How to send gift cards to your whole team at once (without a spreadsheet)

There are two-hundred-odd people you need to send a “thank you” present to, and a set budget per person. The gift cards are the easy part - choose a card type, add money, bish bash bosh. Getting the correct one to each and every person, though, without a week of copying email addresses into a spreadsheet, is the part that will give you the Sunday scaries.

This guide covers three different ways to send gift cards to your whole team, how you can completely swerve using overly complicated spreadsheets, and two pretty simple ways to stop a gift card feeling a bit… hollow.

Quick answer: There are three ways to send gift cards to a whole team at once. You can share one group link that each person claims from, upload a list so everyone gets their own link by email or SMS, or print codes onto cards. A group link needs no spreadsheet at all: you post it once in Slack, Teams or WhatsApp and set it to one claim per person. On Huggg, all three work for anything from one person to 10,000.

Three easy ways to send gift cards in bulk

1. One group link (no spreadsheet needed, huzzah!)

You create one gift link, and set how many people can claim a gift from it. Then you can share it wherever your team usually communicates, whether it’s by email, Slack, Teams, the intranet, a WhatsApp group, or something much more inventive we haven’t even thought of.

Every person can click on the link, claim their gift by entering their email address or mobile number, and choose their gift card. No lists needed, at all.

On Huggg, a group link can take up to 10,000 claims. And of course, you can set it to one claim per person and restrict it to your company email domain, so it can't be shared outside the business.

• Best for: big teams, mixed sites, and anyone without a simple list of staff they can send to
• Watch out for: a group link only works if you trust everyone to keep it to themselves. Set the claim limit to your headcount, and restrict by email domain if that’s relevant

2. Upload a list, everyone gets their own gift link

If you want each person to get a link that’s addressed specifically to them, you can upload a list of names with email addresses or mobile numbers. Huggg can handle it from there, sending everyone a unique gift link, by email or text message. Whatever suits.

Yes, it’s true - you will need a list for this one, but only names and contact details, not home addresses, which saves a lot of headaches. Not to mention, HR systems will export that info in just a couple of clicks (or automatically if you use Huggg’s automated gifting).

• Best for: when you want a record of which gifts went to whom, or need to send different values to different people
• Watch out for: out-of-date email addresses. Definitely make sure to check your list of leavers before you send anything!

3. Codes printed on cards

Some teams want something to hand over in person. You can print each gift card's code or barcode onto a card and give it out at the party or on shift.

That's what Newsprinters did for its 650 staff across 19 UK locations. Richard Johnstone, its Chief of Staff, explained: "We partnered with Huggg to design a Christmas card for all 650 staff members and colleagues, incorporating a redeemable voucher barcode printed within the card."

He added that it "significantly streamlined the administration process for our on-site teams."

• Best for: teams that mostly work on site, and a moment you want to hand over in person
• Watch out for: print lead times. Order cards in October for a December handover

Which gift card should you send?

We’re not going to mess with you. We all know that, in reality, a gift card on its own isn’t enough for people to go “oh wow, now I really feel valued - I’m going to step up my game!”. In fact, in our Christmas Gift Index, a survey of 500 UK workers, gift cards scored lowest of any gift type on making people feel genuinely valued: 35%, against 46% for cash.

But there are two things that can help you make a bigger impact:

Let them choose the brand they actually want. A single supermarket card is useful, sure, but it's the same for everyone. With a choice-of-brand card, each person picks where to spend it. Huggg's gift cards span eight categories, from supermarkets and coffee to fashion, dining and experiences, and you can narrow the list to the brands that suit your team.

Send it with a real message. A gift card with no note feels pretty transactional. But adding two or three lines from a person they actually know, about the year that person actually had, does more than an extra £10 ever will. Every Huggg gift opens with your own message and a digital gift wrap.

If you're still deciding which cards to offer, our buyer's guide to corporate gift cards for employees covers the options by occasion, and the most popular gift cards in the UK shows what people actually pick.

Sending gifts to remote, frontline and shift-based teams

Bulk gift cards are absolutely perfect when your team isn't all in one place. And that covers a looot of scenarios.

• No work email? Send by SMS. Huggg can text each person their link, which reaches the shop floor, the warehouse and the delivery van as easily as a laptop
• Spread across sites? A group link in a WhatsApp group or on a printed QR code reaches everyone at the same moment, so the night shift isn't the last to hear
• Remote staff? Digital gift cards arrive instantly, so there's no postage, no parcel sitting in an empty office, and no home addresses to collect

Jenny Wieland, People Systems Manager at Cycas Hospitality, said: "With Huggg, it takes us five minutes max to send rewards. The admin burden is gone, and now we can track everything."

“We’ve worked with a major coffee chain who used QR gift cards for spot rewards, which can turn the shift from hell around. It means managers have the power to say ‘thanks’ when it matters, and we find it really works well” - Lewis Quick, Commercial Director at Huggg

Keeping it tax-free, and keeping finance happy

A gift card to an employee can be a tax-free trivial benefit - but only if it costs £50 max for each person (including VAT). It also can’t be something that can be exchanged for cash, rewards performance, or sits in their contract. Go even 20p over £50 and the whole amount is taxable.

Gift cards that can only be spent with retailers count as non-cash vouchers, so they can qualify for that. Anything that can be swapped for cash can't. Our guide to trivial benefits and gift cards has the detail - but we’re not tax advisors, so check for yourself.

For your finance team, the useful things to have ready are:

• One invoice for the whole send, with the VAT treatment shown on it
• A record of who received what, and for how much
• P11D tracking, if any gifts fall outside the trivial benefits rule

Huggg provides all three. It's free to use, with no platform fees and no per-send charges: you only pay for the gifts you send.

Before you hit send: a checklist

• Headcount confirmed, leavers removed
• Budget per head set, at or under £50
• Route chosen: group link, uploaded list, or printed codes
• Group link limited to the number of people you’re gifting, one claim per person, and your email domain to keep it restricted
• Message written, from a person they actually know
• Expiry date set, so gifts don’t sit unclaimed indefinitely
• Finance given a heads-up and told where the invoice will go
• A plan for "I never got my gift card!" (with links, you can resend from your gift history)

Bulk gift cards: FAQs

What's the easiest way to send gift cards to 200 staff at once?

The easiest way is to use one group link. You share it once in Slack, Teams or WhatsApp, set it to one claim per person and your company email domain to restrict it, and each person claims their own gift card. There's no spreadsheet and no addresses to collect, so it’s super simple.

Can I send gift cards to employees without their email address?

Yes, of course. You can send each person a link by text, or share a group link in a channel they already use like Teams or Slack, or print QR codes onto physical cards and hand them out.

Do I need employees' home addresses to send gift cards?

No. Digital gift cards are sent as a link and arrive as soon as you hit ‘send’, so you never need a postal address. It just makes life easier.

Are bulk gift cards for employees taxable?

Not if each gift card meets HMRC's trivial benefits rule: £50 or less per person including VAT, not exchangeable for cash, not a reward for performance, and not contractual.

How long does it take to send gift cards to a whole team?

With a group link or an uploaded list, it can take minutes when it used to take days. Cycas Hospitality said it takes them "five minutes max" to send rewards on Huggg.

Send it once, reach everyone

You shouldn’t need a horrible spreadsheet, a million envelopes, lots of expensive stamps, and a week of chasing to send gift cards to a whole team. Pick the option above that fits your needs, let people choose their brand of gift card, and add a message that actually says “hey, you’re appreciated”.

See how our gift cards work, or talk to us about your next send.