How to Order Custom Macarons for Your Next Corporate Event | Macarons by Mila

Ordering custom macarons for a corporate event, gift program, or conference can feel unfamiliar if you haven't done it before, especially when branding, timelines, and shipping logistics all need to come together. This guide walks through the entire ordering process from start to finish, so you know exactly what to expect and how to plan around your event date. Macarons by Mila builds custom macaron orders for companies across the country, hand-piping every shell in our Los Angeles kitchen before shipping nationwide.

Step One: Define Your Occasion and Goals

Every order starts with a clear sense of what you're trying to accomplish. A client appreciation gift calls for a different approach than a trade show favor or a company holiday party centerpiece. Knowing your occasion helps determine the right format, whether that's individually packaged gift boxes, a shippable tower kit for a booth, or a favor box designed for easy distribution at an event.

Step Two: Decide on Branding and Design

Next, decide how much branding you want involved. Some companies want a company logo printed directly on every shell using edible printing technology, while others prefer a more understated approach built around color-matched shells and elegant packaging alone. If you're going the printed route, gather your logo file, ideally a high-resolution vector file, ahead of your consultation.

Step Three: Choose Your Format

Custom macarons for corporate use typically come in a few core formats: individually boxed gifts for client or employee lists, bulk favor boxes for event distribution, and macaron towers for a centerpiece display at a reception or booth. For markets outside our direct delivery radius, tower orders ship as a shippable kit, pre-built and packaged with assembly instructions for your team to put together on-site.

Step Four: Select Flavors

Our flavor menu includes classic options like vanilla bean, dark chocolate, and pistachio, as well as more distinctive flavors like passionfruit, salted caramel, and lavender honey. For most corporate orders, we recommend a broadly appealing flavor lineup that suits a mixed group of recipients, though we're happy to build a more adventurous selection for companies wanting to make a bigger flavor statement.

Step Five: Confirm Your Recipient List and Shipping Details

Once your design and format are settled, we'll confirm your recipient list or shipping destination, along with any relevant delivery deadlines. For gifting programs, this may mean coordinating direct shipment to individual addresses; for events, it typically means shipping in bulk to a single venue or office ahead of the event date.

Step Six: Review Your Design Proof

Before full production begins, we provide a proof showing exactly how your logo, shell colors, and packaging will look together. This step gives you a chance to request adjustments before we commit to producing your full order, which is especially important for larger gifting programs or conference orders.

Step Seven: Production and Shipping

Once your proof is approved, we move into production. Each shell is hand-piped, and printed orders go through our edible printing process before final assembly and packaging. Every order is packaged specifically for its journey, whether that's a short trip across Southern California or a multi-day cross-country shipment, so your macarons arrive fresh and intact.

How Far in Advance Should You Order?

Lead times vary by order type and complexity. Standard shipped gift orders typically need two to three weeks of lead time, event favor orders benefit from three to four weeks, and large-scale programs or shippable tower kits are best planned four to eight weeks ahead. Ordering early gives us the most flexibility to accommodate your exact design and timeline.

Frequently Asked Questions

What information do I need to provide to get started?

A sense of your occasion, approximate order size, target delivery date, and (if applicable) your logo file are the key details we need to begin your consultation.

Can I place an order without a company logo involved?

Yes, many corporate orders use color-matched shells and elegant packaging without any printed branding, which works well for a more understated gift or event favor.

How do I know what order size I need?

We'll help you estimate order size based on your guest count or recipient list during your consultation, factoring in typical serving sizes for events versus individual gift boxes.

Can I order a tasting before committing to a large order?

Yes, we offer tastings for companies planning a significant gifting program or event order who want to confirm flavor selections before full production begins.

What if my event date changes after I've placed an order?

We understand event dates can shift, and we'll do our best to accommodate schedule changes; the more advance notice you can give us, the easier this is to manage.

Do you require a minimum order size?

Minimum order sizes vary by format and design complexity; we'll discuss specifics based on your needs during your consultation.

Can I place a recurring order for regular occasions?

Yes, many of our corporate clients set up a standing order for recurring needs like quarterly gifting, annual galas, or holiday programs.

How do I pay for a corporate order?

We'll walk you through payment options during your consultation, including invoicing arrangements for larger corporate and gifting programs.

Working With Your Team

Throughout the ordering process, we're comfortable working directly with whoever is coordinating your order, whether that's a marketing team, an executive assistant, an event planner, or a business owner handling gifting personally. We're used to reviewing brand guidelines, coordinating around multi-vendor event timelines, and answering technical questions about file formats, shipping logistics, and production schedules.

What Makes the Process Smooth

The orders that go most smoothly tend to be the ones where we hear from a client early, well before their event or gifting deadline, with a clear sense of their goals and any brand requirements. That extra lead time gives us room to iterate on a design proof, address any questions, and build in a buffer for shipping, especially for orders traveling outside Southern California.

Ordering Nationwide

While our hand-delivery and in-person event services are concentrated across Southern California, our ordering process works the same whether you're located down the street from our kitchen or across the country. Every shipped order goes through the same design, production, and quality standards, packaged specifically to arrive fresh and intact after transit.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

A few missteps come up often enough that they're worth flagging upfront. Waiting until the last minute is the most common one; edible printing, color-matching, and shipping logistics all take real time, and rushing an order limits what we can accommodate. Another is underestimating recipient count, particularly for gift programs where a company later realizes a few names were left off the original list. It's worth building in a small buffer when finalizing your recipient count. Finally, some companies submit a low-resolution logo file pulled from a website, which limits how crisply it can be reproduced; sending your original vector file whenever possible makes a real difference in the finished product.

Coordinating Around Other Vendors

For larger corporate events, a macaron order is usually just one piece of a broader vendor puzzle that includes venue coordination, catering, audiovisual, and other event logistics. We're comfortable working within a broader event timeline and coordinating our shipping schedule around a venue's specific move-in or delivery windows, so your favors or centerpiece arrive exactly when your event team needs them, not before and not after.

Budgeting for Your Order

Pricing for custom macaron orders depends on several factors: order size, whether edible printing is involved, packaging choices, and shipping distance. We're happy to provide a detailed quote once we understand your occasion and goals, and we can often suggest ways to adjust format or scale to fit a specific budget without compromising on presentation quality. Many companies find that starting with a smaller pilot order for a single event, before committing to a larger recurring gifting program, is a helpful way to confirm fit before scaling up.

After Your Order Ships

Once your order ships, we provide tracking information so you can monitor its progress ahead of your event or gifting date. If anything about the shipment needs attention, whether that's a delivery timing question or a concern about how the order arrived, we're available to help resolve it quickly, since we want every recipient's first impression of your branded macarons to be a great one.

Ready to start? Reach out with your occasion, timeline, and any branding details, and we'll walk you through every step of building a custom macaron order that fits your next corporate event or gifting program. Start your consultation at macaronsbymila.com today.