College Gift Guide: The Best Gifts for your Roommate
Many or all of the companies featured provide compensation to LendEDU. These commissions are how we maintain our free service for consumers. Compensation, along with hours of in-depth editorial research, determines where & how companies appear on our site.
Holidays are right around the corner! You might already have an eye out for gifts for your parents and friends back home, but there’s at minimum one person you don’t want to forget to shop for on campus. Hint hint – it’s the person who is the campus yin to your yang, the only one who heats you up a can of chicken soup when you’re sick and laughs at your amazing – okay, maybe not-always-so-amazing – jokes. If you’re wondering what to get your roomie this year, read on for tips to match the perfect item with the perfect roommate, whether you’re on a budget or ready to splurge.
The Tech-Savvy Roomie – Bluetooth Speaker
Budget Gift – For the roommate who showed you how to un-delete those emails after you and your ex got back together again, gift them with the ability to take their sweet tunes with them wherever they go. This OontZ Curve Bluetooth Speaker will do the trick, with Bluetooth capacity and a full 360 degrees of sound output.
Extravagant Gift – They never did tease you about those emails, even after the second breakup two days later, so show your roomie you love ‘em with this OontZ Angle Bluetooth Speaker that not only has the Bluetooth connection but also a mic and up to 10 hours of play. Now they’ll have uninterrupted sound no matter where on or off campus you two go!
The Fitness Fanatic Roomie – Fitness Tracker
Budget Gift – It’s hard finding time to exercise while keeping up with studies, but this Garmin vívofit Fitness Band will track how many miles they walk from class to class, infusing those otherwise wasted minutes with fitness potential. Because if you didn’t track it, did the exercise even really happen?
Extravagant Gift – Step up your gift giving – literally – with this Fitbit Alta Fitness Tracker that not only counts steps but tracks your roomie’s sleep so they can get the shut-eye they need to wake up at 8 am for statistics class.
The Healthy Roomie – Stainless Steel Waterbottle
Budget Gift – Take a look at this double-walled, vacuum insulated, 17oz Wave Bottle by Simple Modern. The wonderful thing about these bottles is that they keep drinks cold for up to 24 hours, much like their more expensive counterparts. The icy cold water and leak-proof top will keep your roomie happy, and the price tag will put a smile on your face, too!
Extravagant Gift – If you want to splurge on the best of the best then you want to go with S’well, the water bottle made famous by celebrities in 2016. It keeps drinks cold for 24 hours, and hot for 12 hours. Prices on a S’well start at around $25 and go up (and up, and up) from there, but it’s condensation-free and comes in 9oz, 17oz, and 25oz sizes. Bonus – the 25oz holds an entire bottle of wine and keeps it cold all day long.
The Perpetually Caffeinated Roomie – Coffee Maker
Budget Gift – If their eyes don’t really open until you make it to the cafeteria in the AM for a cup of coffee, give them the gift of instant alertness with this Mr. Coffee 4-Cup Programmable Coffeemaker. They can load it the night before and auto set it to start brewing a few minutes before that dreaded alarm goes off. Better yet, the enticing aroma of brewing coffee might just make that old alarm obsolete.
Extravagant Gift – For the coffee addict with discerning taste, just look at this SterlingPro Double Wall Stainless Steel French Coffee Press. It makes about 4 coffee mugs of caffeinated bliss at a time – enough to share. And the double-walled construction means it stays cool to the touch plus keeps coffee warm without the use of a hotplate.
The Always Organized Roomie – Planner
Budget Gift – Take a peek at this InnerGuide Holistic Planner, Organizer, Journal, Goal & Life Planner. With two pages per week, plus pages devoted specifically to planning the month and then for reflecting on the past month, this planner will help them make the most of their days.
Extravagant Gift – For the super-duper-write-it-all-out planner, you might want to get them the Let’s Do This! Mid-Year Academic Planner, with a full page per day and a strategic organization of daily, prioritized tasks. With this planner and an amazing roommate like you by their side this year, there’s nothing they can’t accomplish!