Christmas hampers as a gift to staff are coming back into fashion and are more lavish than before, hamper suppliers say.

The amount employers spend on the annual Christmas bonus has gone up from €35 euros to some €60 on average, with gift tokens now less popular than the old fashioned hamper, the AD reported on Tuesday.

‘Tokens are seen as impersonal and boring,’ Bart Poierrié of online hamper service Kerstpakketten.nl told the paper. ‘People want to feel appreciated and a token is not going to achieve that.’

This year’s Christmas hamper is likely to comprise household items with the appropriate products to accompany it, such as an air fryer or toasted sandwich maker, rather than the old fashioned tins of ragout and packets of coffee.

‘The crisis is clearly at an end and that there is more growth. That is reflected in employers’ choice of hamper,’ Jacqeline Roest of market leader Makro told the paper. Trends at Makro include personalised tokens, where staff choose a present online and receive a personal video message from their boss and themed hampers, the paper said.

Tax rules surrounding Christmas hampers became more relaxed last year, with employers now allowed to give tax-free gifts to staff amounting to 1.2% of their salary.