Expos, conferences, booths
Trade show giveaway ideas that don’t end up in the trash.
Give away things people use once they’re home: tote bags, pens, power banks, water bottles. Then brand the booth itself, starting with the laptops on your table.
Describe a booth ad below and our AI draws it at your laptop’s exact shape.
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Giveaways
12 trade show giveaways. Pick the job, then tap one.
Figures are from ASI’s 2026 survey of U.S. consumers, the promo industry’s own research. Ranked picks for everyday customers are on promotional items for small business.
12 ideas
01 · Tote bags
4,900
lifetime views per bag in ASI’s survey
4,900 lifetime views per bag in ASI’s survey
Hand these out first. Everyone needs something to carry the rest of the show’s swag in.- The bowl filler that still gets used. Under $2 each.
- Small, useful and pocketable.
- Developers and students collect them. Most other crowds don’t. Know your aisle.
- Food stops people walking.
- Batteries die on show floors. A charger at your table keeps people there long enough to talk.
- The take-home version of the charging spot.
- Useful the same day at a long show.
- Easier than shirts at a booth, because there are no sizes.
- Sizes make them a headache on the floor. Bring a chart and expect to run out of large.
- One good fleece, drawn at 4 p.m., brings people back and collects emails.
- Not a giveaway: the laptops on your table face the aisle all show. A skin with your name and a QR code makes each one a sign, and you can generate the design with AI.
How to keep it out of the trash
Fewer, better, handed over. Four rules.
- 01Hand things over in a conversation. A bowl on an empty table feeds the people who never stop.
- 02Put a reason to come back on it: a QR code to a demo, a show-only discount.
- 03Bring one good item for the leads you want, and ship it after the show if it’s bulky.
- 04Skip what nobody wants. USB drives get 400 lifetime views, the fewest ASI measured.
Brand the booth
Your laptop faces the aisle all day. Put your name on it.
Type your company name and watch it land on the laptop at three different shows. This is a quick sketch drawn in your browser; the studio makes the real one, with your logo and a QR code.
The code in the sketch opens our design page. On your skin, it opens your site.
How far a name on a lid carries, with the sign rules of thumb: laptop advertising.
FAQ
Trade show giveaway questions.
What are the best trade show giveaways?
Things people use after the show: tote bags, pens, power banks, water bottles and caps. Tote bags stand out, with 4,900 lifetime views each in ASI’s 2026 survey, and attendees need one for everything else they pick up.
What should I give away at a trade show?
Two things. Something cheap for everyone who stops, like pens or lip balm, and something good for the people you want to hear from again, like a power bank or a bottle. Put a QR code on both.
Are trade show giveaways worth it?
They’re cheap per view: ASI puts promotional items at 0.6¢ per impression on average, and 76% of people say an item makes them more likely to do business with the giver. ASI speaks for the industry, so measure your own with a QR code that only booth visitors get.
What should your booth laptop say?
Free to start. You pay when you order a skin or want more than 15 AI designs.
More for business owners: laptop ads for business.