Holiday Gift Guide for Graduate Students
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The end of the semester is near and you are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel that is fall semester of grad school. The holidays are approaching which means you’ll probably have a little time to spend with your friends and family. Remember them?
I remember, when I was in grad school, I would always wait until the last minute to start thinking about holiday gifts for my friends and family. There was always just too much work to do and my brainpower was better used elsewhere. So, once the semester was over, I would take a little break and after a couple of days I would start thinking about gifts. Which would be last minute and I would have no idea where to start.
That’s why I decided to create this gift guide for you. So that whenever you are ready, you can come back here, click click click, and have all of your gifts purchased.
When I was coming up with this list, I wanted to make sure that everything had at least two of the following 3 criteria.
The gift is inexpensive.
The gift can be bought online.
The gift can stand alone and won’t need to be packaged with other odds and ends to feel complete.
Holiday Gift Idea 1: Accessories
If you have someone in your life who enjoys style and material things, I’ve found that accessories are great holiday gifts. I’ve given my family members scarves and jewelry that they still wear to this day.
Here are some accessories for the women in your life.
Here are some accessories for the men in your life.
Holiday Gift Idea 2: Fragrances
You can never go wrong with a good scent. My family members love fragrances and perfume or cologne would make an awesome gift for them. When I was younger, and just hitting puberty, my aunt would always ask me, “So, have you found your scent yet, you need a signature scent!” During the holidays, fragrance sets are all the rage, so you can help your loved ones find their signature scent or add to their collection.
Holiday Gift Idea 3: Food
Everyone loves to eat delicious things. And I don’t think anyone would be upset about receiving food as a gift. My grandad always loved those holiday sausage packs so we made sure to get him holiday sausage every single year. It was a tradition. I’ve recently learned about this company called Mouth. OMG! Everything looks delicious. They have all of the sweet, savory, mouthwatering things. Check out their homepage to browse around or you could look at their gift bags between $25-$50.
Holiday Gift Idea 4: Handmade Gifts
In grad school, after my fellowship was over and I wasn’t balling anymore, I had to really cut down on my holiday gift giving budget. So I tried making my gifts. And my family still raves about those gifts today.
Scrubs, Lotions, and Creams
The first time I made my own holiday gifts as a grad student, I decided to make beauty products for my family. I made lip scrubs, body butters, and shaving cream for all of the members of my family. Then I packaged them up in cute little mason jars from Hobby Lobby. I even created little labels that listed the ingredients.
Here’s a tutorial I found on Pinterest to get you started. I would suggest starting with a lip/body scrub. All you need is coconut oil, peppermint essential oil, and sugar. You may have all of these already.
Framed Graphics
The next year, I wanted to stick with the homemade theme so I printed and framed cute little graphics for my family. It was a big hit. My sister actually put hers on her desk at school. She teaches high school. The graphic says, “You are amazing, remember that!”
All you have to do, is look up quotes on Pinterest, head to Canva and make a cute graphic for free. Then get it printed. I created 5x7 pictures and framed them. There are some nice inexpensive frames on Amazon.
Customized Notebooks
If you have a friend who is really into planning and journaling, you could make them a custom notebook and buy them fun pens. I tried and failed at this, but I found a new tutorial on Pinterest that looks much simpler. Also, these pens are fabulous!
Holiday Gift Idea 5: Books
Books make awesome gifts for a person who loves to read. Books that are funny, thoughtful, or sentimental are great options. One of my favorite books is Why is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me by Mindy Kaling. Cookbooks are great gifts as well. This one by Chrissy Teigen looks amazing!
A couple of years ago, I got my friend, who has a cat, a hilarious book about cats called I Could Pee on This.
Holiday Gift Idea 6: TV series/Movies
If you have a friend who is also in grad school, or is just really busy in general, it’s highly likely that they have missed all of the most recent season of their favorite TV show. Or they weren’t able to get to the theaters to see a movie that they were excited about. It would be so awesome if you could give them the latest season of their favorite show or a movie they wanted to see. The holidays are a perfect time for them to catch up.
Not sure what they would like? Maybe they have suggested a show or movie for you to watch. You can buy it for them and you can watch it together. The Big Bang Theory is always a good option.
Holiday Gift Idea 7: Novelty T-shirts
All you need to know is one thing your friend or family member loves. Then order a t-shirt with that thing on it. They would love it and wear it all the time. I’ve had my eye one this Gilmore Girls shirt for a while.
Holiday Idea 8: Job Application Crash Course
If you have a friend, maybe it’s you, who is planning to graduate this spring or summer and they haven’t started their job applications, you could give the gift of productivity. There are so many documents that you are required to write to submit an application including CVs, teaching statements, research statements, cover letters, and more. So you can either spend your break researching what all of those should look like, or you could just let me tell you in the Job Application Crash Course. Click here to learn more about it.
I’ve also created a free job application resources guide, sign up below to get it in your inbox.
