8 Last-Minute Gifts That Everyone on Your List Will Love

By Amelia Woolard

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! To celebrate, you’ve been baking cookies, trimming trees, and binging holiday flicks with the best of them. Your Christmas tree looks great, the lights are strung outside of your student apartment, and the pie for your family dinner is made, but wait just a minute – you’ve completely forgotten the whole gift-giving thing, and now the clock is ticking!

Don’t stress – if there’s one thing uCribs loves, it’s some holiday gift giving. With that being said, we’ve rounded up eight of our hottest present picks for each type of college pal. Once you see this list of failproof ideas, you’ll be feeling a little less like Ebenezer Scrooge and a little more like Buddy the Elf.

For the Aspiring Five-Star Chef: Recipe Cards

The Aspiring Five-Star Chef is a bit of the culinary mastermind among the college crowd—even if they aren’t training to be a professional chef. I mean, who else among your group of friends can convert frozen chicken nuggets and canned veggies into something you’d actually pay for at a restaurant?! When they’re not dazzling friends with their culinary creations, this foodie friend can be found reading the newest cooking magazines or expressing strong feelings about the latest season of The Great British Bake Off.

Appeal to the Aspiring Five-Star Chef’s sensibilities with a set of recipe cards. Sure, the Internet is a thing, but there’s a surprising (and nostalgic) luxury associated with having hand-written recipes on file. Plus, cards are a great medium for older relatives to jot down those must-have family recipes on paper— like that Challah bread your friend brought to campus once, which you’ve been lowkey dreaming about ever since. See? Recipe cards are the gift that keeps on giving. If you have some extra cash, you can even consider pairing the cards with their very own recipe box.

For the Instagram Influencer: On-the-Go Power Bank

They’re always on location snapping social media-worthy pics or staging hilarious videos for the ‘Gram.  Not to mention, they haven’t stopped plotting ways to get Verified since last year. Yep, we’re talking about your Instagram Influencer friend. You know, the social media superstar obsessed with all things #aesthetics—and not to mention, a perfectly curated feed.

There’s only one downside to this friend’s glamorous life on-camera: waning battery life. Nothing ruins the fifth take of a candid shot like a dead smartphone, am I right? So, arm your friend with plenty of ammo with an on-the-go power bank. This little gadget slips into your friend’s purse or pocket and will allow them to charge their smartphone while on the run. Don’t worry – they’ll totally thank you when they land that Verified badge once and for all.

For the Total Bookworm: Portable Book Light

There are good students… and then there are total bookworms. You know the type – they’re staying after the lecture is over to chat up the professor, only to go back to their off-campus apartment to spend the evening devouring the latest James Patterson novel. This friend beats you every time in Harry Potter trivia, and they often remind everyone that they did, indeed, read the Game of Thrones series way before Daenerys Targaryen became a household name.

So, indulge the Total Bookworm with a portable book light. With a small but effective beam of light, your beloved bibliophile will get their kicks reading whatever, whenever, wherever. Deserted hallways? House parties? Public restrooms? All awesome reading nooks with help from the portable book light. Just be sure to do the Total Bookworm a solid and remind them to interact with real people every now and again because as cool as fantasy worlds filled with dragons can be, they should not let all that detract from their college experience.

For the Music Festival Fiend: Shower Speaker

You first bumped into the Music Festival Fiend – literally – while they were playing air guitar at a crowded mixer. To this friend, music isn’t an interest, but a bona fide lifestyle. The Music Festival Fiend knows that festival season is far superior to any season dictated by weather, and you better believe that come March, this friend will already have plans in place to attend all the coolest fests happening April through August.

Gift the Music Festival Fiend something that will allow them to rock out even in the wee hours of the morning: the shower speaker. With a small, Bluetooth-enabled, and completely waterproof speaker at their disposal, your pal can take the festival experience to new, exciting places – or, at least to their next bathing sesh. Don’t blame us when the Music Festival Fiend tries to stage an elaborate musical production in the shared bathroom, though. We plead the fifth!

