Somewhere on your corporate holiday gifting recipient list is an employee in India, another in Mexico City, and forty more across the US. They should all get their holiday swag around the same time. That’s the goal. Except, it can be harder to do that this year since the customs rules have changed.
In 2026, the US suspended its $800 duty-free threshold, the EU removed its €150 exemption on July 1, and the UK has its own changes coming. What this means is that parcels that used to clear duty-free can now come with a real duty bill and more customs paperwork. That also means that the shortcuts that worked last December during the holiday swag rush probably won’t work this year.
So, in this guide, we break down the changes on sending swag across borders, its implications on your holiday gifting budget and shipping timelines, and the ways you can successfully run a global corporate gifting program that gets through customs without slowing everything down.
Why is sending holiday swag internationally harder than it looks?
Customs rules, duties, paperwork, and a December deadline can all slow down your swag orders. And there are also a couple of other reasons why it can be tricky sending swag across borders.
As we briefly mentioned above, low-value shipments used to move through many markets with fewer checks. That’s changing. The European Commission counted 4.6 billion parcels worth €150 or less entering the EU in 2024, or roughly 12 million a day. That kind of volume is part of why governments are tightening the rules.
Every country also has its own customs rules. For instance, a box that clears customs quickly in Canada can take much longer in India if the paperwork is wrong or the contents aren’t described clearly enough. The swag item might be the same, but the rules around duties, declarations, and restricted items can change completely from one country to the next. The more countries you’re shipping to, the more likely something is to get held up.
Q4 gives you less room for delays, as everything gets busier between October and December. Suppliers have longer queues, carriers have less capacity, and customs offices are dealing with more parcels. Your delivery date doesn’t move, though. A delay that’s manageable in August can push a holiday send into January, which is why it helps to work backward from the date you want everything in hand. We mapped that out in our holiday swag planning guide, with the timing for each stage of the process.
When should you start shipping holiday swag internationally?
With those aspects in mind, the question remains: When should you start sending holiday swag to your global recipients? The easiest way to answer this question is to work backward from the date you want everything delivered, not from the holiday itself. So, if your plan is to have the holiday swag items delivered to your employees or clients by December 12, that’s where you should begin the count.
After that, you need to know the typical timeline for bulk swag, On Demand swag, and gift cards so you can plan accordingly.
Bulk swag needs about five weeks before it ships
For bulk swag, plan on roughly three weeks for production, one week for kitting, and another for approvals. That’s about five weeks before the order is even ready to leave the warehouse, and international transit comes after that. And if you’re sending swag kits, note that they always run through bulk. They’re produced in quantity, warehoused, then shipped from storage within a few business days once you’re ready to send them.
Bulk swag timeline you need to know
With those things in mind, here are the five dates you should take note of when it comes to bulk swag
Right now: Confirm your recipient list and finalize if you’re going for bulk or On Demand swag this year.
Late September: Lock your swag items list, start proofs, and collect apparel sizes. If anything’s embroidered, approve that first since it usually needs more time.
October: Place every final order once proofs are approved. This is the month that gives you the best shot at a smooth December delivery.
Early November: Send the farthest and most complex destinations first, especially India, parts of Asia, and Australia. Treat the first week as your cutoff for most cross-border shipments.
Late November to mid-December: Use On Demand swag and gift cards for anything that’s still outstanding.
On Demand swag takes three weeks
On Demand swag is made after you place the order and has a 1-unit minimum. PerkUp usually delivers On Demand items within three weeks, so there’s no inventory to hold and no need to guess everyone’s size ahead of time. That shorter timeline is one of the main reasons teams use On Demand later in the season.
If you’re still deciding whether bulk or On Demand makes more sense for your own holiday list, we compared the two in our holiday guide to On Demand versus bulk.
Gift cards can go out the same day
When shipping is going to take too long, you also have the option to go for international gift cards, which skip customs entirely.
PerkUp, for instance, offers 5,000+ gift cards localized by country, so your recipients can redeem in their own market and currency. If you’re sending to several countries and want to check which gift card options work where, our guide to international gift cards goes into that in more detail.
And if you want to map the full season before you start placing orders, our step-by-step holiday gifting timeline walks through what should happen and when.
Country-by-Country Rules for Sending Holiday Swag
Most major markets changed their low-value import rules over the past year, and the takeaway is pretty simple: fulfill from inside your recipient’s region whenever you can. What used to be mainly a way to save on shipping can now be the difference between a domestic delivery and a package getting checked by customs.
One thing doesn’t change: somebody still has to pay the duties. With DDP (delivered duty paid), the sender (you or your swag vendor) pays the duties, so your recipient doesn’t have to. Our guide to global swag shipping breaks down how DDP works in practice.
