Butterball Gift Check vs. Corporate Traditions Vouchers

A Butterball gift check is a printed bank check, in any amount from $1 to $50, that an employee spends on a turkey or other grocery food at a store that carries Butterball and accepts checks. If you're comparing options, Corporate Traditions turkey and grocery vouchers do the same job with no fees, free color branding, and acceptance at 15,000+ US grocery stores.

Both products put dinner on the table, and both have loyal buyers. But they're built differently, and the differences show up in places an HR team feels: the invoice, the checkout lane, the employee who doesn't eat turkey, and the pile of leftovers in your desk drawer in December. So the comparison below runs in the order you'll hit those questions, with a verdict up front for anyone who has a purchase order due this afternoon.

Quick verdict: Butterball gift check or Corporate Traditions voucher

For most employers buying for more than a handful of people, Corporate Traditions vouchers are the stronger pick, and in the worked cost example below they cost less at both 50 and 500 recipients.

The reasons stack up quickly. You pay face value with no fees, your logo prints in color at no charge, orders over 100 vouchers get a bulk discount, you decide exactly what the voucher covers (from a turkey by size up to all grocery products), and each voucher can list grocery stores near the person holding it. Unused vouchers can come back for full credit or a refund, which takes the guesswork out of headcount. And the vouchers are designed to qualify as a de minimis fringe benefit, a point your payroll team will care about more than anyone.

Butterball gift checks have real strengths too. The brand is familiar, you can pick odd amounts like $18 or $37, and the checks usually ship within a day or two once payment clears. If your workforce has received them for years and expects them, that tradition carries weight.

So the short version: if the Butterball name itself is the gift, buy the checks. If the meal is the gift, the voucher does more of the work for you.

Butterball gift check vs. Corporate Traditions vouchers, side by side

Here's how the two compare on the points that usually decide an order.

A few rows favor Butterball (any-dollar denominations, faster dispatch, and no printed expiration date). Most of the rest favor the voucher, and the sections below explain why each one matters once the order is in your hands.

What employees can buy with each

A Butterball gift check is spent like a check. The employee can put it toward a Butterball turkey or other grocery food items for a holiday meal, up to the face value, unless you print an optional "Redeemable for turkey ONLY" disclaimer. Change is up to the store's own check policy, so the program suggests adding groceries to use the full amount.

With Corporate Traditions Turkey & Grocery Vouchers, you set the scope before anything prints. Common choices look like this.

• Turkey by size, for a company that wants the classic bird and nothing else.
• Turkey or ham, which covers the two most common centerpieces.
• Turkey, ham, fruits, and vegetables, with versions that add chicken, beef, or seafood.
• Fruits and vegetables only, a fit for wellness programs.
• All grocery products (excluding alcohol and tobacco), for full choice.

That control matters in a mixed workforce. Some of your people are vegetarian, some host a ham-only family, and some will be eating Thanksgiving dinner on a night shift. A voucher set to all grocery products lets each of them build the meal they'll actually eat, and recipients can use it on any brand of the products listed. If tradition matters more to you, set it to a turkey by size and you'll get exactly that.

Where employees can redeem it

Butterball gift checks work at grocery stores that carry Butterball products and accept checks as payment, which the program says covers virtually all of them. The "pay to the order of" line is left blank on purpose, and the employee writes in the store's name at the register. If someone writes their own name instead, the store may treat it as a third-party check and refuse it, so it helps to explain the payee line before you hand them out. Some stores no longer take checks at all, and the program publishes a retailer letter for cashiers who haven't processed one before.

Corporate Traditions vouchers work like a manufacturer's coupon, so they're accepted at any US grocery store that takes coupons, more than 15,000 of them. Each voucher can show grocery stores local to the employee holding it. Nobody has to fill in a payee line, and the cashier handles it the way they'd handle any coupon.

Branding and customization

Both programs let you put your company on the gift. Butterball gift checks include your logo and a short message at no charge, but logos print in grayscale unless you pay a color printing fee of $0.25 per check.

Corporate Traditions includes the logo, a custom message, and full color printing free. You can also choose whether the voucher is titled as a Gift, Holiday, or Food Voucher. For a 300-person order, that color fee alone would be $75 on the check side (300 × $0.25), and it's $0 on ours.

There's also the question of whose name is on the gift. A Butterball check carries a well-known consumer brand next to yours. A Corporate Traditions voucher puts your company front and center, which suits a gift meant to thank people on the company's behalf.

