By Liv Barry
Elm Staff Writer
The holiday season is finally here, and with it comes the struggle of buying gifts. If you’re shopping for those loved ones who never remember to send you their wishlist, your family member who always insists that they don’t need anything, or anyone who is simply difficult to buy gifts for, hopefully this gift guide will provide you with some much needed Christmastime counsel.
The Movies
Chances are, the person that you are shopping for this holiday season has not been to a movie theater since before the COVID-19 pandemic, which began nearly two years ago. If your loved one is the type of person who prefers experiences to actual gifts, then gift them a trip to the movies this holiday season.
During the holiday season, theaters are stacked with releases, meaning that there are all kinds of movies to choose from depending on your loved one’s taste. This December, there’s a handful of blockbuster releases, like “Spiderman: No Way Home” or “West Side Story,” to choose from. If your loved one prefers Academy Award-fare films, “Licorice Pizza” or “The Tragedy of Macbeth” might better suit their tastes.
Movie tickets, along with all of the concessions that enhance the movie-going experience, are pricey, so your loved one will surely appreciate an all-expenses-paid visit to the theater.
For anyone still dubious about visiting the movies during the ongoing pandemic, many theaters now offer the opportunity to rent out an entire theater for a small group of friends and family for a low price. This is the ideal way to gather your loved ones and treat them to a safe, communal experience that has been hard to come by in the last couple of years.
A Subscription
As dull of a gift as a subscription sounds, they come in so many different forms that you could gift each of your loved ones a different subscription and still leave them satisfied.
Gifting subscriptions hinges on knowing what your loved one is interested in. Once you know what their interests are, gifting a subscription is easy.
For the movie lovers and television junkies in your life, try gifting them a subscription to a streaming service that they don’t already have, like HBOMax or the Criterion Channel. For the family member that inevitably brings up politics at the dinner table, try gifting them a subscription to an online newspaper like The Washington Post or the New York Times.
Giving gifts to loved ones can be tough, but for those younger siblings, cousins, or friends who are addicted to their phones, subscribing to their favorite creator’s Patreon in their name is a fantastic gift. Most influencers, whether they be YouTubers, TikTok stars, podcasters, or Twitch streamers, offer perks for their Patreon streamers, like Zoom hangouts, access to special merchandise, and even extra content. These days, most people under the age of 21 have a favorite content creator, so gifting a Patreon subscription has never been easier.
Handmade
If you are a broke college student, you are probably scrambling to keep your holiday gifts under budget. There’s only so much Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales can do before holiday shopping becomes totally unaffordable for college kids.
Even if you think that your loved one deserves designer items, a heartfelt handmade gift can mean so much more than an expensive one.
Handmade gifts can also be tailored to fit your own hobbies and skill sets. If you’re a crafty person, creating handmade jewelry or carving something out of wood is time-consuming but worth the effort. If you’re a visual artist, your loved ones would cherish a painting or sketch of a shared memory.
For those who aren’t artistically gifted, you can never go wrong with baked goods. A batch of handmade chocolate chip cookies is always a hit.
If your loved one is especially difficult to buy gifts for, try just simply spending time with them. While it is difficult to bear this in mind during the holiday season, gifts are not everything, and after two years of isolation and fear, spending quality time with those you cherish might just be the best gift out of all of them.
Photo Courtesy of Pixabay
Featured Photo Caption: Finding the perfect gift, be it for a loved one or an acquaintance, is an annual struggle for many holiday shoppers.