All over the internet, I see posts about “25 Christmas Gifts For 'X',” or “20 Perfect Christmas Gifts For The 'X' Lover In Your Life,” but it wasn’t until I had 15 tabs open of these lists that I realized how many different webpages there were for Christmas shopping this year! To make it easier on all of you, so you don’t need to hunt the internet for that one person that seems impossible to shop for, here's my list for all of your loved ones, no matter the budget! All "splurge" items are priced $30 and up, and all "save" items are $25 and below.
1. The Friend That Lives At The Beach
This is the friend who would rather spend her days in the sand and with salt water in her hair than be anywhere else. You can find this friend at the beach almost every single day of the summer. This friend is probably okay with drinking ocean water.
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This delicate seashell necklace is great for adding a little bit of the sea to your daily look. Sweet and classy enough to wear with any outfit and you can keep your love for the sea close to your heart. Priced at under $20, you can buy this necklace on Etsy in either Gold, Silver or Pink!
Splurge:
This tail blanket is like a mermaid’s snuggie. Perfect, cozy and just makes you feel like you should be in the ocean. Buy it at BlankieTails.com in a variety of colors!
2. The Child At Heart
Gifts for a friend who would rather be at a playground than at a frat party. The one who always keeps things adventurous and playful.
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Buy your friend a coloring book! Adult coloring books are a huge tend right now and stores are selling really cute ones in all different types of patterns. You can buy books filled with Mandalas or others of the ocean, gardens and other cool designs. Coloring books are great for passing the time when traveling… or procrastinating doing that homework. These books shouldn’t be more than $20, so buy your friend a pack of colored pencils too!
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Every kid needs a onesie, right? Onesies are the epitome of pajama comfort, warm and cozy.. definitely perfect for the cold winter months coming up! Plus, onesies are now super cute and not stuffy, scratchy designs like they were during our childhood!
3. The One Who Is Always Stressed Out
This is the friend who always has too much on their plate. From finals and papers, to positions on executive boards, to internships and jobs. This person probably sleeps an hour a night because they always seem to get all of their business done, no matter what is handed to them.
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This friend needs a day to rest, so make them a DIY spa day basket! Include in the gift set a nice book that doesn't have to do with school, a lush bath bomb or other bath essentials, a face mask, a hair mask, and maybe nail polish! This friend needs a day to just relax and take care of themselves! This gift should set you back only $20-25 depending on what/how much you’re buying.
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Too much work to create a spa day basket? Just give your friend a gift card to the spa! They’ll definitely appreciate a nice massage and mani/pedi or facial. This is going to be a more expensive gift, but your friend will thank you forever for the stress free day!
4. The Academic
This friend is probably the same friend who is always stressed out…or just her BFF. This girl can always be found at the library or getting A's on her exams. She probably has the highest GPA out of all the people you know and has been on Dean's List since entering college.
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All those papers, study guides and notes from class are probably taking up a bunch of space in your friend's laptop. Buy them a flash drive to keep all of their work safe and sound, even after spending all night in the library! Help them stock up on coffee and other school supplies for the next semester. Or just give them a Starbucks gift card to help them fuel their night-long study sessions.
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Does your friend have a planner? No? Perfect, because planners are life savers for people with super packed schedules. Using a planner is easier than using your phone to keep track of everything. Kate Spade and Lilly Pulitzer planners are favorites amongst my friends. I constantly see people jotting down notes in these colorful books; it's easy to schedule out everything from dinner dates to class exams, and papers to professors office hours and doctors appointments!
5. The Music Lover
This friend is always jamming out to the coolest songs. You go to them to hear about the coolest new artists, and their music suggestions always become huge hits. This friend could probably be found at some cool concert any given day of the week.
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While this doesn’t seem like much of a “save” gift, buying your friend a subscription to Spotify Premium will probably be the best gift they could receive! Students can now buy Premium for $4.99 a month instead of $7.99 a month. So you can buy your friend five months of Premium without spending over $25! (If I was this person, I would be deeply in love with you.)
Splurge:
Those Apple ear buds honestly don’t do music justice and your friend deserves something so much better! Over-the-ear headphones are great if your friend is always listening to music, since earbuds tend to irritate ears. Headphones can be cute and stylish too, not just basic and boring silver and grey, circa 2005!
6. The Long Distance Best Friend
One of the worst things about going to college is leaving your friends that you’ve known for years. Sadly, many of my closest friends moved out of state and I miss them a lot. One of the sweetest things you can do for these friends is to give them a gift to remind them of home.
