All I Want for Christmas Is ... [Admissions-Friendly Holiday Gift Ideas]

[Wneckid99]

No one wants admissions-friendly gifts. They want cool stuff for the holidays

[missypie]

Massage gift certificates.
Pedicure gift certificates.
i.e. stress relief

I don't know about giving these things as a gift, but along about junior year, I started thinking of the clothes Son might need that were not part of his regular jeans/shorts/t-shirt wardrobe. Over time we bought him a suit, a navy sport coat and slacks, and a couple of nice button downs and ties. Also, over the summer I bought him thank you cards (the kind that is just one page of card stock) with his name on them - black and cream, classy, suitable for all the thank you notes he will have to write for all kinds of things.

[missypie]

One more thought - if there is a TV show you like to watch together, buy the complete DVD series. Your child will be gone before you know it - fun to think of those times you took 50 minutes to watch one of the original cheesy Star Trek episodes together.

[hakuna_matata]

didn't you know that we love ugly christmas sweaters?

[ontheedge]

The best gift to my junior should be sleep. My S sleeps everywhere. The subway and school's assemblies are his favorite places. So I was thinking of letting him sleep for two days and feed him intravenously.
Otherwise a gift certificate to a place where he can play video games and eat with his friends should be a good substitute.

[zfox001]

I already got my present for this year
haha

brand new mountain unicycle!!
and a ski trip to Whistler!

[aj725]

There are any number of things that are good for the college admissions process that can make good gifts. First, dress clothes -- most HS students don't have a good suit or business casual clothing or formal wool overcoat, so a few outfits would be great for college interviews and should have some use for senior yr events and in college. Second, a digital camera is a must. They'll want it for jr/senior prom and other senior events and they can use it for college tours. Computer accessories like speakers, flashdrives, ipod speakers etc. are great and they can enjoy them at home and then take them to college. Ipods are always good, but they don't necessarily last forever so I wouldn't necessarily expect that they will take it to college 1.5 yrs later because it may not work anymore. Jewelry for women and nice watches for men always make good gifts. While these don't have anything to do with the college admissions process, many students don't have these accessories and with college expenses, it's not the first thing that students or parents think to buy. However, a nice accessory can come in handy for years for admissions interviews, senior events, and throughout college with various internship interviews/events because it can make a regular outfit appear more formal.

[elizabeth]

laptop computer or laptop stand

I have this one and love it

Rain Design iLap for 15-inch Notebooks - Apple Store (U.S.)

[GregoryHouse]

All I want for Christmas is cooperation by every teacher person involved with my app to do it hurriedly, and a stroke of luck for the apps to reach their destinations on time..

[JoshuaGuit]

Oh golly, I would absolutely love some SAT books :-)

[HImom]

I don't know, cash works really well & you don't have to worry about bankcruptcies or it no longer being good because the business it was purchased from closed or the card expired. Personally, I'm NOT fond of gift cards--I really find them a pain to keep track of & use before expirations & all the conditions on some of them. <ugh>

[cptofthehouse]

I think a packed travel bag would be a nice gift. Throw in some things like a travel alarm, notebook, other things that a kid could use when visiting campuses either for interviews or just to check them out or as a final deciding trip. Would serve well for college too. A nice machine washable sleeping bag is a great gift too. I like the cubscout version. Compact, easy wash, warm, durable, folds up very easily and goes into a washing machine easily.

[dubaibliss]

Georgetown. thats it.

[HImom]

Self-inflating airbed is also a good gift--great for sleepovers or overnight guests. The twin size is more manageable than the larger sizes & can be pretty reasonable at Target & similar stores. SELF-INFLATING sure beats trying to blow the dang thing up by your lung & mouth power. It also deflates easily by reversing the process.

[pink001]

firefly, your Gilmore Girls suggestion rocks. I actually turned around and asked my mom for season 3 of Gilmore Girls right when I read that (I used to watch it all the time but then I got too busy, and I was just accepted into Yale, so now I want to revisit all of those episodes when I used to want to be just like Rory!)


But on a more serious note... I'm a high school senior girl right now, and I tackled the whole college-process thing head-on with no prior knowledge about anything. I began the entire process......... three months ago.

No one in my family ever went to college, my high school never provided us with any sort of valuable information, and so I had to figure out everything by myself.
When I took the ACT, I had never had a single practice book, let alone any tutors. I scored a 33, but I don't think most in my situation would have.

My point is, as a high school junior, college application guidebooks and ACT/ SAT prep books would have been VERY welcome. Even as Christmas presents.

Now, coming from a teenager, my only advice is this:

If you give these things as Christmas presents, please counterbalance the college stuff with cute clothes, cool electronics, video games, and all that stuff. Make them open the books first, then they can open the cool junk and forget about their initial disappointment. Then, when all the excitement about these material things wears off, they will dig the books out from the depths of their closets and be VERY thankful for them.