And since PerkUp warehouses swag across the US, Canada, Mexico, the UK, Europe, India, China, and Australia, we’ll focus on those regions here. Customs rules are moving quickly, though, so use this as a starting point and confirm the current requirements before you have your swag shipped.
United States
The $800 de minimis threshold is gone. CBP indefinitely suspended it in June 2026, and Congress set a statutory end date of July 1, 2027. So the old low-value import route isn’t coming back.
There’s still a narrow exemption for bona fide gifts sent person to person, but company swag doesn’t qualify. For US recipients, that makes domestic fulfillment the much easier route. Anything coming in from another country now needs a proper customs entry and room in the budget for duties.
Canada
Canada didn’t change its rules this 2026, but the low-value allowance still depends on where the shipment comes from. Courier shipments from the US or Mexico get a higher threshold, while shipments from everywhere else drop much lower.
So origin matters. Fulfilling from Canada, or shipping from the US when that makes sense, keeps you in the better tier. Provincial taxes can change the final cost, too, which we break down in our guide to shipping swag to Canada.
Mexico
Mexico tightened its courier rules in 2025, and rates now depend a lot on where the shipment starts. Shipments from countries without a Mexican trade agreement face much higher rates, with IVA added on top in most cases. Another review is underway, too, so the thresholds could move again.
Mexico used to be one of the harder markets to deal with, but it’s gotten easier. Fulfilling in-country, or shipping from the US when it makes sense, avoids a lot of the remaining friction. Our guide to shipping swag to Mexico goes deeper into the setup.
The United Kingdom
The UK’s low-value customs duty relief still applies for now, but HMRC published draft legislation in July 2026 to remove it, with the change expected by October 2028 at the latest. Import VAT already applies regardless of value, so that still needs to be part of the budget. If this is a program you’ll run again next year, holding inventory in the UK gives you more control. Our guide to sending swag to the UK covers the current rules in more detail.
Europe
The EU removed its €150 customs duty exemption on July 1, 2026. A flat duty now applies to low-value consignments sent to consumers in the EU, and it’s charged per item category rather than per parcel. So a kit with several different products can pick up several charges.
The current rate runs until July 2028, when the EU customs data hub is expected to take over, and normal tariffs apply. Since the rule was written around consumer e-commerce, it’s worth confirming how your platform handles corporate sends. For a holiday program, fulfilling from inside the EU is still the cleaner route. And once you’ve sorted the shipping side, our sustainable swag ideas for Europe can help with what to send.
India
India prohibits imports where customs clearance is sought as a gift, with narrow exceptions for life-saving medicines and Rakhi.
Corporate swag can still come in, but it needs to be declared properly, and the applicable duties have to be paid. Categories like drinkware and tech accessories can also come with extra restrictions. That’s why local production and in-country warehousing matter so much here. Our guide to sending swag to India explains why regional fulfillment is usually the easier route and what to watch for before you order.
China and Hong Kong
For China, the calendar matters just as much as customs. National Day Golden Week runs from October 1 to 7 this year, and the Chinese New Year falls on February 6, 2027, with factories slowing down well before it. If any part of your holiday program is being produced in China, you’ll want it clear of production before Golden Week or be ready to wait until after.
Also worth knowing: the low-value thresholds you’ll often see quoted for China apply to personal postal shipments, not company swag. Corporate swag clears as a commercial import, so it needs to be declared that way. If China or Hong Kong is part of your program, our shipping guide goes deeper into the documentation and timing.
Australia
Australia handles low-value imports a little differently. GST is collected at the point of sale by the seller or platform instead of at the border, which keeps things fairly simple until the shipment crosses the low-value threshold. The thing to watch is aggregation. A few lower-cost items shipped together can push the whole consignment over the threshold and into full border assessment, which can happen pretty easily with holiday kits.
If you’re sending to Australia this season, our guide to shipping swag to Australia covers what that threshold means for the actual swag shipment.
Which holidays should you plan around besides Christmas?
Christmas is only one date on a much bigger calendar. If your team spans several regions, some of your employees will already be celebrating weeks before December 25.
These are five dates worth planning around:
Golden Week in China: October 1 to 7, 2026. Factories and customs offices close, so anything being produced in China should be cleared before this window.
Diwali: November 8, 2026. The full festival runs from November 6 to 10, with gifting usually happening in the days leading up to it.
Hanukkah: December 4 to 12, 2026. It starts at sundown on December 4 and ends at sundown on December 12.
Lunar New Year: February 6, 2027. Chinese production usually slows down weeks ahead of the holiday, so it matters even if your own gifting happens earlier.
That’s also why one global holiday send rarely works perfectly for everyone. Our holiday swag by region breakdown has ideas for different markets if you’re planning around several dates instead of one.
