2025 Holiday Tipping Guide
Photo by https://www.bankrate.com/credit-cards/news/holiday-tipping-survey/
In Canada, Boxing Day occurs on December 26, a holiday that many Canadians use to tip those who make their lives easier.
In Mexico, Aguinaldo (Ah-gee-nahl-doh), represents an annual Christmas bonus equivalent to at least 15 days’ wages that companies are required to pay their employees before December 20, just in time for the holidays. The Aguinaldo may be prorated if the employee has been with the company for less than a full year.
In addition to Mexico, a number of other Latin American nations including Costa Rica, also require employers to pay Aguinaldo to their employees. The Aguinaldo is heralded as providing a tremendous boost to Latin America’s seasonal demand for retail products including automobiles, appliances, and furniture.
In the U.S., Americans use the time between Thanksgiving and the New Year to express gratitude with ‘gratuity’ or a holiday tip.
There’s no designated U.S. American holiday for end-of-year tipping, nor is there a federally-required monetary holiday bonus for employees. However, this time of year, tipping is standard across dozens of sectors.
Drafting your holiday tipping plan can be daunting; however, this guide will help anyone navigate holiday tipping. There’s no hard and fast rule about how much or who to tip in the U.S. Consider our suggestions:
- Start with a Budget: Calculate how much you’re willing and able to spend for 2025 tips. Remember, holiday tipping is not an obligation. Below, we list alternatives to big spending to soften that January blow to your checkbook.
- Grab Pen & Paper: Make a list of those you wish to tip, placing those who help you most frequently at the top. Your trusted house cleaner, nanny, dog walker, or daycare center staff may receive more than an infrequent provider.
- Who Gets What?: Factor in routine tipping, for those you tip regularly at the time of service, consider offering a small present or a gift card to a nearby café. Keep in mind local and regional customs, service quality and frequency, and relationship length. Tipping in metropolitan areas tends to be higher than in rural areas.
- Creative Alternatives: Handmade cards show heartfelt effort and genuine gratefulness. Explore Hallmark and Michael’s for colorful cardstock or calligraphy pens. Special baked goods (baklava or peppermint bark), local artisan candles or soaps, fine tea or coffee, and flower arrangements are excellent alternatives to monetary tips.
- Encourage Child Participation: Your child may want to make a gift for a babysitter, au pair, or nanny. Encourage them to make a drawing, card, or craft.
Suggestions to pair with your child’s gift:
- Live-in nanny or au pair: a week’s pay
- Babysitter: an evening’s pay
- Day Care Center Staff: a week up to a month’s pay
Download a printable holiday tipping checklist
Business (check corporate policy):
- Clients: Business gifts of charcuterie boards, edible arrangements, chocolate, nuts, cheese, wine, cookies, petit fours; golf balls, and non-logo gifts
- CEO/Boss: Group gift to their favorite charity or non-profit foundation
- Assistant: Bonus or gift based on relationship length
- Colleagues: Gift they will like for sports, hobby, or dining, or gift card
- Office Gift Exchange: Don’t go rogue, follow the spending guidelines
Education & Schools (follow policy):
- Professor: Greeting card, no gift
- Teacher: Consider a group gift with parents pooled funds
- Assistant /Aide: $25-$50 gift certificate
- Multiple Teachers: Small gift, candle, baked goods, gift card
- Principle: Holiday card & baked goods
- School Secretary: Café gift card, small gift or gift card
- School Nurse: Café gift card, small gift or gift
Home or Building Personnel:
- Live-in help (cook or butler): Between a week to a month’s pay, plus a gift
- Housekeeper: Once a week, equivalent to a day’s pay, or $50. For daily service, equivalent of a week’s pay, and possibly a gift
- Gardener: Equivalent of a week’s service
- Landscaping crew: Equivalent of a week’s service, divided among the crew
- Pool cleaning crew: Equivalent of one session, divided among the crew
- Garage attendant: Between $15-$40, or give a small gift
- Garbage/recycling: If city or county regulations permit, $10-$30 each for extra holiday effort
- Doorman: Between $50-$100 each, or gift, depending on extra duties
- Elevator Operator and Handyman: Between $20-$50 each
- Newspaper delivery: Between $10-$35, or give a small gift
Healthcare providers:
- Private Health Care Nurse: A week’s pay or a gift of similar value
- Home Health Employee: Follow policy, generous gift basket of holiday treats
- Nursing Home Staff: Follow policy, gift basket of holiday treats for all
Personal grooming:
- Hairstylist, Manicure, Pedicure, Specialist: Equivalent of a visit
- Barber: Haircut and shave equivalent or give a gift
- Massage Therapist: Session equivalent or give a gift
Pet care:
- Groomer: Equivalent of one session or give a gift
- Walker: A week’s pay equivalent, or “1-2 visits” per DogWalker.com
- Sitter: A week’s pay and a paw print note from your pet
Package & Mail Delivery:
The United States Postal Service (USPS) provides the public with a tipping and gift receiving policy on their website.
