Gifts of love: Thrifty holiday presents for your significant other

By Sindha Agha & Eleni Yannelis
Published: Friday, December 11, 2009 - 12:18am

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Unsure of what to get your significant other for this holiday season? No worries! Gargoyle staffers Eleni Yannelis and Sindha Agha share their top picks for what to get your boyfriend or girlfriend this break on a budget of $50.

Muji LED Torch Light
Price: $38.50
This flashlight uses LEDs to emit light. It's the perfect gift choice for anyone who cares about energy efficiency as LEDs hardly ever burn out, unlike incandescent light bulbs. The torch also gives off warmth to the user, making this the perfect winter gift!

Giant Ear Bud Speakers from Urban Outfitters
Price: $40
These oversized iPod-style, headphone-shaped speakers are really funny and only $40. They are a practical yet unique gift that anyone could find a use for. They plug into PCs, iPods, or home systems. This gift is nothing overly romantic but sure to be appreciated.

A Threadless Tee
Price: $12+
Getting your boyfriend a Threadless tee is the perfect solution to any gift dilemma as long as he is at least mildly fashion conscious. Threadless sells a number of shirts designed by independent artists that sport witticisms or cool art. Most of the shirts are on sale for $12, which is a great deal.

"Zach Galifianakis — Live at the Purple Onion"
Price: $14.99
What is a better gift than the gift of laughter? Treat your boyfriend to a DVD collection of comedian Zach Galifianakis. From jokes about Galifianakis' twin brother to an interview with Brian Unger, your boyfriend will be laughing his butt off for sure.

Chargerpod
Price: $39.95
We all have electronic goodies like iPods and cellphones. Unfortunately, when it comes to technological goods, it's not always the more the merrier. It's the more you have to worry about charging and remembering to pack plugs when you leave for your holidays. But with a Chargerpod, this all changes. You can have six things charging all in one device! Amazing.

Hydrogen Fuel Rocket
Price: $27.99
Take your stress out with this Hydrogen Fuel Rocket, or simply be amused with it. This rocket goes up to 200 feet, and since it's hydrogen based, you can just use tap water! And hey, over break, it will count as studying, since it is scientific.

Acacia Charm Bracelet
Price: $40
Jewelry is always the perfect gift. It can be read as super thoughtful, yet it can be incredibly easy to pick out. If you are crammed on time, go for a simple necklace or bracelet. Trust us, if you are a totally thoughtless and procrastinating boy, go for the jewels; they are easy to find, and you can find something cute and dirt cheap (but beware that prices range!).

Ultimate Blockbuster from Sephora
Price: $48
Most girls love makeup. Even if we don't wear it every day, most of us put a little on for the occasional night out, and we appreciate good makeup! With the Ultimate Blockbuster set (which has a $400 value) you get makeup applicators, a how-to guide, and a plethora of lip glosses, lip liners, eye shadows, eyeliners, and so much more!

"Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World: 75 Dairy-Free Recipes for Cupcakes that Rule"
Price: $10.85
EVERYONE loves food. And who can refuse a cupcake? This holiday season, give your girl and yourself a gift by buying her a cookbook. She can make you scrumptious desserts, and you can just eat them. Oh, and we both agree that vegan cupcakes are the best.

"Fifty Dresses That Changed The World" by Design Museum
Price: $13.60
Any fashionista will want this book. It's so much better than any actual history book since it's the history of fashion! There are pretty pictures of clothes and people. From Jackie O to Twiggy to Princess Diana, this book has it all.

"A Lifetime of Secrets: A PostSecret Book"
Price: $15.65
This is a product of Frank Warren's incredible blog project, PostSecret. For years now, Warren has been receiving uniquely decorated postcards from strangers around the nation revealing secrets they have never revealed before. The postcards are sometimes hilarious and sometimes heartbreaking, but always strikingly "human."

Noodles for Knitting: Szechuan Scarf Kits
Price: $20
Knitting in a Chinese takeout container — how could you not love this!? Szechuan Scarf Kits come with yarn and bamboo knitting needles, as well as knitting instructions. You can choose from an array of yarn color including Lychee (blue), Green Pepper (green), Black Bean (black), and Sweet & Sour (purple).

