How to create the swag budget for your next event

We visit 10+ trade shows each year, bringing our swag. We also help our clients achieve event merch goals. And here’s what we learned: an event swag budget is often overlooked or added at the last minute. The result? Overspending, lack of funds, and poor return on investment.

A good swag budget plan for an event helps:

Ensure consistent brand representation and maintain a positive ROI
Reduce costs
Prevent last-minute rush orders
Ensure proper inventory management and distribution planning

In this article, we’ll share:

What to consider when planning a swag budget for your events and campaigns
How to ensure increased ROI
Real-life tips and best practices from the Swag42 event manager

Event merch is not about handing out pens and notebooks. It draws people to your booth, creates a first impression, strengthens your brand, and can even keep clients engaged long after the event. But for it to work and not just end up as wasted money, you need to plan your budget wisely.

Anna Yanchenko
Event Manager at Swag42

What to consider when planning a swag budget for your events

Start with your overall event budget

Usually, the event budget is split into categories like:

Conference participation fee
Booth construction
Team expenses (travel, accommodation, daily allowances)
Staff (hostesses, bartenders, etc.)
Marketing (sponsorships, promo activities, advertising)
Event merchandise

Event swag typically takes 10-20% of the total event budget.

For small events, it can be closer to 10% whereas large trade shows will require approximately 20% since swag is necessary to stand out from hundreds of competitors.

Define your goals and success metrics

Most often, it’s about lead generation and brand awareness. But if you’re joining as a partner or sponsor, the approach changes: you should integrate your merch into the event program like stage gifts or curated sets agreed with organizers.

It all depends on your goals. Need booth traffic? Go for bright, low-cost items with a wow effect. Building relationships with top clients? Invest in more expensive, useful gifts. Want both? Prepare separate gifts for two audiences. Plus, always set aside some separate items for the “merch hunters and freebie collectors” who take everything within reach.

Anna Yanchenko

Event Manager at Swag42

Assess event type

Event merch budget really depends on the event format, how long it runs (longer events require more merch), your goals, and the number of leads you expect to meet.

If you’re reaching thousands of leads, we recommend choosing cost-effective swag that makes sense for your audience. Focus more on the experience. For example, create a lottery to boost engagement or invest in a memorable packaging experience with different notes and interesting facts about the product given. If your audience is a select group of partners or clients, invest in fewer but higher-value VIP gifts.

Estimate and segment your audience

Estimate the number of participants. Rely on official event stats and add 10-15% as a buffer.

Then, divide gifts based on your audience:

Calculate per-item spending

Based on the event type (or events if you’re planning to visit multiple events throughout the year), you need to calculate the approximate per-item spending.

Here are approximate per-item benchmarks:

Mass giveaway gifts (pens, stickers, notebooks): €2-7 per item
Branded bottles, mugs, tote bags: €10-30 per item
Tech accessories: €10-30 per item
Custom T-shirts, hoodies: €20-60 per item
VIP partner gifts: €100+ per item

Include hidden extra costs

Event swag price goes beyond what you see on a supplier’s website. It also includes customization, logistics, and delivery.

Be sure to budget for:

Shipping and fulfillment fees (Vary significantly depending on the destination country)
Customs clearance fees
Merch warehousing and inventory management (Note that you don’t pay for warehousing storage if you order event merchandise with Swag42. However, typical costs per cubic foot are $0.50-$2.00 per month in the U.S. and €0.20-€0.50 per month in the EU.)
Customization (Highly customized items cost slightly more than basic customization, so it’s better to consult with custom merch providers in advance)
Packaging (many suppliers, including Swag42, charge extra for packaging)
Return shipping (if you don’t hand out everything)
On-site surprises like missing items, last-minute top-ups, or local printing

If your merch budget is €10,000, the actual amount you’ll spend on the products themselves will be less, because packaging, shipping, taxes, and other extras eat into that budget. Always keep this in mind when planning.

Anna Yanchenko
Event Manager at Swag42

Plan in advance and order in bulk

Planning everything in advance not only saves your nerves (which is very important), but also gives you opportunities to reduce costs.

First, consider these questions: How many attendees will the event have? Will you give promotional items only to high-value prospects? How many leads do you plan on reaching? By answering these questions, you can identify the approximate amount of event merch you need to order in advance.

Pro tip: Once you have your estimated number, add roughly 10% to that quantity and budget. It’s always better to have extra swag rather than running out of it. Plus, you can use it later for other events or as part of employee appreciation or client gift campaigns.

