Christmas is less than a week away. As panicked as you might be trying to find the perfect gift for everyone in your lives, scouring the shelves of packed stores and cursing expensive shipping fees, sometimes the best gifts you can give aren’t ones you find in stores at all. It may sound cliché but its 100 percent true. Unwrapping a present is fun. Getting a gift you can tell someone put a lot of thought into is better. But no one will deny that getting any of the following gifts is just as amazing.

1. A Phone Call

That relative that lives on the other side of the country and comments on your Facebook posts non-stop? The old friend who you never really see anymore and you’ve just kind of grown apart? Give them a call. No, not a text or a FB message. A real call. Yeah, people still do that sometimes. Go on for hours and hours swapping stories, asking questions, etc. Bonus points if you’re able to then make the calls a somewhat regular thing.

2. A Compliment

Not necessarily compliments on their appearance, though those are never a bad thing either, but compliments on their grades, they’re commitment to a cause or team. Nothing makes a person quite as a happy as knowing their hard work and efforts have had a positive effect on others. Letting someone know you appreciate all they do for you, when they probably think that it all goes unnoticed is such an amazing feeling.

3. Your Time

People are so busy now-a-days. It’s not uncommon to go weeks at a time seeing no one but the people in your classes or the people you work with. You may even become oblivious to the fact that friends and family have been reaching out to you, trying to catch up, and so on. Set aside a day or even a few hours from your busy schedule and pay them a visit. Go get coffee or just hang out. As small of a gesture as it may be, it will mean so much to them.

4. A Homemade Card

You probably haven’t made one of these since elementary school, but trust me, the heartwarming effect it has on people is unchanged no matter how old you are. I’m not saying you have to break out the glitter and the puffy paint and create a masterpiece, but a handwritten note expressing your love and appreciation for someone. Tell them about all the things they do that make you smile or how you value them as a friend. That kind of stuff makes people feel like they’re on cloud nine.

It’s no Xbox or diamond necklace, but these sorts of gifts go a long way. They’re the ultimate way to show people you care about them and isn’t that all we want in this life anyway? To know we’re cared about. So this Christmas, and any time of the year really, consider thinking outside the box and showing the people around you that you care with gifts like these.