Comments

December 11, 2009 - 1:35am — ldripps (not verified)

You forgot a vacuum, a martini shaker, and a housewife dress

I think this guide is a great idea, and quite useful, but I'm not really sure why the gifts are gender-seperated. I should point out that I really don't know a lot about this. But I mean, unless the hydrogen rocket is supposed to be a phallic symbol or something, I'm not really seeing how it would be more appropriate for a dude. And to be honest, I think it's kind of backwards and embarassing that the gifts 'for girls' are jewlery, makeup, a book about other people's dresses, a knitting kit, and a cookbook to make food for other people. Obviously, there's nothing wrong with those products, but it seems like all of the gifts for boys (and probably the gifts for girls, depending on the giver's views on makeup) are actually not gender-specific options. Love, Laura

December 11, 2009 - 12:02pm — Anonymous (not verified)

This sounds like some

This sounds like some pseudo-feminism...no need to be so righteous.

December 11, 2009 - 3:55pm — Anna Gooler (agooler)

No need to be righteous?

Why not? You can say that maybe the comment about getting a cookbook for your girlfriend so that she can bake for you while you sit on your butt is just a joke, but what happens when someone doesn't get it? We can't just ignore things that offend us and hope that they go away.

Also, I agree with Laura. The boyfriends get all the gadgets while the girlfriends get makeup and knitting kits? Sure, those items are cool if you're into that stuff, but I would just like the items to be varied a little more. I would love to get a cool T-shirt as a gift! And I still don't see why there can't just be one list for all significant others, or just a list of cool gifts in general, for that matter.

But even if you do keep the separate girlfriend and boyfriend lists, consider mixing the items a little bit, and try to be more careful about what your comments may suggest. I'm sure you didn't mean to encourage the idea of the "perfect housewife" cooking and cleaning while the husband watches football, but the cookbook commentary came off as such.

-Anna

December 11, 2009 - 12:14pm — Sindha Agha (scagha)

Hello! The gifts are gender

Hello!

The gifts are gender separated to make it a guide... to make it easy to follow. So clueless boyfriends can easily find a gift for their girlfriend and vice versa (sorry for being slightly hetero-normative). We picked out these gifts based off of what we would like and what other Uni students we talked to said they would like as a gift.

And hey! Feel free to buy your girlfriend a boyfriend gift! Feel free to buy your boyfriend one of the girlfriend gifts! We aren't restricting anyone's purchases...

If this guide angers you, by no means follow it. There are going to be other gift guides published on the Gargoyle pretty soon that aren't related to relationships.. but we both agree that this wouldn't really be a relationship gift guide if we didn't address what we think a boyfriend might appreciate and what we think a girlfriend would.

Of course, not all girls are like us. And not all boys are like us either. So if none of these fit your significant other's taste, then choose your own gift! It's okay!

Anyways sorry for making you angry.

Love love love,
Eleni and Sindha

December 11, 2009 - 3:45pm — Lauren Piester (piester)

I agree with Laura!

I have to say, usually I am not one to spout feminist ideals. However, in this case, I feel like Laura's comment was completely valid and the response comment sort of treated it as a joke. I for one would be glad to get most of the guy gifts, but wouldn't appreciate most of the girl gifts. It's not even like I'm not "girly" or anything, they are just very stereotypical. Regardless of my opinion on that, you could have at least been nicer in responding. Maybe to you this list seems like just meaningless fun that no one has to follow, but to some people this whole gender separation thing touches on a lot of issues that can be considered very sensitive. The list seems to be aimed at a stereotype of guys and a stereotype of girls, very few of whom seem to still exist, especially at Uni. There are some cool gift ideas on here, but the way they're presented does make this feel like something it seems like we should have moved past a long time ago.
Laura, I applaud your comment, particularly the title.

Also, you call a $48 makeup kit "thrifty?" I don't know many teenagers, especially guys, who would be willing to spend 50 bucks on something like that.

December 11, 2009 - 6:41pm — Sindha Agha (scagha)

I would love to receive the

I would love to receive the boys gifts too! I picked out the Threadless tee, the Galifinakis dvd, and the speakers because those are gifts I thought they were really cool... It's too late to modify the article, but I think Anna's point about the list without division is a good idea although it might seem a bit odd to include the bracelet and makeup kit in a gender neutral list.

and Lauren I can't tell if you are saying anonymous' comment was offensive or if you are saying that the response Eleni and I wrote was.. Eleni and I in no way intended to be offensive to anyone and we hope our response was respectful although Laura pointed out to me that she wasn't angry and so we shouldn't have used that adjective (sorry!).

December 11, 2009 - 8:18pm — Anonymous (not verified)