It may seem a little early, but our new corporate gifts are in stock and online now. Click through the image above to see the best of this year's new items, from travel items to apparel, games to high tech. If you need a reason to start looking at corporate gifts now, keep reading to find out why you should.  

The holiday season is coming up fast and there is no better time to start planning your corporate gifts than right now. By planning your gift program early, you give yourself a chance to avoid the pitfalls that usually crop up when you wait until the last minute. Thousands of companies procrastinate and get caught with out of stock items, long production times that cut into deadlines, and pricey rush charges or shipping costs to get products in on time.

By staying ahead of the holiday crowds, you'll have enough time to review your product samples, think up creative imprinting, avoid rush costs, and make sure your corporate gifts are as perfect as possible. Whether it's a quirky desktop item, handy electronic device, or anything else that you feel works for your campaign your gift program will benefit from some early planning.

Purchasing your gifts now would also be a great way to show how much you value your employees or clients. A company that waits until the very end to buy their items usually isn't too concerned with the quality of the product. By putting it high on your priority list, you show everyone that you're genuinely concerned with providing the best for your recipients.

Travel items have always been used as business gifts or promotional items, particularly targeting business travelers or trade show attendees. The opportunity to make the travel experience a little bit better is a great way to earn some goodwill for your brand, which makes travel items and gift sets particularly appealing.

With rapidly changing air travel safety guidelines, travel promos have had to keep up. Now, new travel gifts not only make being on the road a little easier, they can also help your clients get through security and keep up with current baggage and carry on requirements.

Some highly useful items to think about during the holiday gift season are the Air Safe Toiletry Kit and TSA approved luggage locks. These two items are TSA approved and will give your recipients a hassle- free trip to the gate.

October marks a very important period on the cause awareness calendar - Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The time for pink ribbons and products at cancer walks and fundraisers is here again, and now is the time for your company to be a part of it. Involving your company with this event is a great opportunity for your company to get positive exposure for your logo and connect with your customer by supporting something that they are interested in. Whether it be donating your branded pink products to a local breast cancer walk or giving away products at your own fundraiser, this is a great time to get your company logo in front of a large number of passionate customers.

Plan ahead and take advantage of the following promotional opportunities. You'll find a wide choice of personalized products as well as predecorated items that feature unique messages and slogans to help you celebrate your event.

September

• National Preparedness Month
• Baby Safety Month
• National Food Safety Education Month
• Gynecologic Cancer Awareness Month
• 5-A-Day Month
• National Childhood Injury Prevention Week - September 1-7
• Labor Day- September 3
• International Literacy Day - September 8
• Healthcare Environmental Services Week- September 9-15
• Hispanic Heritage Month - September 15-October 15
• National Rehabilitation Awareness Week - September 15-October 15
• Prostate Cancer Awareness Week - September 16-22
• Rosh Hashanah- September 13
• Yom Kippur - September 22
• National Adult Immunization Awareness Week - September 23-29
• World Heart Day - September 30

October

• National Breast Cancer Awareness Month
• Breast Health Month
• National Dental Hygiene Month
• National Book Month
• Diversity Awareness Month
• Family Health Month
• World Kindness Week
• Financial Planning Week--October1-7
• National Boss Day
• Halloween
• International Credit Union Week -October 14-20

November

• Safe Toys and Gifts Month
• Red Ribbon Month
• Drunk & Drugged Driving (3D) Prevention Month
• Lung Cancer Awareness Month
• American Diabetes Month
• National Alzheimer's Disease Month
• National American Indian Heritage Month
• Veterans Day
• Youth Appreciation Week-November 11-17
• National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week-November 11- 17
• American Education Week-November 12-18
• Children's Book Week- November 13-19
• Thanksgiving-November 23
• World Aids Day-November 30

Challenge: Challenge: How to build buzz around a new service, drive traffic to a new Web site and get as many people as possible to attend a launch party-all within a limited budget

Unless you've got a huge buzz-building budget, your promotional dollars need to work double-and sometimes triple-time. That's what Arlington Transportation Partners was up against during the launch of Rides in the City, an informational Web site that promotes public transportation alternatives for trendy, young commuters. .

Solution: Send "t-shirt" party invitations to put walking billboards out on the street

To build buzz, drive traffic to the site and ensure a good party turn-out called for the kind of promotional materials that work harder for the dollar. Enter the t- shirt "invitation." The t-shirt, imprinted by us with the company's signature pink pump graphic, was not the invitation itself; but it was a unique way of delivering it: when recipients unfolded the t-shirt, they found a die- cut, pump-shaped invite complete with the "who-what- why-when-and-where" party details. We also created branded party favors and promotional giveaways for attendees, including pens, cocktail napkins and matchbook-shaped notepads.

Result: Launch party turnout is "huge"; Web hits quadruple post-launch

Arlington Transportation Partners reported a "huge" response to their unique invitation; many attendees wore their new t-shirt to the launch party. The immediate bump in Web traffic pleased the company as well: the promotion brought four times as many hits as before.