Knowing these numbers beforehand allows you to place bulk orders, which typically come with good discounts and help you reduce event swag costs.

Look how the price for Swag42 T-shirts changes for bulk orders:

Below you see a customized T-shirt by Swag42. Its price ranges from €27.05 to €32.99 netto. Let’s see how it changes per item when you order more.

42 items – €32.99 netto per an item

100 items – €32.00 netto per an item

200 items – €31.34 netto per an item

300 items – €30.68 netto per an item

500 items – €29.69 netto per an item

Identify your annual swag needs

To estimate your approximate swag costs, you should plan all the events you’re attending in advance. Create a custom event calendar and add every event you plan to participate in. This will help you make swag estimates for each one and determine your overall yearly event budget.

To save time searching for the most significant events throughout the year, use downloadable event calendars. For example, you can use the Conference Calendar prepared by our team.

Use this checklist to smoothly prepare for events

Learn from the past events

After the event, create a separate document to track your spending and goal completion. Make sure to note the following:

The approximate budget you planned versus your actual spending
Whether or not the event went over budget. If so, identify which areas you could cut down on to avoid overspending in the future (e.g., change supplier, order in bulk, etc.)
Did the event meet its overall goals? (e.g., did it reach the target number of leads)
Which items were the most popular and which were the least popular?
What was the ROI for the swag distributed?
How much swag was distributed versus how much was left over?

How to ensure increased ROI for your event swag

Here are 4 tips to ensure increased ROI during event merch planning:

1. Partner with full-cycle swag vendors.

Look for vendors offering everything from event swag design, customization, warehousing, shipping, and delivery.

Ordering everything from a single supplier saves costs, as some vendors offer discounts and perks. For example, at Swag42, we offer free merch design and free merch storage in our warehouse.

As a bonus, it will save you a lot of time, risks, and nerves on dealing with multiple vendors.

2. Negotiate for discounts and bulk deals

Compare quotes from multiple vendors and discuss discounts and bulk deals. By placing a larger order upfront, you secure a lower price per unit and significant savings over time.

3. Choose high-impact items

Not all merch items deliver equal value.

Prioritize items made of high-quality materials. A stainless-steel tumbler feels more luxurious than a cheap plastic water bottle. According to the PPAI study, 70% of consumers tend to equate the quality of the promotional item they receive with the reputation of the company that gave it to them.

Our clients, for example, often order merch from well-known brands like BOSS, Nike, Stanley, Crocs, and Canyon to associate their brand with quality.

Offer something exclusive. It can be limited-edition items that make recipients feel special, or simple items that bring back pleasant emotions or memories. For instance, our clients really love our branded Tamagotchi, a small and inexpensive item that evokes a sense of pleasant nostalgia and childhood memories.

Low ROI event merch categories to leave behind:

Generic pens under $1
Basic lanyards
Cheap fabric swag
Items with large, obtrusive logos

Check event swag ideas for every budget

4. Track your swag budget spending

By tracking your swag budget spending you can analyze which swag items and distribution methods led to the best results.

Use a spreadsheet, an app, or a software program to record your expenses and monitor your progress. This will help you avoid overspending, detect errors, and adjust your swag budget as needed.

How to measure the impact of your event swag

ROI is rarely straightforward in events, so we track these key metrics:

We also recommend using the following methods to measure the impact of your event merch:

Create surveys and feedback forms
Track social media mentions
Monitor website visits
Track sales conversions
Ask for testimonials, reviews, and referrals from satisfied attendees

Best practices from Swag42: how we prepare for a trade show

Here are some working tips from our Swag42 event manager, Anna Yanchenko:

Plan ahead. Not just a month before, but early enough to create great designs and avoid delivery stress.
Choose light and compact items. They are easier to store, transport, and display at your booth.
Collect leads through merch. For example, give gifts only in exchange for a QR scan, registration, or participation in an activity.
Run activations. Merch should drive traffic and engagement, not sit on a table.
Create photo zones. Merch + photos = free content and wider reach.
Follow trends. Now, eco-friendly and tech items are on trend.
Create a digital VIP Swag Shop. Give your key clients access to an online store after the event so they can order merch for home delivery. This way, you show you care about (no carrying, packing, or luggage stress for them), and you don’t have to worry about sizes, leftovers, or logistics.

Consider creating merch collections by grouping themed items for a specific event. We, for example, run a special line called “From (city/country) with love. Swag42.” It’s become our signature touch. People even collect our T-shirts from different countries and cities we visit, which makes the gift feel more valuable, collectable and memorable.