It landed on you. Somebody said « we should do something » in a meeting, everyone looked away, and now you are holding the collection for the leaving do. Three weeks ahead of you, fifteen colleagues to chase, and no idea what you are meant to buy with it.
The hard part is not collecting the money. It is deciding what to do with it without the result feeling like an envelope in disguise. This guide takes both ends: how much to ask for, and what to give once the sum is in.
How much to ask for, and how much to give
The question comes up every time and nobody dares ask it out loud. In most teams, individual contributions land between 5 and 20 EUR, averaging around 10. For someone leaving after a long career, or for a direct manager, 20 to 30 is common.
The rule that avoids awkwardness: announce a range, never a fixed amount. « Between 5 and 15, whatever works for you » gives the intern and the director the same freedom, with nobody having to explain themselves. And never circulate a list where the amounts are visible.
A good collection is measured in participants, not in total. Fifteen people at 8 beats three at 40.
Where to run the collection
Two options, and the choice mostly depends on team size. The envelope is unbeatable under ten people: no fees, no sign-up, and passing it hand to hand chases the forgetful all by itself. Beyond that it becomes a tracking nightmare.
An online group-gifting pot takes over as soon as there are remote workers, several sites, or overlapping holidays. Check the fee before you pick one: a few percent on 200 is money that leaves the gift and never comes back.
Four ways to spend a leaving collection
The object
Watch, pen, bike, gardening kit. It is the reflex, and it is also the riskiest: you commit the whole sum to a taste you barely know. Works best when the person has been talking about one specific plan for months.
The dated experience
A weekend, a course, a restaurant, a balloon flight. The upside is real: it forces the person to stop and enjoy something, which an object never does. The downside too: you have to guess at their availability and their health.
The book of messages from colleagues
Everyone writes a memory, you bind the lot. Zero to 60 in printing, and often the only gift still pulled off a shelf ten years later. It does cost three weeks of chasing, and two or three people will never hand theirs in.
The song that tells the career
A song written from their thirty years in the building: their catchphrases, the photocopier story, the night they saved the file. Delivered in minutes, with karaoke the room joins in on. The format is detailed on the personalised retirement song page, and a full example plays without an account on this demo.
Why a song sits well on a collection
For an arithmetic reason first. A personalised song costs between 5 and 13: it does not eat the collection, it sits alongside the real present. You stop choosing between the bike and the moment that moves people, and do both with the same money.
For a human reason next. A collection always has the same flaw: fifteen people gave, one person chose. The song turns that around. Everyone sends their story by message, the stories end up in the verses, and the gift ends up signed by the whole team - which an envelope, by design, never is. One thing to know before playing it at the do: the terms of sale limit private use to family celebrations and sharing with close ones, and any public performance - a company room counts as one - requires our prior agreement. One message settles it.
The mistakes that sink a collection
- Announcing a fixed amount: those who cannot match it drop out quietly, and the collection loses participants rather than money.
- Launching three weeks early with no reminder: half the team means to give and forgets. Two short nudges beat one long message.
- Forgetting leavers, interns and the night shift: they often hold the best stories.
- Buying at the last minute with whatever is left: the gift looks chosen by default, and it shows when it is opened.
- Planning nothing for the moment itself: a present handed over wordlessly in a corridor undoes three weeks of organising.
Saying thank you, afterwards
Rarely thought about, and yet the trickier half. The person leaving receives a collective sum and has to thank fifteen people without knowing who gave what - which is exactly what they must not try to find out.
The right format is short and collective: a message in the group chat, or a few words at the do, naming what the gift made possible rather than what it cost. « Thanks to you I am leaving with a bike and a song my wife has already played three times » beats « thank you for your generosity ». And if you are the one leaving and want to return the favour, a song for the team is a counter-gift that costs almost nothing.
What it costs, plainly
A team collection usually lands between 100 and 300. An engraved watch takes 80 to 250 of it, a weekend 150 to 400, a photo book 40 to 60. A personalised song costs 5 (The Single), 8 (The Gold Record, with karaoke and cover art) or 13 (The Platinum, with slideshow and video): the detail is in our comparison of market prices, and the three tiers are on the home page.
In other words it is 2 to 13 % of an average collection. The most painless line in the whole operation, and often the one people talk about longest. For other gift angles, see our retirement gift ideas.
How much should I give for a retirement collection?
Between 5 and 20 in most teams, around 10 on average. For a close colleague or a long career, 20 to 30 is common. The organiser should always announce a range, never an amount.
Who should run the collection?
Ideally someone from the immediate team, not the manager: people give more freely when the person chasing them is not the person appraising them.
What if money is left over?
The simplest thing is to say so upfront: « anything left goes into a gift card ». Refunding 2 to fifteen people costs more time than it returns, and nobody asks for it.
Can we add a song to the main present?
That is the most common case: at 5 to 13 it slots in without touching the budget. It takes minutes to order, so even the night before the do. Create the song.
The essentials
A leaving collection comes down to three decisions: a range rather than an amount, a tool matched to the size of the team, and a gift that carries more than one person's mark. The first two keep you out of trouble; the third is what separates an object left on a desk from a departure people still talk about.