Starting too late is the single most common mistake, particularly for Diwali — by the time the pressure of an approaching deadline forces action, the best stock and vendor capacity are already committed elsewhere.
Choosing a gift based on internal preference rather than recipient data is another frequent error — what procurement or HR finds appealing doesn't always match what the actual employee base values, and post-gifting feedback is underused for correcting this year over year.
Under-budgeting branding and customisation timelines is a close third — logo printing and engraving routinely take longer than expected, and treating this as an afterthought rather than a planned step causes the most last-minute scrambling.
Other recurring mistakes: too many budget tiers creating administrative complexity without proportional benefit, skipping GST invoicing on informal small orders, underestimating festive-season delivery delays, and failing to confirm stock availability before committing to a specific product publicly.
Most of these are solved by the same fix: starting the planning process a full month earlier than instinct suggests is necessary, which absorbs almost every other mistake on this list as a side effect.