Best Christmas Gifts For College Students Studying Abroad
INTRODUCTION
Do you have a friend who is studying abroad and you’re wondering what to buy for them? Or maybe you are the one staying abroad for college. With Christmas just around the corner, you might be getting ready to enjoy the holiday season. And there are many wonderful holiday gifts you can buy for your friend studying abroad.
I’m very particular about what I buy. I don’t like to gift something just for the sake of gifting. So did a lot of research and came up with this list. These gifts are perfect for college students on a budget.
Studying abroad can be exciting but also scary. You get to learn a lot and make new friends and meet new people, but you can also feel lonely and homesick because you are away from home. This feeling of loneliness can intensify during the holiday season.
So if someone you know is staying abroad, away from their home, during the holidays, be sure to take extra care of them. If you are a college student studying abroad, you can buy some of these gifts as a study abroad care package for yourself! Why wait for others when you can gift yourself? You can show your friends your love and appreciation by buying them these gifts that every student studying abroad will love!
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BEST CHRISTMAS GIFTS FOR YOUR FRIEND STUDYING ABROAD
Music has the power to transport you in time and space. This is precisely what you’re friend studying abroad might need. Being miles away from home isn’t easy, and you can help bridge this gap by curating a well-thought-out playlist for them.
You can include songs you know they love and, if possible, include songs from their home country in their native language. Your friend might not be super into music, but they’ll surely have some songs that they love.
As they say, the best gifts are free. This gift doesn’t cost any money, but it will show them how much you know them. As a broke college student on a budget, this is an excellent gift for your friend studying abroad.
If you have the time, you can also create different playlists, like one for the holidays, one when they feel happy, and one for when they’re feeling the blues. Your friend studying abroad will definitely appreciate this thoughtful gift from you.
WHAT MAKES IT A GREAT HOLIDAY GIFT
- Free of cost
- Thoughtful and sweet
- Completely personalizable
If you don’t feel like sending your friend just a Spotify link and want to share it in a better format, you might want to check out these customizable keychains.
I found these super cool DIY keychains where you can insert Spotify URLs and even customize them in other ways. You can add holiday decorations and make them personalized for your friend. You get 15 pieces of the transparent keychains,, which cost less than a dollar a piece!
You can even make give your friend multiple customized keychains. It’s a great gift to show your college friend how much you care for them. (For all the keychain fanatics out there, you can not sublimate on these keychains. Everyone else can ignore this XD)
WHAT MAKES IT A GREAT CHRISTMAS GIFT
- DIY which shows how much you care for your friend
- Completely customizable – can decorate it however you wish
- Low budget
Isn’t this travel journal super cute? It’s a perfect Christmas gift for your friend studying abroad. If your friend is into journaling, look no further; this might be the best gift you can get them for Christmas! But wait, even if they’re not into journaling (yet), they’ll still appreciate this gift.
After all, journaling has plenty of advantages right from self-improvement to increasing your productivity and effective time management. I am not kidding when I say that journaling can transform your life as a college student.
Studying abroad is a life-changing experience, and I’m sure your friend would love to note down important things. In fact, you can encourage them to document important moments and memories in this journal.
Even from a purely functional view, you can’t go wrong by giving your friend this journal as a Christmas gift. When you’re studying abroad, everything is new to you, and they can use this to write important stuff like addresses, contact numbers and other details.
I know we don’t live in the 20th century, and everyone has cell phones. But in case your phone’s battery dies, do you really want to be stranded with no access to any important information?
This is another design that I loved! It says, “Wherever you go, go with all your heart.” Isn’t that profound and sweet? Plus, it has a vegan leather cover for that plush feel. Not bad for a gift under 10 dollars, right?
