10 Swag Bag Ideas Your Attendees Will Love

Think about the last conference you attended, and the moment when you received your swag bag. What were your emotions? Did you feel curious? Excited? Appreciated? What about after you opened it? Did you experience a rush of delight?

If the event planners did a great job, you might have found yourself posting the contents of your swag bag excitedly to social media. You may still be using and enjoying your swag years later.

But if the event planners did a poor job, chances are good you tossed the items or they are collecting dust somewhere in a long-forgotten shoebox.

If you are the one planning an event, you know how much is riding on the success of your swag. The right swag ideas will make a great first impression on attendees, show them how much you appreciate their presence, and even persuade them to promote your brand during and after the event.

In fact, according to these stats, “50% of people report daily using the promotional products they have accumulated from swag bags.” The stats also report, “85% of consumers admit to doing business with a company after receiving a promotional product from them,” and “67% of people pass promotional products on to someone else, providing further exposure.”

In this post, we are going to share 10 swag ideas with you that your attendees will adore. But first, let’s go over some swag basics.

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What Should Go in a Swag Bag?

There is a wide range of items that are suitable for swag bags. Any of the following can strike the right chord with attendees:

Attire
Office supplies
Electronics
Toys for children
Snacks
Sports products
Health products

There are other categories of products that can work too, but those are some of the most popular ones.

What Should Not Go in a Swag Bag?

While there are plenty of ideas for exciting swag bag goodies your attendees will enjoy, there are a few items that almost never pass muster. Here are a few things to avoid when you put together your swag bags:

Paper weights. While some people might still find these useful, they are heavy. Who wants so much extra weight in their luggage?
Key chains. Unless the key chain in question is particularly novel or offers additional functionality, skip it. Most people are already drowning in key chains.
Wipes for phone screens. Like key chains, these tend to be overdone.
Items that will not make it through airport security. Chances are good a lot of people flew to attend your event. Make sure you only give them items they can actually take home with them.
Cheap, poorly manufactured items. Your attendees can recognize high quality from low quality. If your swag looks cheap and feels flimsy, it sends a negative message.

What About Virtual Swag?

In our pandemic times, many events are now taking place online or partially online. For virtual and hybrid events, you can still send out swag!

This could include digital items or physical items you send direct through the mail.

For example, Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) turned to Delta Marketing for assistance when they needed to start hosting their yearly conference online. Delta Marketing worked with CSTA to help them craft custom swag boxes.

Delta Marketing writes, “Part of the success was the eye-catching design of the box and swag. We made sure everything, including the box design, collateral, and items inside the virtual event kit, all tied back to the CSTA brand guidelines.”

Recipients loved their swag boxes, taking to social media to share their delight. Impressions for CSTA on Twitter jumped over the course of a day from 10,000 to 45,000.

What Should a Swag Bag Cost?

There can be a wide price range for swag bags. You will need to figure out your budget for the entire conference to start. Then, think about how much you will need to allocate for other expenses. Whatever is left over is going to be your approximate budget for swag bags.

Of course, you do have some flexibility. You could consider making cuts in other areas to increase your swag bag budget if necessary.

Think about the people who will be attending your conference and what their expectations are likely to be.

A couple of exciting high-end items are going to make a much better impression on the whole than a bag or box containing a large number of lower-quality items.

What Should You Consider When Choosing the Best Conference Swag?

Demographics and interests of your attendees: Who is attending the event? How old are they? Do they have families? What are their professions? What activities do they enjoy on their off time? Where do they live? How far have they traveled? What are they passionate about? What are their values? The more of these questions you can answer, the more insights you will have into what types of swag will be well-received by participants.
The event location and season: Think about swag bag ideas that might be useful given the time and place where the conference is occurring. Say, for example, your conference is taking place in a bright, hot climate during summer. Sunglasses or sunscreen might make sense for such an event. But if your event is taking place in a cold location during gray winter days, a promotional beanie or insulated tumbler might make a better swag option.
Budget: As mentioned, you will need to choose goodie bag ideas that will fit within your company’s budget.
What you want the swag to accomplish: What do you want attendees to do with their conference swag? Use the items themselves every day at work? Gift the items to their colleagues, friends or family? Something else altogether? Pick items that will help you achieve your goals, whether those goals are to remind recipients your company exists, promote your brand to others, or something else entirely.
The tone of your event: What is your conference about, and what is its tone? Is it serious? Humorous? Fun and energetic? Playful? Cutting edge? Whatever tone you want to capture, you should pick goody bag ideas that help convey that message to attendees.
Your company’s values: We mentioned that you should assess your recipients’ values when putting together swag selections. But you also should think about your company’s values. Make sure the conference giveaway ideas you are choosing express those values.

Top Swag Bag Ideas for Your Next Conference

Now that we have gone over some considerations for choosing the best conference swag, let’s go over some specific ideas for your next event.

1. USB chargers and adapters

If a lot of your attendees have traveled to take part in your event, consider giving them chargers for their devices in their swag boxes.

How do you make sure that you are offering compatible technology? When your attendees register, include a survey. Ask them what type of device they use. Then, personalize each recipient’s swag bag with a compatible charger they can use.