The soft light of the holiday season has faded, giving way to the bright spotlight of end-of-year reporting season. Now’s the time for HR teams to review what worked and what didn’t over the previous 12 months.
For employee recognition programs, that means understanding which rewards and gifts to keep in the rotation and which ones to ditch this year.
December 2025 was a big month for employee holiday gifting through Tremendous. Employers sent over 260,000 gifts totaling over $16 million to their teams in the U.S. and abroad via our platform.
Here are the top holiday gifting trends we uncovered based on our proprietary digital payout data.
Key insights
Average per-employee gift amount: $62 across all customers. Employers with year-round reward programs had a small increase for December gift amounts, averaging $59 versus $54 during the rest of the year.
Most popular gift selections: Gift cards were the top gift by volume, followed by monetary options and prepaid cards. By total dollar amount, gift cards were still on top, but monetary options edged out prepaid cards.
Most popular gift cards: Amazon was the top option by far, followed by other national brands like Walmart, Target, DoorDash, and Starbucks.
Most popular monetary options: PayPal was the number one monetary option by a wide margin, followed by bank transfers, Venmo, and instant debit transfers.
Top redemptions by state: California (19,242), Texas (14,566), Illinois (10,176), Florida (8,816), and Michigan (8,661) had the most holiday gifts claimed.
How much did employers gift to employees?
In 2025, employers gave gifts with an average denomination of $62. The median denomination across gifts was $25.
However, gift amounts varied widely by state. Connecticut recipients received the most generous gifts with an average denomination of $102, followed by Utah with $78, California and Colorado with $77, and South Carolina with $75 average denominations.
On the other end of the spectrum, Tennessee recipients had the lowest average denomination rewards at $38, followed by Oklahoma and New Mexico at $51, Arkansas at $52, and Pennsylvania at $54.
Of employers that sent rewards at other times during the year, holiday gift denominations stayed relatively flat. Employees received $59 on average in December versus $54 in other months. This aligns with our 2023 employee holiday gifting survey results, which found that when employers give rewards year-round, there’s less pressure to offer a single large year-end gift.
What were the most popular gifts selected by employees?
As we discovered in our previous survey, cash and gift cards continued to reign supreme in 2025. Prepaid Visa cards and monetary payouts topped the list along with gift cards for mega-retailers Amazon.com and Walmart.
Top gifts: All types
By number of gifts, Amazon.com gift cards (48,667), virtual Visa prepaid cards (43,096), PayPal transfers (32,276), bank transfers (7,679), and Walmart gift cards (6,998) were the most popular options with recipients.
By dollar amount, cash-like options had an edge. Virtual Visa prepaid cards claimed the top slot ($4.33M), followed by Amazon.com gift cards ($2.35M), PayPal transfers ($1.85M), bank transfers ($1.21M), and Venmo transfers ($538k).
Top gift cards
In 2025, gift card selections skewed practical. Mass-market retailers like Amazon, Walmart, and Target topped the list in terms of both gift volume and amount redeemed. Food brands Starbucks and DoorDash also resonated with employees, along with Google Play for a dash of entertainment.
Top gift cards by volume: Amazon.com (48,667), Walmart (6,998), Starbucks (5,872), Target (5,838), and DoorDash (4,350)
Top gift cards by dollar amount: Amazon.com ($2.35M), Walmart ($351,323), Target ($257,436), Starbucks ($155,913), and Google Play ($92,562)
Top monetary options
PayPal was the clear winner in terms of gift volume (32,276) and total amount ($1.85M). Bank transfers were a close second in terms of dollar amount ($1.21M), but with a lot fewer redemptions (7,679). Venmo had decent volume (6,791) but a more modest dollar amount ($538k). Instant debit transfers were the least popular monetary option with 2,505 redemptions ($229k).
Top charity options
While most employees chose rewards for themselves (as a little treat), some generous folks donated their gifts to charity. Top donations by volume and dollar amount went to Doctors Without Borders (339 / $11,994), Save the Children (251 / $9,478), St. Jude Children's Research Hospital (162 / $5,725), International Rescue Committee (188 / $3,465), and the Alzheimer's Association (79 / $2,685).
Employee holiday gifting takeaways
Based on these 2025 holiday gift trends, what can HR teams take away to optimize their employee rewards and gifts in 2026? Here are a few key insights:
Give employees a meaningful gift amount (at least $25, $50 in many cases) to maximize impact. Depending on where your employees are located, they may expect higher or lower gift amounts.
Holiday parties and physical swag are nice for culture-building, but for individual recognition, employees prefer cash and gift cards.
Prepaid Visa cards and PayPal are great monetary options for employees. And since they don’t come through payroll, they feel more like a gift than standard income.
When offering specific gift cards, opt for national brands with widespread appeal. Even better: Use a platform that lets employees choose the best gift for them. (Tremendous makes it easy.)
If you’re opting for donations, pick well-known charities with causes that align with your brand values.
Whatever your recognition goals are in 2026, a thoughtful approach that ties rewards and gifts to what your team actually cares about is a winning strategy.
