The college-student-made gift guide

HO! HO! HO! 

It’s that time of year when we are thinking about gift ideas for our college friends. The older we get, the harder it is to come up with gift ideas. You never know what your friend is going to want for Christmas and you really aren’t sure what to get them. After asking about 10 different college friends, we came up with a full list of gifts that can be under 25 dollars.

The simplest gifts we came up with were money and gift cards. By giving our friends money or gift cards, they can decide what they want to get or need, rather than just finding a gift that they might not like. 

Some good gift cards from stores around the Fargo-Moorhead area include Scheels, NDSU Bookstore, West Acres Mall gift card, Kohls, Best Buy, Target or Hobby Lobby. These are just some retail stores that your friends may need or want something from. 

For those friends who love food, some good gift cards could include, Olive Garden, Texas Roadhouse, Culver’s, Black Coffee and Waffle Bar, Starbucks, Caribou or maybe a Visa gift card that your friend can use wherever they want. 

If you don’t want to get your college friends a gift card, you can always create your own homemade gift or make a meal for them. This might be a more meaningful gift and your friends may even like it more. There are so many ideas for homemade gifts or meals, Pinterest is one way to find these ideas if you can’t get creative. 

When asking my friends what they would want for gifts for Christmas that are under 25 dollars, they replied with a big long list. Gifts included socks, Chapstick, any college necessities, books, a favorite food or candy, hats and mittens, winter boots, earrings, a blanket or NDSU gear. These are just a few of the things they came up with.

Some friends asked for non-material items. Non-material items included taking them out to dinner or going on a mini-vacation (a weekend adventure that the gift giver plans). While another friend just asked for a simple hug.

You do not have to get your friends big extravagant gifts; you could just simply get them a basket full of stuff from the dollar store. Or buy them a coffee. The simplest things may mean the most. Maybe if your friends don’t want to get gifts for each other, you could all just go out to eat as a group.

Even though Christmas is not all about gift-giving, it can bring a little light to our lives, especially during this pandemic. Make someone’s day, get them a small gift. Whether that gift is a hug or a gift card, they will love you either way.