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Life > Experiences

Gift Guide: Significant Other Edition

Samantha Cavallo
The opinions expressed in this article are the writer’s own and do not reflect the views of Her Campus.
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Rollins chapter.

I love gift giving but I know that holiday shopping for your significant other can be hard! Especially for me, as Christmas and our anniversary are less than a month apart. I am a people pleaser, so I like to make sure my boyfriend is going to love his gift. Here’s how I do it:

First, you need to establish a budget with your partner. Communicate your price range so there’s no discomfort on Christmas morning (or whenever you exchange your gifts). If one person is gifting the other something super expensive, now the other feels bad that their gift wasn’t comparable. Once you have a budget in mind, it also helps you to narrow down your options.

Personally, I love unwrapping presents so I prefer to buy a bunch of smaller things to gift, rather than one big item, but you know your partner best! When shopping for my boyfriend’s gifts, I try to check all my boxes. You can tailor this to any budget and pick which categories you think work best for your loved one.

  1. Something he loves. A tried and true favorite, like the cologne he wears. Maybe a snack or a candy he likes best. 
  2. Something he needs. This is something useful, like shampoo, new socks, you get the gist.
  3. Something he wants. Turn your listening ears on. I’m the kind of person to send you the direct link to what I want for Christmas, but my boyfriend isn’t. However, he will mention things he wants more casually and I rush to write it down in my notes app.
  4. Something you can do together. I love experience-based gifts because it’s almost like a gift for me too :) This could be a gift certificate to a restaurant the two of you like to go together, or maybe a gift card to the movies. 
  5. Something sentimental. Maybe a framed photo of the two of you, or a keychain he can carry around to remind him of you. 

This list is by no means exhaustive and there are much much more creative gifters on this earth, but this list helps me to curate a collection that I know will be well received. The most important part here is that it’s from you, so your partner will love it no matter what!

Samantha Cavallo is in her third year as a writer for Her Campus. She enjoys writing about anything and everything, though her pieces often focus on celebrities and pop culture or mental health and wellbeing. Sam is currently a junior at Rollins College in Winter Park, FL, majoring in Psychology with a minor in Sociology, and she is from Langhorne, Pennsylvania. After earning her Bachelor's degree, she plans to pursue a PhD in School Psychology. Beyond Her Campus, she is involved in many organizations on campus that focus on supporting the campus community, such as the Wellness Ambassadors, where she works in Health Promotions to promote the Nine Dimensions of Wellness, and the Student Support Foundation, operating the campus food pantry and providing emergency grants to students, faculty, and staff in need. In her free time, Sam enjoys reading, going to Barre class, finding new things to do in and around the Orlando area, especially if there is rumored to be good food, and Facetiming her dog Dexter. She is a major fan of both Taylor Swift and Phoebe Bridgers (she even got it tattooed to prove it) and loves going to concerts, and of course dressing up for them.