So hear me out, I know that Thanksgiving hasn’t even passed yet, but Black Friday is right after Thanksgiving and that involves buying things. That makes enough sense for me.
Basically, the number one thing to consider is be as thoughtful as you can. It can be absolute garbage but if it’s considered a thoughtful gift you’re off the hook. Like I had no clue what to get my friend for Secret Santa last year, I mean we had kind of fell out of hanging out and never saw each other anymore but I did know that she was talking about dying her hair again and liked having her nails painted. I made my way over to my not so local Sally Beauty Store, picked out a cool nail polish and a fifteen-dollar coupon. Along with it I gave her a card explaining that I know she liked her hair dyed and her nails done so I was giving her this, so she could treat herself this Christmas Break. Going with a cute thoughtful gift is what a friend really wants anyway.
Another great thing to consider is homemade gifts. There usually pretty inexpensive and if you’re into arts and crafts it’s a lot of fun. Bailey from Simple Teen Life is an amazing artist and I think her art style is really pretty so for people’s birthdays she does an art piece for them. It’s super sweet and I know the recipients always feel grateful. She uses her own art supplies and doesn’t cost her anything.
Finally go for an inside joke or use the gift to make one. My friend had no clue when my birthday was, and I was on the phone with her when she realized it was the next day, and she was like I have to go but what is your favorite song right now. Of course, I didn’t disclose my favorite song, but just know that I definitely did not, as a joke, respond with Toxic by Brittany Spears.
So, the next day she gives me this little cardboard box, like a small version of a pizza box. Obviously, I can’t use the word ugly, but it was covered in glitter and scrapbook paper and I think that gives off the impression well. So, I open up this box and inside is a lot of really random stuff, there was a cool napkin, like five bucks, a pack of sticky notes, and a cute eraser. The ‘main’ gift though was she used google translate to translate the lyrics of Toxic through multiple languages and printed it out multiple times to see the lyrics slowly and sometimes drastically change. To this day sometimes we still quote what is on them.
Overall you know your friend best and they’ll like you no matter what you get them. There’s no right or wrong answer.
DO THE BEST WITH WHAT YOU HAVE, AND THEY WILL ACCEPT YOU FOR THAT.
Have a great week, teens!
—Aby, 11th grade student
Member of original Simple Teen Life Dream Team staff since 2018
