1–2 weeks. Timings vary by order, so plan around your hiring calendar.
Can we send welcome packs to new hires abroad?
Yes. Each new starter adds their own delivery details on a branded Claim Page. We deliver to 180+ countries and send international orders DDP, so nobody is asked to pay customs on their welcome pack.
Sources
1 source
- 01Employment contracts: written statement of employment particulars (opens in a new tab) · GOV.UK, accessed 6 October 2026.Back to reference 1
Want us to handle it?
Tell us who you are sending to and what you have in mind. We’ll help connect the products, the packaging and the delivery plan.
ManagedStart your projectStudioBring us your briefShop onlineShop Select (opens Go Swag Select, a separate site)
Or call 0800 118 4047 or email hello@goswag.com.