When I was a teenager I did some domain reselling (~1000 domains). The registar send me once an expensive set of kitchen knifes for christmas '99 (>200€).

Which was the time I turned 18 and moved out into my first own flat. Still using the knifes every day. :-)

Julian, even the fact that you asked your question here suggested that you and the brand you are representing are thoughtful and caring. Kudos! It's the most important thing.

I would say anything nice (meaning quality, lasting, like Roland's story here) will do the job. If you have something that align with your brand, that's the best. People don't always expect to receive something, especially something nice, so I am sure they will be surprised and appreciate it. Good luck with everything.

The coolest thing I've received from a vendor was a cake-in-a-box gift. Unfortunately, I was on vacation when they sent it to my office, but my employees really got a kick out of getting a mysterious box with a cake in it. I think the fact that it was so unexpected is what made it such a great gift.

At a previous job, I was an engineer. Our group sent a lot of work to a machine shop aggregator each year. I don't know what their cut was, but every engineer in our group got a 6 pound ham each Christmas and invited to an annual expenses-paid golf outing at a local course.

...needless to say, we kept sending work their way. =)

One suggestion is to try a personalized gift. This would require more effort on your part, however - but the personal touch could go really far.

For instance, if you always meet with a particular business contact at a specific coffee shop or restaurant, a gift card for that location could be nice. If a business contact really enjoys a particular sports team, some sports memorabilia could work. If a business contact mentioned being interested in reading a particular book, go out and purchase that book for him/her.

I would stay away from giving them a generic gift (like cups, mouse pads, etc) with your company's logo on it, however. I've received such corporate schwag before and never felt any warm glow inside.

At my previous job each of our employees got a bag of gummy bears as appreciation and acknowledgment for the work we do. The bag had a printed company logo, a tag line and a thank you message (it was a general message to everyone) . We usually got it when we launched a new product, or just once in a while as a thank you. It was actually nice because we didn't expect it, and that someone actually took the time and did it was very nice.

What do you think about this?

I would say a handmade desk toy - a high percentage of corporate folks love those and collect them competitively, also other people in that office see it as well. Try calling a woodworking supply store and see if they know of anyone who makes such things (either one of the employees does on the side or they know someone who makes something interesting).