10 Thoughtful Gifts for Administrative Professionals Day

Administrative Professionals Day is always the Last Wednesday of April, and now is a great time to start planning how to recognize admins who help your business. Successories has thousands of gifts for Administrative Professionals Day to help these oh-so-important employees for your business feel special.

Gifts for secretary day don’t have to be boring. With Successories, you can use these gifts for secretaries day ideas to give these workers something as extraordinary as they are.

If you work with administrative professionals, giving administrative assistant gifts regularly is great for your business. Showing appreciation with gift ideas administrative assistants get is valuable because:

  • It keeps admins motivated to perform at a high level
  • It shows your entire team how important the work admins do is
  • It helps increase loyalty, retention, and positive sentiment for your business

Now that you know why gift-giving more effective, it’s time to choose high-quality gift ideas administrative assistant professionals will treasure. Shop some of the most popular administrative assistant gifts from Successories now.

10 Thoughtful Admin Gifts

A great gift doesn’t always have to be practical, but it certainly can be. It just has to be something you know your employee will enjoy and appreciate. Here are a few ideas to get your mind turning on the topic:

1. Stainless Steel Tumblers

Trendy, fashionable, and desirable: Stainless Steel Drinkwear is all the rage due to its practicality and ability to keep drinks ice cold for longer than the work day. Your administrative assistant will appreciate the value and thoughtfulness behind such a practical appreciation gift. The stainless steel tumblers come in a variety of styles and colors and each can be personalized with your recipients name.

2. Personalized Vase

Vases act as both an award and a gift of appreciation. Your admin will display the vase at home or on their desk at work and will be a constant reminder of how you value their contributions. Each crystal vase is custom etched with your personalized message or choose from Successories stock appreciation messages.

3. Pen Gifts

Transform a tool admin professionals use often by giving elegant pen gifts for Administrative Professionals Day. A beautiful chrome pen that comes in a high-quality case, complete with an inspirational message, makes the act of writing more enjoyable. Admins who see the gift will be reminded of your gratitude when they use the pen.

The elegant Gratitude Pen Set comes in its own lacquer box. Both the box and the pen are engraved with the phrase “Attitude: Attitude is a little thing that affects everything. A positive attitude has a ripple effect. Change your attitude and you change your world.”

4. Journal Books

Journals are great gifts for secretary day because they can be used within or outside the office, whatever the admin professional prefers. High-quality journals make jotting down notes or personal thoughts a gratifying experience since they are stored in a beautiful book. When the journal has motivational words, the book’s power to motivate great work increases.

5. Relaxing Candles

Show administrative professionals you respect their work-life balance with soothing candle gifts they can bring home and use to unwind. The flickering flames of smokeless candles from Successories create an entrancing atmosphere that cultivates a calm state of mind.

Personalized candle gifts for Administrative Professionals Day come in various styles with a vanilla-scented white candle, and both come in an attractive gift bag that can be reused to hold other treasures. A motivational message on the candle and bag serves as a reminder for the exemplary work that happens at your office. The candle holder and gift bag can be ordered with a variety of motivational phrases, and you can further customize it with your company’s logo, monogram, the recipient’s name, or other personalized message.

6. Custom Tote Sets

Give administrative professionals a chic way to transport their things with custom gift tote bags. Adorn a bag and the goodies inside, like a notepad and tumbler, with words of gratitude that remind admins they’re valued. Functional and durable totes, backpacks, coolers, and more from Successories are built to be long-lasting and designed to make those who use them feel appreciated.

7. Soaps and Bath Bombs

Give administrative professionals at your business a reason to relax with heavenly-scented soap or bath bomb sets. Made with skin-loving essential oils, these gifts come in a variety of tantalizing scents, ranging from oatmeal and honey to oak moss and aloe. Using these soaps is like being treated to a spa sensation with every use, and the bath bombs invigorate a soak by leaving skin cleansed and pampered.

Infused with shea butter and essential oils, this luxuriant soap is designed to help keep skin soft, smooth, and healthy. Even better, you can expand the contents of the gift bag by adding matching handmade soap and a spa set, which includes a push stone, mesh scrubber, sisal sponge, and a (wooden) nail brush, all of which come packed in a decorative wooden case.

The gift bag everything is packed in can be customized with various motivational phrases or your company logo. This one’s not to be missed!

8. Personalized Clocks

Knowing the time helps professionals do their jobs more efficiently, and a personalized desk clock is a functional yet eye-catching desk accessory that makes keeping track of the time a more pleasing everyday task. There are so many desk clock styles to choose from to match existing décor or an admin’s style. Engraving a clock with the recipient’s name or a message makes the clock an effective conversation piece and a memento that is delightful to behold.

9. Thought-Provoking Books

Expanding the mind is a great activity that benefits professionals both on the job and outside of work. Inspiring books that contain business lessons, captivating quotes from historical figures, and advice for professional growth can help admin professionals evolve their work and way of thinking. Books from Successories can be personalized on the covers and front pages, so you can make the book incredibly unique for the recipient.