WHY IT MAKES AN AWESOME HOLIDAY GIFT
- High functionality
- Use it to store important info
- Record happy moments and memories
- Encourage your friend to journal
Packing for any travel is a bit stressful, but especially when you’re traveling abroad, there are tons of extra things you need to carry with you – like a visa and passport. Oh, the last-minute scare when you can’t find your passport and have to rummage through your entire backpack.
NO MORE.
The solution is simple and more stylish than ever! Buy this awesome passport holder. It’s so pretty; it honestly looks more like a clutch. And, of course, with Ms. COVID, it’s also handy to carry your vaccination cards. You can choose from so many pretty designs. Gift your college friend studying abroad this cute passport holder to make their lives and travel so much easier!
WHY IT MAKES AN AWESOME CHRISTMAS GIFT
- Practical and cute
- Must-have for international travels
- Many designs to choose from
- Low budget
Look no further if you want to gift them a personalized vaccination and passport holder. It’s a great Christmas gift for under 15$.
You can add a custom image and name. This is an excellent opportunity for you to choose a meaningful photo and caption to make the gift even more special. And you can also customize the type of passport holder. You can select a travel wallet with card slots or a vaccine card protector.
This passport holder is water resistant, and it’s made with eco-friendly materials. Talk about a perfect package. It’s an ideal gift for Christmas for your friend studying abroad.
- Customizable image, caption and type of passport holder
- Eco-friendly
- Water-resistant
- Low budget
This is a super cute gift to give your friend studying abroad. With these scratch-off maps, your friend can visually see all the places they’ve been to. And it’s a great reminder for them to travel to other places on their bucket list. It’s a great travel-themed Christmas gift for your friend. And since they’re studying abroad, you know for sure they’ll scratch out at least a few places 😀
Also, this might sound really philosophical, but whenever I look at the world map or the globe, it reminds me of just how massive the world is and how tiny my own problems are in comparison. If your friend has similar thoughts, it’s another reason to gift them this!
Your friend can hang it on a wall in their bedroom, and whenever they look at it, they’ll remember all the trips you went on and the fun times you spent together.
WHY IT MAKES AN AWESOME HOLIDAY GIFT
- Very pretty
- Makes for an excellent wall decoration
- Reminds them of how far they’ve come in come (literally and figuratively)
- Added motivation to pursue their bucket list
A power bank is one of the best gifts for a college student studying abroad. Let me explain why. We live in the 21st century, where our phone is the one-stop shop for everything. And by everything, I mean.. EVERYTHING.
Right from contacts to travel documents to cashless payments to GPS, many people (me included) could not survive one day without a phone. I get separation anxiety when I’m away from my phone for too long, and I know I’m not the only one.
If you, as a native, feel this anxious without your phone, imagine how a person new to the country might feel. And no matter how much you try to stay on top of these things, you are bound to slip up and forget to charge your phone or laptop every once in a while. Imagine you need to submit your assignment within an hour, and your laptop dies, and there’s no charger or a power point nearby. The absolute horror!!
This is a great practical gift for someone moving abroad. You can give your college friend a power bank for Christmas. Select from any of the two options below. I loved them both so much; I couldn’t decide which one to choose!
Strawberry Power Bank
If anyone gifted me this power bank, I would be SO THRILLED. It is soo cute; it looks less like a power bank and more like a fancy mirror or bag. It weighs less than 200 grams, so your friend can store it compactly and always carry it with them, day-to-day and during traveling. Heck, it’s small enough to even fit into a pocket!
Unicorn Power Bank
This is another design that I absolutely loved! And it also has a flashlight that can come in handy when camping or during emergencies. Gift your friend studying abroad this useful and pretty Christmas gift.
WHY IT MAKES AN AMAZING CHRISTMAS GIFT
- Adorable and unique designs
- High functionality
- Light-weight and easy to use
I dare you to find me a college student who would not appreciate this. Because earphones are such an essential part of every college student’s life, I looked for earphones in different categories and included the ones I liked the best from each category.
