Cheap Lanyards
The most popular promotional item these days is the lanyard by far. They are being sold more than any other single type if item and there is a simple reason for this - anyone can use it. If you get pens and other small items, they just end up in the bottom of a drawer and they are being thrown out in the end, but when you get a lanyard for your customers, and anyone else, it will most likely be put to use. Not necessarily immediately, but at some point anyways.
The thing is that these days money is tight and you neet to save something in all the places, especially if you are a small business owner. There are a lot of differences in the prices that these lanyards are sold, and you can actually get cheap lanyards with a decent quality if you get a good deal. The thing that you should do is not to go with the first offer that you find, but instead do a little bit of searching - a lot of companies are selling 100 lanyards for a fixed price without handling fees, and if you don't need any more, then this might be a good offer for you. If you think that you need more you should look for bulk offers, because that is where you will save a lot of money!
The cheapest lanyards usually come with the largest orders as the company selling you the product doesn't have to make so much profit after they make their average commission from it. So once they are able to cover their costs and their paychecks, they can sell you with a good promotion - this doesn't directly go like this but you get the idea. Also the material that you choose to be used for the lanyards matters a lot - if you get a nylon strap with a buckle, it will definitely be more expensive than a more narrow cord with just a loop in the end. You should try to think about the people who you are getting them to, and what they might be using it for.
With larger orders you can even get cheap custom lanyards, but in most cases that is not even necessary. There are a lot of different options already at your disposal - you can choose from a lot of different materials, different attachments and then even get all the colors that you want. Going custom will raise the prices, but if you once again make that big order, you might be able to get near the prices that you would get with standard items.