Best Christmas Gifts for the College Student
Useful, Fun and Meaningful Gift Ideas for University Students
Nov 7, 2009
Looking for a useful gift for a college student this holiday season? Read more for some useful, some fun, and some meaningful gift ideas.
Looking for an alternative to the socks and sweater doldrums of the Christmas giving season? Here are some good Christmas gift ideas for a college student.
Useful Christmas Gifts for the College Student
- A Thermal Mug: A thermal mug will be just the thing to keep a college student warm as they trudge to class in the morning snow. Many coffee shops will fill reusable thermal mugs, or the gift-giver could also consider giving the student a French coffee press so they can make their own quick brew in the mornings.
- A University Sweatshirt: University students live in their university sweatshirts and it sometimes seems that the uniform of choice among students is a hoodie emblazoned with the school’s name. Sweatshirts and hoodies are a good souvenir of students’ university years, and keep students warm during the winter.
- Beginner Cookware: For students beginning life in their own apartment (or with roommates), a beginner cookware set will help them to cook healthy meals for themselves and may be the start of a life-time love of cooking. While this may not earn you as many brownie points as say, an iPod, it can be a useful gift.
- An Amazon.com Gift Certificate: An online gift certificate to the world’s most popular online store means that a college student can order anything he/she needs or wants and have it delivered right to his/her doorstep. From textbooks to video games, Amazon has it all.
Fun Christmas Presents for University Students
- An iPod: A surefire way to make a college student love you, the iPod allows students to be plugged in to music whether they are riding the subway, walking to class, or, God forbid, attending class. IPods come in a range of prices, from the affordable Shuffle to the full-featured iPod Touch or iPhone. A gift certificate for the iTunes store (iPod’s digital music and media store) will also be appreciated, and can be purchased online or from stores like Costco and Walmart.
- A Digital Camera: Although a little pricey, a camera is a great gift for a college student who may not be able to afford one. A small compact sized digital camera is useful, while a digital SLR (DSLR), such as the Canon Rebel T1i, will be the dream gift for a budding photographer.
- Games: Board games such as Taboo and Settlers of Catan are popular board games among students, while video game consoles such as the Nintendo Wii allow students to play along with their roommates.
Meaningful Christmas Gift Ideas for the Student
- Gift to Charity: Many university students are also social activists, and may appreciate it if you donate to one of their favorite charities in their name. Some non-profit organizations, such as World Vision, will send a card to the student when you donate in his/her name.
- Fair-Trade Products: For students concerned with the plight of workers in third-world countries, fair-trade products may be a good choice for a Christmas gift. Companies whose products have been endorsed as fair-trade pay laborers and workers a fair living wage. A good resource: Ten Thousand Villages. Some examples of fair-trade products include fair-trade coffee (Starbucks has a fair-trade blend), fair trade jewelry, and fair-trade chocolate.
Need more gift ideas? See also: Budget Christmas Gifts for the Cook.
HOL101
The copyright of the article Best Christmas Gifts for the College Student in Holiday Entertaining is owned by Camilla Cheung. Permission to republish Best Christmas Gifts for the College Student in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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