1. Money
Money is the most-needed object in a college student's life. From paying for food, groceries and gas, many students tend to have very low balances in their bank accounts. Freshman year especially, money seems to be one of the most popular requests on a college student's Christmas list.
2. Starbucks Gift Cards
This may be more popular with the girls at the college, but sometimes a coffee from Starbucks is completely necessary, especially on the coldest days at Grand Valley. The coffee allows temporary warmth and is perfect for keeping them awake during some of the more challenging lectures.
3. Blankets
Winter at Grand Valley is known to be extremely cold, and the heat does not turn on as soon as many students would prefer, leaving them with the responsibility to bundle up in all sources of warmth they can find.
4. Food
Cafeteria food can only be good for so long. That's why many students look forward to the home-cooked meals provided over breaks from school. While they have a mini-fridge in their room, there is a perfect spot to hold onto it until they are ready to eat all of it when they feel especially homesick or tired of the options in the nearest dining hall.
5. Slippers
Going along with the blanket, many have the strenuous task of attempting to keep their feet warm as they walk around campus or their own dorm room. For those with this problem, wearing multiple pairs of socks seems like a good option until they run out of socks and have to do laundry.
6. Groceries
Rather than using our overly limited funds to buy groceries once or twice a month, college students will accept all donations to their food supply when they simply cannot handle eating any more college food. Kraft macaroni and cheese may not seem much better to others, but sometimes it's all we need.
7. Gift Cards (In General)
Gift cards are a great way to spend money without actually spending any. We love gift cards because we can buy whatever we want at specific stores without having to use cash or the very limited funds in our bank accounts.
8. Shoes
Walking across campus to and from each class causes a lot of wear and tear on student's shoes. Shoes are a perfect chance for them to keep up on the trends and another excuse to get new shoes.
9. Winter Gear
Winter at Grand Valley is as harsh as it can get, with very high snowfalls, and bitterly low temperatures, the more layers and cold protection, the better. Mittens, scarves, hats, headbands and anything else that could possibly keep us warm is highly appreciated.
10. Laptop/Phone Accessories
As the school year progresses, we become more and more comfortable using our laptops and phones every waking moment of every day, and we look for ways to personalize them. Any hard cases and stickers we can find to decorate our laptops with are very fun to personalize the computers with and help put our own creative spin on our school supplies.
11. Bluetooth Speaker
These are one of the many necessities of a college environment. They allow students to listen to whatever music please as loud as they would like it (well as loud as they're allowed to). This provides the perfect opportunity for roommates and best friends to dance it out to their favorite music or to belt out Christmas carols until they're sick of it.
Christmas for college students is an opportunity to buy spiritwear for their family or to ask for the things that will help them get through the second semester of college successfully.