Ordering and shipping

Butterball wins on raw dispatch speed. The program typically processes orders within 24 to 48 hours, Monday through Friday, once payment is received and verified, and it ships nothing until payment is received in full. You can pay by check or ACH against an invoice, or by credit card for orders under $10,000. Checks ship from the Chicago suburbs to one location, to recipients by USPS, or in bulk packs to several sites on your own UPS or FedEx account, with free UPS Ground on orders over $2,500. Envelopes aren't included in standard orders unless you ask for them.

Corporate Traditions vouchers arrive in 5 to 7 business days with standard shipping, and expedited shipping is available for a fee. Our advice is to order 7 to 10 days before you plan to hand them out, and earlier is safer.

Here's what that means this year. Thanksgiving falls on November 26, so a handout the week before means placing your voucher order in the first week of November. That's not a tight window if you start now. And if your accounts payable team needs a week to cut a vendor payment, remember that the check program's fast turnaround only starts once payment clears, so build that week into either plan.

Cost and fees

This is where the gap is widest. A Butterball gift check carries a check service fee on top of face value, which the program says covers administration, check printing, bank clearing, and advertising. The fee isn't listed on the program's FAQ (it appears in the online checkout as "Product Fees"), so get it in writing if you're requesting an estimate. Color logos add $0.25 per check, UPS Ground is free on orders over $2,500, and the checkout adds a credit card fee line when you pay by card.

Corporate Traditions charges no fees or contracts. You pay the voucher price plus shipping, color branding is included, and the bulk discount is built into the per-voucher price. Our pricing page calculator shows the total for your quantity before you talk to anyone.

Worked example: 50 and 500 recipients at $25

Here's what the same $25 gift costs at two common order sizes, with your logo printed in color on both. Butterball figures come from checkout quotes in its online cart in October 2026 (shipping varies by destination). Corporate Traditions figures come from our live voucher calculator in October 2026, including its shipping estimate. Prices on both sides can change, so run your own numbers.

In both examples Corporate Traditions costs less. With a grayscale logo instead, the check totals drop by $12.50 and $125, and the vouchers still come out ahead.

The math is simple to check. At 50 recipients, the check order adds $60 in product fees, $12.50 for color, and $29.37 in shipping to the $1,250 face value, while the voucher order adds only a $10 shipping estimate. At 500, the check order's fees come to $725 even with free shipping, and the voucher order drops $125 below face value thanks to the bulk price before adding $20 for shipping. In both quotes the product fee works out to $1.20 per check. Run it with your own headcount and face value, and remember that our side never adds a fee line.

Expiration, lost gifts, and leftovers

The program says Butterball gift checks have no expiration date. Its terms add one nuance: after a long enough time, banks may stop honoring an old check, and the value of checks that were never cashed is refunded to the buyer, less handling and processing fees. Lost, stolen, or damaged checks can't be replaced, and that includes checks that went through the wash or were written on.

Grocery vouchers are required to carry a printed expiration date, and ours expires the May after purchase. That's months past Thanksgiving and the December holidays. If an employee finds one in a coat pocket in June, they can mail it back and we'll replace it free.

Leftovers are simpler too. Ordered 250 and only handed out 231? Unused Corporate Traditions vouchers can be returned for full credit or a refund, so you can order for your full roster without worrying about the no-shows.

Tax treatment of a Butterball gift check vs. a voucher

Your payroll team will want a say here. The IRS says in Publication 15-B that cash and cash-equivalent fringe benefits (it names gift certificates and gift cards) are never excludable as de minimis, no matter how small. Holiday gifts other than cash with a low fair market value can be excluded.

A gift check has a dollar face value and clears through a bank like any other check. Whether your company treats it as a cash equivalent is a call for your tax or payroll advisor, and it's better to ask before you order than after the checks are handed out.

Corporate Traditions vouchers are designed to qualify as a de minimis fringe benefit, because they can only be redeemed for specific items. Confirm the treatment with your tax or payroll advisor before you rely on it. Our guide to what HR needs to know about de minimis benefits and the short glossary definition lay out the test the IRS applies, and the explainer on grocery benefits that can stay out of wages covers the food side specifically. If you're weighing a cash-like gift anyway, see how gift cards are taxed and the quick glossary entry on taxing gift cards.

Remote and multi-state teams

A distributed workforce is where the voucher's design pays off.

