Sending a hamper from Howth to Cork is logistics. Sending one from Howth to London or Boston is logistics plus law, and the law differs by destination in ways that catch corporate buyers out every December. We ship to all three, under rules we apply at our own checkout, so this guide describes the borders as we actually operate them.
Can I send a corporate hamper abroad?
Yes, and within the EU it is nearly as straightforward as sending one at home. The single market means no customs declarations, no duties and no surprise paperwork between Ireland and the other member states; a hamper to Lyon or Frankfurt clears nothing because there is nothing to clear. Contents that are fine to sell in Ireland are fine to send.
Outside the EU is where destinations start to differ, and the differences are not details. Three questions decide whether a given hamper can go to a given country: does it contain alcohol, does it contain perishable food, and who handles the customs side. The two destinations Irish corporate buyers ask about most, Britain and the United States, answer those questions very differently, so they get their own sections below.
The general advice for anywhere more exotic: ask before you promise. Food and drink are among the most regulated goods in international post, and a supplier who ships there regularly will know the constraints; a supplier who has to find out is learning on your gift.
Can you send hampers from Ireland to the UK?
Yes, with two realities to plan around since Brexit put a customs border in the Irish Sea.
The first is paperwork, which is the supplier’s problem rather than yours. Hampers to Britain travel with customs declarations, itemised contents and the food-export formalities that now apply. It adds process and a little time, which is one reason international orders want November deadlines rather than December ones.
The second reality is alcohol, and this one shapes what you can order. Alcohol can only travel from us to Britain during a seasonal window in the run-up to Christmas, opening in mid-November and closing shortly before the holiday itself. Inside that window, a hamper with a bottle of wine ships to Britain without fuss. Outside it, the same hamper cannot go, and our checkout will tell you so rather than letting the order fail quietly later. For a corporate buyer the implication is timing: a UK client list with alcohol in the hampers is a Christmas-window job, while alcohol-free hampers travel year-round. The etiquette question of whether alcohol belongs in the hamper at all is a separate decision, covered in is alcohol an appropriate corporate gift.
Perishables, happily, are fine: smoked salmon crosses the Irish Sea with the right paperwork, and ours does so every week.
What can you legally send to clients in the USA?
Much less, and it is better to know that before building the list. Two American rules remove the two things hampers are best known for.
Alcohol cannot be sent, full stop. Shipping alcohol to US consumers from abroad runs into federal and state-level rules that no gift sender can satisfy, so no wine, whiskey, gin or liqueur chocolates make the trip. Perishable foods are blocked too: US food import controls mean fresh and chilled products, our smoked salmon included, cannot be sent as gifts.
What can in principle still travel is the long-life end of a gift: chocolates, biscuits, preserves, teas, the non-food side of an Irish gift, from knitwear to crystal. Be realistic, though. Sending anything to the United States is genuinely difficult. Beyond the alcohol and perishable bans, customs handling is unpredictable, delivery times are not something anyone can promise, and the rules shift from state to state. We treat the USA as gifting only and case by case rather than a route we can guarantee, so if America is on your list, talk to us early and keep expectations realistic. Any supplier promising smooth, guaranteed delivery to the States is overselling it.
Who pays customs charges?
Whoever the shipping terms say, and for gifts there is only one acceptable answer: the sender. A gift that arrives with a customs bill attached is a gift the recipient pays for, which defeats the purpose so thoroughly it would be funnier if it did not happen every year.
The mechanics in brief: goods entering a non-EU country can attract import duty and local taxes, assessed on the declared value. Those charges can be settled by the sender in advance or collected from the recipient before handover, and couriers default to the second more often than you would hope. The honest guidance for any international gift is to settle this before you book rather than after: ask who pays the import charges, because a customs bill landing on the recipient’s doormat is the fastest way to undo a gift.
One last note for the accountants reading: getting the hamper across the border says nothing about whether you can deduct it. The tax treatment of client gifts, in both Ireland and the UK, is a separate matter, and we cover it in our companion article, are client gifts tax deductible in Ireland.