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All over Pinterest I see crafts of people connecting states together with hearts. It sounds weird, but you know what I’m talking about! These gifts usually go to married couples, or even family members who have moved far away, but who said you can’t give this to your best friend!
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One of my best friends gave her big a matching coordinate bracelet for her birthday. Both of them loved the gift so much, they were in tears! These bracelets are a simple and elegant way to always have a piece of home with you. You can customize the coordinates to any location, but for a friend who lives seven hours away, I think they’ll love a bracelet with their hometown’s coordinates branded on the bracelet.
7. Your Big/Little
What sorority girl doesn’t love crafts? I know I would love to receive a homemade craft. This gift isn’t so much about how much money you spend on it, but how much time you spent making it. Depending on how artistically challenged you are (AKA me, the person who can barely draw a circle), these gifts may take longer to craft than you would expect.
Short on time:
If you don’t have much time to make a gift, a small canvas is always nice! Some canvases take longer than others, but other crafts can take less than an hour to make! Simple watercolor canvases with a nice quote on top are super fast to make and look super good, with little to no effort!
Heavy on time:
If you have more time to spend on a gift, definitely use your time to make something super special! I made my big wine glasses for her birthday and she loved it, and it took way more time than a basic canvas! If you have a lot of time to spare, you can even make a cooler! Coolers take forever to make if you’re like me and incredibly lazy, but if you’re super proactive, it can take less than a week, or even two to three days to make a cooler from start to finish.
8. For the Traveler
This is the friend who is always on the go, always exploring different places and can never seem to stay put for too long. This is the friend who makes your Instagram feed beautiful with pictures of exotic and far off places or #tbt’s of their adventures abroad.
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As a traveler, I love marking off all of the places I’ve traveled, so I love maps! Depending on where this person has traveled, you can buy them a world map or a map of their home country (the US) to mark all of the places they’ve been! I also love Gunnar Garfor’s memoir “198: How I Ran Out of Countries.” His memoir about visiting every single country in the world fills me with wanderlust and a desire to get up and travel.
Splurge:
Although your travel-loving friend probably already has a portable charger, they don’t have a Mophie. Mophie portable chargers have amazing battery power and can last for ages. My favorite part about Mophie chargers is that it doubles as a phone case! You never have to worry about forgetting your charger at home, or in a different bag, since your charger will always be on your phone! Super easy, convenient, and you can charge the battery case while yo charge your phone!
9. The Foodie
Now this friend is either the person who is always eating or the person who fills their Snapchat, Instagram and Twitter with pictures of fancy food. This foodie friend is always trying the new food trends or the coolest new restaurant in town!
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Honestly, if you hand this friend a gift card to their favorite restaurant, they will freak out. Who doesn't love food?? Maybe if you're lucky, they'll treat you to a meal.
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I saw this gift box online and I knew any foodie would love to have this. Popsugar has created a boxed gift set of all the coolest food trends of the year. The thing that I'm craving from this boxed set is the Owl’s Brew tea cocktail mixer! I saw this in a gourmet food store six months ago and have been eyeing it ever since! Other tasty items include Sriracha puffs and some super fancy jams and jerkies too!
10/11. Mom and Dad
Ah, Mom and Dad, for some reason you two always get the same gifts every year. Sorry I don’t know what to buy for you! This year, I will really try to buy you something unique and different than shaving kits and cookbooks.
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A beautiful framed picture of your family would be a great present that any parent would love! Sadly, we are in an age where most photos are stored online and can be deleted with the push of a button. Find a frame where you can hold many different family photos, maybe even some throwbacks to when you were a kid!
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I know my parents rarely get nights to themselves anymore. Treat your parents to a well deserved dinner date! After 19+ years of raising you, your parents deserve a night off to relax and enjoy themselves. Even if you buy them a $100 gift card to a nice restaurant, they won’t mind spending some extra money if the restaurant is super fancy. Seeing your parents happy and able spend time together will be worth the splurge.
12. Significant Other
All of these options are coming from friends who are in relationships since I am super single and don’t have a significant other to buy gifts for!
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A significant other’s favorite book, movie or CD would be a great gift! Having a fancy hardback cover of my favorite book would be great to cozy up to during the holidays. If you buy them their favorite movie or movie collection, you can always spend a chilly day in bed watching movies instead of getting out of bed and facing adult responsibilities.
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Clothing! How many times have you gone out on a date and your S/O has shown up wearing the same jeans and shirt they always wear? Buy them a full new outfit to show off the next time you go on a fancy date…or if they’re coming over for the holidays, you’ll know they look good enough to show off to your precious grandma who has been "dying to meet” her future grandson.
