The holiday season is upon us, and it can be difficult to select gifts for your salon’s patrons. These holiday gifting ideas for your nail salon clients will delight and surprise them. Loyal repeat customers are the backbone of your beauty business, and knowing you appreciate their patronage will keep them coming back.
Mini Pedicure Set
Pack small, transparent cosmetic bags with a pumice stone, a travel-sized foot soak, toe separators, and polish samplers in a variety of colors. You can create themed sets with colors chosen according to seasons, or different color palettes like pastels, jewel tones, or metallics and glitter.
Nail Art Stickers
Seasonal nail art stickers are so much fun—they’re versatile and easy. Your clients will appreciate the chance to create their own nail art between visits to the salon without having to recreate the more complex process of nail art foil transfers. With designer nail art decals, it’s as simple as peel and stick. Throw in a coordinating base coat nail color with a sheet of seasonal themed stickers, or create a variety set of polish and stickers they can use for a holiday girls’ night nail art party.
Customized Nail Color Basket
One thing your clients love about you is how you keep detailed notes on their preferences in nail color; show them how well you know them by creating a personalized basket with nail colors customized just for them. This is also a great opportunity to introduce your clients to new products, or encourage them to try a type of nail color they haven’t used yet—like gels or dips.
Hand Care Set
Cuticle care creams and lotions are a no-brainer, but how about the rest of your client’s hands? Put together a set of scented hand lotions and gentle polish removers that will keep the skin on their hands soft and moisturized.
Discount Coupons or Gift Vouchers
Everyone loves a bargain. Create branded coupons or gift vouchers for discounts off a future service. You can encourage your clients to pass these on to friends and family to nudge them to come in for a treatment. Don’t give away the store, though: make vouchers in an amount that will bring customers in for a bargain, not a freebie. The idea is to get new patrons into the salon so you can impress them with your skill and care, and they’ll turn into repeat customers.
12, 8, 7 Gifts
Create sets of polishes and tools, like buffers, files, and orange sticks, in numbered bundles for the 12 days of Christmas, the 8 nights of Hanukkah, or the 7 days and nights of Kwanzaa. Include polish samplers in colors that are associated with those holidays, such as reds and greens (add black for Kwanzaa), or blues and silver for Hanukkah. Wrap each individual item, and then bundle them together in sparkly, glittery, clear cellophane tied with colorful ribbons. Let clients choose the bundle they prefer.
Cookies and Coffee
Everyone loves a sweet treat. Connect with your local bakery and ask them to produce a batch of almond-nail-shaped cookies iced with marbled, polka-dot, or fishnet nail art designs. Box a few cookies with a few packets of peppermint-flavored coffee and present them to your clients at the end of their appointment. Make it a mutually beneficial arrangement with the bakery by including their coupons in the box, and ask them to include a voucher from your salon with every dozen cookies or half-dozen holiday cupcakes they sell in their shop.
If there’s no bakery close to your salon, consider holiday cookie mixes that come in mugs or ball jars. You can add a ribbon with a discount card attached.
Bubble Bath and Exfoliating Gloves
Create themed soothing bath sets with lavender, tea tree, eucalyptus, or aloe bubble bath or Epsom salts. Include a pair of exfoliating gloves and a matching scented body lotion for after-bath skincare.
Grab Bag
The holidays can be super busy right through New Year’s Eve. If you don’t have time to create individual gift baskets or bags for each client, make one big grab bag filled with samples of nail color in traditional lacquers, or newer gels and dips, plus disposable tools like orange sticks and emery boards. Include cuticle lotions or oils, foot scrubs, nail art stickers, and maybe some inexpensive wrist and ankle bracelets. Let patrons reach in and pull out one or two little items after each visit during the holidays. Just make sure there’s nothing sharp in there!
Tea Samplers
Many specialty tea makers come out with samplers around the holidays. Find a wholesale supplier and stock up on a variety of their tea gift sets to give away to your clients.
Inspirational Items
Stickers, keychains, or desk décor with inspirational messages are a lovely way to express ongoing gratitude. Choose slogans that emphasize generosity, gratitude, and inner beauty. You can even find humorous items with uplifting messages.
Spice, Sauces, and Herb Trios
Meals and baking take center stage during the holiday season. Put together trios of spice or herb samplers like cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves, or rosemary, thyme, and sage. Or, go with “hot and spicy” or “cool as a cucumber” themes, coupled with samples of corresponding nail colors. You’ll find spice and sauce wholesalers online with sets of spices and sauces you can buy in quantity
Branded Items
The choices are endless when it comes to branded items you can order from suppliers online. You supply the art for your logo, and these suppliers will put it on everything from tote bags to pens to mugs to chocolate bars. You can add a holiday tagline that relates to your nail services, like “Have a glittering holiday season!” and add a corresponding sample of glitter polish with a tote or makeup bag. Alternatively, you can go with “Chocolate never chipped a nail!” paired with a chocolate treat in a wrapper that features your salon logo.
Showing your appreciation for your clients will pay off in the long run. We hope these holiday gifting ideas for your nail salon clients will help. However, we encourage you to remember that loyal patrons deserve ongoing acknowledgment for their support of your business. Although the holidays are a great time to show your appreciation to your customers, don’t make your gratitude a once-a-year occasion. Ask customers to share the month and day (Not the year! Let that be their little secret!) of their birthday and send a card with a coupon for a special service, and keep track of anniversaries. A client who has been with you for one, five, or ten years deserves a little celebration.
Of course, it’s your superior service that keeps your clients coming back. You still have to run your salon while planning these holiday gift extras, so don’t spread yourself too thin—clients appreciate any kind of acknowledgment. A sincere, handwritten note of appreciation goes as far or even farther than a freebie, because your patrons will know you took the time to speak to them personally in your own words. Enjoy the holiday season!.