10. Handwritten Cards

Pair any gifts you give to your administrative professionals with handwritten cards that explain why you’re so appreciative. In a professional world that is dominated by technological communication, taking the time to write a thank-you note by hand makes a message stand out even more and becomes something to cherish. Make sure the note includes specific examples of ways the administrative professional has helped your business, so that the genuineness shines through.

If none of these gift ideas set the tone you’re looking for, we’ve got plenty of corporate thank you gifts to choose from!

Bonus: DYI Admin Gift Ideas

If you haven’t already secured gifts for your administrative staff, we can help you out with a few ideas, including a few DIY gifts for anyone who lives to take “Nailed it!” photos for Pinterest. Check out our picks for administrative assistant gifts below!

Gum Pack with Thank You Tag

This DIY is thoughtful yet simple and easy to make. This is a great gift for anyone on budget or for those with a large administrative staff.

There Is No Match Chocolate Pack

Matchbooks are a popular promotional giveaway, but this one isn’t your average boring matchbook! This would be the perfect gift for the chocolate lover in the office

Candy Tags

If you know their favorite candy, we have the perfect the gift! Attach a tag to their favorite treats for a fun, thoughtful and wallet-friendly gift.

For more administrative professional day gift ideas, head over to our Admin Day board on Pinterest!

If you want to truly make gifts for administrative professionals effective, timing and quality are key. Use these five techniques to make the best gifts for administrative assistant professionals even better.

5 Tips for Giving the Best Gifts for Administrative Assistants

1. Be Specific

Giving an admin assistant gift without context is not as meaningful as pointing out a distinct reason why you are giving a token of recognition. Being specific with an award or gift is important because:

  • It shows your admin professions you’re paying attention
  • It reminds them that the performance that is being rewarded is good to repeat in the future
  • It motivates them to continue their strong performance

You can be specific with recognition by giving examples of what the administrative professional did while you are making a speech before the award, or by writing down your thoughts in a handwritten note that the admin can read. The administrative professional will realize that their actions directly positively impact your business.

2. Be Prompt

To reinforce awesome behaviors through recognition and gift ideas administrative assistant professionals will appreciate, reward the desired behavior as quickly as possible after it is completed. Prompt recognition provides the following benefits:

  • The closer recognition is to the desired behavior, the easier it is for employees to associate the behavior with a positive outcome
  • Prompt recognition means the positive behavior can more easily be remembered and ingrained, compared to delayed recognition that diminishes the memory of the behavior
  • You show you’re paying attention, and that diligent effort makes an immediate impact that deserves thanks

Even if you plan on recognizing an administrative professional at a planned event, such as at an annual awards ceremony later on, positively reinforcing behaviors as soon as possible helps maintain momentum for performance at a high level.

3. Be Public

Not all employees enjoy being lauded at large and extravagant award ceremonies, but there are plenty of ways to publicly recognize admin professionals and ensure their comfort. Public recognition in some form is meaningful because:

  • It alerts team members to the great work of the administrative professional
  • It can make the recognition more special to the person who is being recognized and make them feel more valuable to the organization
  • It shows others in your business that you notice and appreciate hard work

If you know an administrative professional would not enjoy a flashy show of gratitude, you could still alert others in the company to the recognition by sharing a message through email or in a company message board. You can also show recognition in a smaller team meeting or outing.

4. Be Authentic

There are many ways to convey authenticity and genuineness when giving recognition. You and the employee you are recognizing are human beings with layered emotions. Avoid giving recognition that seems like you’re doing it just to have done it by using these techniques:

  • Use the person’s name during a recognition speech, or display it on an award or within a handwritten note
  • Express how the work they do impacts your job or how you’ve seen it positively affect their coworkers
  • Present the recognition in a way the employee appreciates, so you show that you value their feelings

If you’re speaking words of recognition to the administrative professional, look them in the eye as you speak, and shake their hand when you present them with an award to strengthen your bond and meaning of the recognition. If you’re presenting recognition in written form, show the recipient respect by using their name and clearly explaining the recognition through vivid details.

5. Be Thoughtful

Make whatever administrative assistant gift you give more meaningful by choosing something you know the administrative assistant will really appreciate. Some ideas include:

In addition to personalizing a gift to make it more special for the recipient, taking the time to browse gifts and choose one that speaks to the interests of the admin professional will make them enjoy it even more.

Surprise Them With An Association Membership

Find an appropriate professional organization and get your trusted assistant a membership. Not only is it a great way to support their ongoing training, making them more effective, but it’s also a great way for them to build out their network of professional contacts.

Spring For A Professional Development Seminar

This is another great way to help nurture your assistant’s professional development and make him or her more effective, while providing a fun, engaging activity outside the workplace.