United States Postal Service:
Cash or cash equivalents are prohibited. Employees may accept baked goods (homemade or store bought) items to share with the branch office. Customers may give edible arrangements, gift cards for merchandise or services valued up to $20 per occasion (such as Christmas, Easter). Non-cash gifts cannot exceed $50 per calendar year.
Gifting cash, VISA, MasterCard, or gift cards that may be used as cash are prohibited per USPS Employee Tipping and Gift Receiving Policy.
Federal Express (FedEx): Corporate policy prohibits gift cards, high-end gifts, and vacations. The FedEx driver will politely decline a cash holiday gratuity. Policies allow non-cash gifts up to $75, discouraging cash gifts. Small tokens of appreciation such as snacks or beverages are appreciated.
United Parcel Service (UPS):
UPS does not have specific rules like USPS does. Drivers may accept non-cash tokens of appreciation. A handwritten note or small gift shows thanks.
Discretionary:
Personal Trainer: Some personal trainers may be offended by a monetary holiday tip. Review their regular service cost, and determine if you want to offer a monetary tip, a handwritten card, or verbal thanks.
Salon/Spas: If you visit an all-inclusive salon or spa such as Jackson Ruiz, tipping is not only prohibited, it’s against salon policy.
Lifeguards/Swim Coaches: Some aquatic facilities have rules against employees accepting tips. For example, a lifeguard may be required to decline a tip three times before accepting.
Regional Delivery Providers such as Diligent appreciate a small token of thanks.
No Tipping Zone – Avoid giving holiday tips to people on this list; consider holiday e-cards instead:
Accountant/CPA
Attorney
Auditor
Banker
Bookkeeper
Dentist
Disaster relief worker or volunteer
Doctor
Executive Coach
Members, Board of Directors or Trustees
Red Cross volunteer or worker
Seamstress/ Tailor
Veterinarian
Remember, when in doubt, ask! If you have any reservations, uncertainties, or questions about tipping rules or expectations, call the front desk of your service provider, school, or business. Ask if they have a tipping or gift-giving policy, and what the standard is for tipping at that location. For more informal relationships where there might not be a front desk to call (i.e. babysitter, dog walker, etc.), opt for modest tips or small gifts to say thanks and wish them a happy holiday.
Sharon Schweitzer JD, is a cross-cultural trainer, etiquette expert, and the founder of Access to Culture. In addition to her accreditation in intercultural management from the HOFSTEDE Centre, she is an attorney, mediator, and Adjunct Professor of Law at South Texas College of Law. She also currently serves as the Chair of the Board of Trustees of the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library. Sharon served as a Chinese Ceremonial Dining Etiquette Specialist in the documentary series Confucius was a Foodie, on Nat Geo People. Her Amazon #1 Best Selling book in International Business, Access to Asia: Your Multicultural Business Guide, won a coveted Kirkus Star, and was named to Kirkus Reviews’ Best Books. She’s a winner of numerous awards, including the British Airways International Trade Award at the Greater Austin Business Awards.
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