5 Ways to Keep International Holiday Swag on Schedule
Once you know the customs rules and the dates you’re working around, the next job is keeping every shipment moving. A few decisions make it that much easier.
Ship from inside the region
This is the biggest one. A holiday swag kit shipped from a warehouse in India to an employee in Bengaluru stays domestic. Send that same kit from Ohio, and you’ve added customs, duties, and more time in transit. That’s why PerkUp’s global warehousing and supplier network matters so much for international programs. The closer the inventory is to your recipient, the less there is to go wrong.
Get the landed cost before you approve the order
The price of the hoodie isn’t the final price once duty, tax, and clearance fees are added. As such, make sure to ask for the full landed cost before you approve anything, so you know what each destination will actually cost. That’s especially important when the same swag is going to several countries with different import rules.
Let employees choose their own swag
Sizing mistakes create a lot of unnecessary reshipping. A branded swag store lets your employees choose from a collection within the budget you set, so you don’t have to guess their size or what they’ll actually use.
Ship the harder destinations first
Don’t release every country on the same day. India and destinations with stricter category rules need more time, so send those first. Markets with regional inventory and simpler delivery can go later. Building the schedule this way gives the shipments most likely to hit a delay more room to recover.
Keep a digital backup ready
Even with good planning, something can still get delayed. That said, keep a small part of the budget available for gift cards so you’ve got something you can send immediately if a physical order won’t make it in time.
Send Holiday Swag to Your Global Team Through PerkUp
You can run everything we talked about by yourself with a customs broker, spreadsheets, and a lot of follow-up. The good news: PerkUp gives you one place to manage it instead.
PerkUp has warehouses and suppliers from the US, Canada, Mexico, the UK, Europe, India, China, and Australia, so more swag orders can stay inside your recipient’s region. This also allows the platform to reach 65+ countries, effectively cutting transit time, duty exposure, and shipping distance.
Customs is also handled by PerkUp. Shipping fees, duties, and taxes are itemized in the quote you approve as well. In the rare cases that your swag order can’t be shipped DDP, PerkUp handles the customs issue and reimburses you in full. The team also takes care of import compliance and documentation, so your team isn’t filling out customs forms in December. We break down how swag moves through PerkUp’s shipping network so you can see it for yourself.
You can also mix different types of swag and sends in the same program! PerkUp supports bulk swag, On Demand swag, swag stores, swag kits, event swag, and gift cards from the same dashboard, so you can have different types of swag at your disposal.
Beyond holiday gifting, PerkUp’s integrations can also pull dates from your HRIS and automatically send swag for work anniversaries, birthdays, and onboarding, so you’re not uploading lists while you’re trying to get the holiday program out.
Every account also includes in-house designers for artwork and mockups, so you can ensure consistent branding for your swag campaigns. Custom sourcing covers anything you can’t find in the standard catalog, while real-time reporting shows order status, customs progress, inventory, and delivery by region.
All of these work together to ensure that your global holiday swag arrives on time without any stress.
Key Takeaway
For international holiday gifting, timing matters more than anything. Get the harder destinations into production first, then work backward for the rest of the list. And while, yes, the customs rules keep changing, a few things still make the biggest difference: fulfilling closer to your recipient, knowing the landed cost before you approve the order, and giving your recipients some choice in what they receive.
If you don’t want to keep track of every customs rule yourself, schedule a PerkUp demo, and we’ll map your recipient list against our warehouse network.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which countries can you ship holiday swag to?
PerkUp ships to 65+ countries, with regional warehouses and suppliers in the US, Canada, Mexico, the UK, Europe, India, China, and Australia. For markets like Mexico, India, and China, regional fulfillment helps keep more orders domestic instead of sending everything across borders.
Who pays customs and duties on international holiday gifts?
PerkUp ships DDP in most cases, so duties, taxes, and clearance fees are handled upfront and included in the quote you approve. If a swag order can’t be shipped DDP, PerkUp handles the customs issue and reimburses any fees incurred, so your recipient won’t have to deal with the bill.
What happens if tariffs or duty rules change before your swag ships?
PerkUp absorbs tariff fluctuations and reimburses eligible fees that show up after the order is placed, so you don’t have to keep reworking the budget every time a rule changes. That matters more this year, especially with the customs changes that came into effect across several major markets in 2026.
Can you order holiday swag kits On Demand?
No. Swag kits are bulk only. They’re produced in quantity, warehoused, then shipped from storage within a few business days when you’re ready. As such, if you’re planning kits, give yourself about five weeks before shipping.
Which countries are hardest to ship holiday swag to?
India has stricter rules around categories like drinkware and tech accessories and doesn’t allow corporate shipments to be cleared as gifts. Mexico has gotten easier, but there could be some issues there still. That’s why PerkUp recommends that these markets should go first and, whenever possible, be handled through local production or regional warehousing.