Decent headphones are a must for any traveler. Whenever your friend travels on long journeys, they can listen to relaxing music. They also help drown out the super boring conversations that people around you are having. I can’t think of anything worse than having to endure a 6-hour flight next to an annoying group of people who just won’t stop talking. shudders
They’ll also pair nicely with the Spotify playlists you make for them.
These earphones are unbelievably adorable!!! Just look at the cute cat designs. *meow
They have a matching earphone box and come in different colors and designs. Considering that they cost under 10$, I find them totally worth the money!
This is a perfect Christmas gift for your friend who likes cute things.. or cats.. or both!
WHY IT MAKES AN AMAZING CHRISTMAS GIFT
- Cute and unique design
- Very useful
- Low budget (keep checking Amazon, I got them for under 10$!)
If your college friend is more of a practical kind, then check out the following type of earphones.
If you want something high functioning with better sound quality, you can’t go wrong with these standard Apple earphones. Not too expensive, they provide good sound clarity. Plus, wired earphones have their own advantages. You don’t need to worry about charging them or misplacing them because they’re so tiny (yes, I’m looking at you, Airpods)
P.S: Ensure you buy a product shipped and sold from Amazon, not a reseller, to avoid any hassle.
WHY IT MAKES A GREAT CHRISTMAS GIFT
- Earphones are a must-have for any college student
- Branded, well-known and high quality
- Comes with AppleCare
If your friend prefers earbuds over earphones, check out these awesome earbuds by JBL. They come in blue, black, and purple colors. And keep checking Amazon; you can also get them for below 30$ on sale. This is a great Christmas gift for someone who’s into music and wants high-quality earphones with great bass.
Plus, they’re compact and lightweight so your friend can carry them easily wherever they go. It’s a great Christmas gift for your friend studying abroad.
WHY THEY MAKE AN AWESOME CHRISTMAS GIFT
- Great sound quality
- Value for money
- Cute color options
The list wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t include this item. There is so much noise all around you when you’re a college student. Sometimes you need to shut out everything that’s happening around you and these high-quality, noise-canceling headphones can help you do just that.
They allow you to retreat into your own bubble easily. And you can also focus and study better using them. And some countries are naturally quieter than others. So If your friend is from such a country and has come to study abroad in a crowded, noisy city, they’ll surely appreciate this amazing Christmas present.
If you have the budget, gift your friend quiet from all the distractions in the form of these headphones. It comes in cool colors like pink, green, grey, silver, and blue.
WHY THEY MAKE A COOL CHRISTMAS GIFT
- Noise-canceling (need I say more?)
Drinking water is essential, but did you know it also helps your studies? But as a busy college student, you can forget to drink enough water daily. Given the importance of water, this water bottle should seriously be a part of every student’s study abroad survival kit.
You don’t want to be dehydrated when walking from one end of the campus to the other, do you? Or worse, when you get thirsty in the middle of an hour-long lecture and need to go out to get water? Ugh.
Well, now you have the chance to gift this amazing present to your college friend for Christmas. If your friend is studying abroad, they can carry it with them while traveling home.
A pretty convenient and practical Christmas gift, don’t you think? This water bottle is insulated and made with stainless steel, so it is also very eco-friendly. If your friend is into sustainability, they will surely appreciate getting this cool bottle as a Christmas present.
WHY IT MAKES AN AMAZING CHRISTMAS GIFT
- Eco-friendly: Made with steel and not plastic
- Insulated to keep your friend hot/cool as needed
- Keep your friend hydrated at all times
- A must-have during traveling
CONCLUSION
And there you have it! 12 awesome holiday gifts to give your college bestie studying abroad for Christmas. I don’t know who needs to hear this, but you can avoid last-minute shopping stress by preparing in advance. So, may this post be a reminder for you to start thinking about your Christmas shopping!
I hope you found this post helpful. Which gift did you like the most? And what other products would you like to add to the list? Let me know in the comments below. Have a great day!
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