Say you have 40 locations across six states, plus a few dozen people who work from home. With a check, each person needs a nearby store that carries Butterball and still takes checks, and you'll want to send the retailer letter along in case a cashier hesitates. The Butterball program does handle distribution well (direct-to-recipient USPS mail or bulk packs to each site), so the logistics are manageable. The open question is the checkout.

With a Corporate Traditions voucher, each one can list grocery stores local to that employee, and it works anywhere in the US that accepts coupons. The person in rural Montana and the person in downtown Atlanta get the same gift and a clear answer about where to use it. Our vouchers are printed and mailed to your company, so they work best for the people your site managers can hand them to. For the people who work from home, Gift Card+™ can be emailed directly or sent as a PDF or plastic card instead. For more on reaching people who never come into the office, see our guide to gifts for remote employees.

Who each option fits

Choose Butterball gift checks if

Your employees have received them for years and look forward to the brand. You need an unusual amount like $18 or $37. Your recipients mostly shop at stores you know take checks, and you're ordering at the very last minute with payment ready to go. Plenty of companies have handed them out without trouble, and a familiar name on the envelope has real value at the holidays.

Choose Corporate Traditions vouchers if

You'd rather pay no fees on top of face value, plus any of the following.

• You're ordering for more than 100 people and want a bulk discount with no fees on top.
• Some employees don't eat turkey, or you'd like them to choose the meal.
• Your team is spread across states and sites.
• You want your logo in color and your company's name to be the one people remember.
• You're not sure of final headcount and want unused vouchers to come back for full credit.
• You want a gift that's designed to qualify as de minimis (with your advisor's sign-off).

More than 5,000 organizations use Corporate Traditions for employee gifts. The same account covers Gift Card+™ for choice-based gift cards and GiftYouPick™ for physical gifts, so December doesn't mean onboarding another vendor. Vouchers work best for groups of about 50 or more, and for a smaller team Gift Card+™ is usually the better fit. Our year-end gift planning walkthrough shows how to sequence the season, and our roundup of Thanksgiving gifts for staff compares food, vouchers, and certificates if you're still deciding on the format. If cash-like flexibility matters more than tax treatment, bulk gift cards are the other route, and our employee holiday gift guide helps fold Thanksgiving into one bigger plan. Whatever you pick, pair it with a real note. Our Thanksgiving messages to employees include short ones written to go with a turkey or grocery gift.

Butterball gift check FAQ

What is a Butterball gift check?

It's a printed bank check, in any amount from $1 to $50, that the recipient spends at a grocery store on a Butterball turkey or other grocery food. Companies buy them in bulk for employees, customers, and charitable giving. Corporate Traditions grocery vouchers are an alternative for employers who want no fees and free color branding.

Where can employees use a Butterball gift check?

At US grocery stores that carry Butterball products and accept checks as payment. The employee writes the store's name on the "pay to the order of" line at the register. Corporate Traditions vouchers, by comparison, work at 15,000+ US grocery stores that accept coupons.

Do Butterball gift checks expire?

No. The program says they have no expiration date, though banks may stop honoring very old checks, and uncashed value is refunded to the buyer less fees. Corporate Traditions vouchers carry a printed expiration date in the May after purchase and are replaced free if an expired one is mailed back.

Can a Butterball gift check buy food other than turkey?

Usually, yes. It can go toward other grocery food items for a holiday meal, unless the buyer printed a "turkey only" disclaimer on it. With a Corporate Traditions voucher, you choose the scope, from a turkey by size up to all grocery products (excluding alcohol and tobacco).

What's the difference between a gift check and a grocery voucher?

A gift check is processed and deposited like a bank check. A grocery voucher is processed like a manufacturer's coupon and limited to the items printed on it. That difference affects where it's accepted, what it can buy, and how your payroll team may treat it.

Are Butterball gift checks taxable for employees?

Ask your tax or payroll advisor. The IRS says cash equivalents are always taxable wages, while low-value holiday gifts other than cash can be excluded, and whether a gift check counts as a cash equivalent depends on your advisor's read. Corporate Traditions vouchers are designed to qualify as a de minimis benefit, which is also worth confirming with your advisor.

How do I order Butterball gift checks for a large group?

Request an estimate or order on the program's site, then pay by check or ACH against an invoice, or by credit card for orders under $10,000. Checks ship once payment is received, usually within 48 hours, to one address, by USPS to each recipient, or in bulk to several sites. UPS Ground is free on orders over $2,500.

Get a quote on turkey and grocery vouchers

Pick a value from $5 to $50, choose what the voucher covers, add your logo, and you'll see your bulk price before you commit. There are no fees or contracts.