For the One with Eternal Wanderlust: Passport Holder

Everyone hopes to travel the world one day, but the One with Eternal Wanderlust is making it happen ASAP. There’s nothing this friend won’t do to see faraway lands, including participating in social media giveaway contests and any semi-legit “get rich quick” scheme to make a few extra bucks for airfare. The One with Eternal Wanderlust already has lofty plans for their college graduation trip and seems to spend every summer break in a new city. You would be jealous of this jet-setting pal, but luckily enough for you, they always bring back the coolest souvenirs!

So, gift your jet-setting friend something that supports their dreams— but also securely supports their important travel-related documents. That’s right, we’re talking about a passport holder. Ranging in styles from posh to playful, it’s easy to find the passport holder that suits your friend’s distinct personality. Even if your pal hasn’t hit the frequent flyer list just yet, they’ll be inspired by your gift, possibly giving you a shout-out in their first National Geographic feature.

For the One Always Chasing Positive Vibes: Miniature Zen Garden

Student by day, spiritual guru by night, the One Always Chasing Positive Vibes is a unique friend with equally unique talents. Despite their endlessly stressful schedule, this pal always seems to rise above the noise, delivering a daily dose of Zen to your friend group. Plus, they’ve got Spidey senses when it comes to new people, and you’re pretty sure they once saved you from an ill-fated friendship. Needless to say, a friend that exudes so many good vibes deserves a gift that compliments those very vibes.

Even though there’s little time left to discover a new crystal and name it after your friend, you can add a bit of enlightenment to their study space with a miniature Zen garden. These gardens typically contain miniature rocks, sand, tiny rakes, and perhaps a teeny succulent – and yes, they’re as adorable as they sound. Once your friend gets past the cuteness of it all, you can bet they’ll thoroughly enjoy learning about the meditative processes associated with Zen gardening and maybe even pass some of that knowledge onto you—because as we all well know, you’re the one who really needs to learn how to chill out.

For the Anti-Couch Potato: Shaker Bottle

For most of us, college stress makes it ultra-easy to take it slow when we’re not in class. For the Anti-Couch Potato, though, downtime is the perfect time for a workout, a run to the grocery store, a brisk walk to a friend’s apartment, a high-energy sock re-organizing session…you get the gist. This friend isn’t intentionally overachieving but rather on-the-go by nature. And they never, ever skip a workout – even on the weekends! Hey, we’re just as awestruck by the Anti-Couch Potato’s endless energy and athletic prowess as you are.

To fit in with this friend’s lifestyle, you’ll want to consider a gift that is just as useful for fitness training as it is for, you know, regular life. Meet the shaker bottle. A shaker bottle isn’t just a great tool for those who love their daily protein shakes, but it’s also an ingenious kitchen device that can be used for almost anything that requires mixing. If your friend is all about both pre-workouts and cheat day pancakes, they’ll adore a shaker bottle that mixes each to perfection. (By the way, count us in for the pancakes.)

For the Amateur Art Collector: A Framed Poster

You probably bonded with this friend during a group project for your Intro to Art class, but despite their youth, the Amateur Art Collector means business when it comes to their growing off-campus apartment’s gallery. Van Gogh’s Starry Night, a Warhol or two, Hokusai’s unmistakable Great Wave – they’re all carefully tacked to this friend’s walls and seem to provide the perfect backdrop for their artsy, avant-garde selfies that are peppered throughout their interior decorations.

It’s safe to say that this friend would love a new piece to add to their collection, but art is just so darn expensive for a college student like yourself! Fortunately for you and your wallet, a standard-sized poster purchased just about anywhere enjoys a serious upgrade with the addition of a simple frame. Something about a large print in glass encasement screams “adulting” in a way that will gloss right over the fact that your friend secretly considers ramen a major food group. Trust us – the sophisticated Amateur Art Collector will thank you for your contribution to their growing collection.

We get it – holiday gifts can be challenging to dole out when you’re a broke college student with a diverse friend group! But gift-giving doesn’t have to be stressful this year with a little bit of imagination and uCribs’ 8 Last-Minute Gifts That Everyone on Your List Will Love. Pick up any of these presents at your local retailers and make it rein(deer) holiday cheer!

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