Holiday Gift Guide for College Students

College is a great point in everyone's life. For the most part it is also a very poor time in a person's life. If you need to purchase a gift for the college student in your life there are tons of great options. Here are some of the top gifts for college students:

Gift Cards

I know, your mother always taught you that money is a "cold gift". When you're a poor college student however, money can be the absolute best gift you could possibly give someone. If you are still opposed to giving your favorite student cash, consider getting them a gift card or some gift cards to their favorite establishments. When I was in college I always felt like money given to me should be saved for books for the next semester or used towards supplies. When someone gave me a gift card however I had no choice but to use the money toward something I actually wanted. Some good gift card choices are restaurants like Chili's or Applebee's or if you have a music or tech nut on your hands a gift certificate to Best Buy or Circuit City. If your college student is attached to their iPod then an iTunes gift certificate may be a good fit. If you're really at a loss as to where to buy them a gift card consider an online gift certificate to Amazon or Giftcertificates.com where your college student can select from a sea of choices.

A Digital Camera

If you college student doesn't already own their own digital camera then one of these can make an absolutely fantastic gift. A digital camera will allow your student to take pictures of their new college friends, their dorm room, and any events they attend and share them with you, their parents, their friends, or anyone else they might want to keep in touch with. If your college student is attending college far away a digital camera can be just as much a gift for you as for them, giving you the ability to see your child's college life from a distance. If you have the money to spend consider getting a digital camera with a video option,, then you can share not only pictures but also audio and video with your college student.

A Trip

When you're in college, you are poor in most cases and cannot afford to go all of the places you would like to go, or do the things you would like to do. If your college student has been talking about a summer trip, or a spring break adventure, offer to flip the bill for their travel to the event. If your college student doesn't have a particular event they are looking forward to, then create your own. My grandmother took all of her children to a country of their choice the summer after they graduated from college. A big trip done together can not only make an amazing gift for your college student, it can be a great opportunity for the two of you to spend some time together.

A Useful Gift Pack

One of the best gifts I received in college was a laundry basket that was filled useful items like towels, dishwashing fluid, laundry detergent, chips, candy, sheets, pencils, and pens. Everything in the basket was something that I would use, but also something I wouldn't really want to spend my limited funds on. For the few months after I received that gift I was able to save the money I would have used on necessities and used it on other items I wanted, rather than the ones I needed. Think about your college student and what types of things they might need.