Holiday gift guide for students on a budget

There are only 19 days left to buy those last minute gifts for your family and friends. If you’re like most people you still have plenty of gifts to buy. Also around this time many students have just about run out of money. So what can you buy for someone when you are on a budget. Here are a couple of my great ideas on what to buy.

First of all look on the internet. Shopping online is one of the easiest ways to purchase gifts. You also don’t have to worry about all of those other holiday shoppers. Don’t be scared of buying online. Its really quite safe as long as you stick to sites you trust. Look for big named companies like Macy’s and The Gap, or even stores like Target or Kmart. These sites are very secure and you really won’t have to worry about fraud.

Also these sites always have some kind of a sale online that you can’t find in the store itself. Many of these sites have promotional sales during the holidays giving you savings or even paying for shipping. Sites like Origins.com and Oldnavy.com have little gift sets they put together for you to make your shopping a little easier.

By shopping online you can save yourself the embarrassment of running into the person you are buying for. Shopping online can be beneficial for the buyer because many of these sites will offer to include gift wrap with the item purchased or sometimes they will even gift wrap the gift for you for a little to no fee.

Buying gifts for friends can be the hardest part of shopping. Most people want to make sure to personalize their gifts for each person. However, when you are one a budget it can be very frustrating.

A perfect gift idea for friends and even family are gift cards or gift certificates from their favorite store. However many people will be taken back by this idea because it can be very impersonal. But you can be thrifty and still be creative enough to make it personalized for each person.

For example if you have a friend or family member that loves coffee, you could get one of those really cool Starbucks gift cards. Just put enough money on the card for a couple of hot Caramel Macchiato, don’t worry they can always add more money on the card for later, then go to your local discount story like the Dollar Tree or Ross and find a couple of funky coffee mugs.

Then add some chocolate biscotti, or basically anything with chocolate, put it all in an inexpensive basket. Add some cellophane wrap, slap on a bow and some ribbon and there you have a great gift that can be under 15 dollars.

Gift cards and certificates are also great for those people who have a tendency to bring over a surprise gift to you. If you’re a gal in a new relationship with a guy, it may be hard to find the right gift for him without saying, “I love you, lets grow old together.” Guys are easy, sorry fellas but its true, getting a guy a gift can be as easy as giving him 10 dollars of gift certificates to there favorite fast food chain like Mc Donald’s and Taco Bell. They always have those holiday stocking stuffers.

But always remember its not how much the gift costs, its how much thought and feeling you put into the gift itself. Most likely your friends and family members won’t mind if you didn’t get them Grand Theft Auto : Vice City or that cute pink Angora sweater they’ve been dying to have. Many of them would love a home baked apple pie or some Christmas cookies complete with candy-coated sprinkles. Whatever you buy this holiday season don’t let the stress of a tiny budget get you down, there are many options out there.