<p>Just need a few suggestions for useable…not wasteful Christmas gifts for my college-age daughter (JR in college).</p>
<p>Good kid…has way too many clothes…not real responsible with money…</p>
<p>but I want her to get something she’ll value. Ideas?</p>
<p>Thank you…and Happy Holidays!</p>
<p>MP3 player, if she doesn’t already have one.</p>
<p>I ask my kids to send me a Santa List every year right after Thanksgiving. I’ve given up trying to figure out what they need or want. That way, I have some choices I can make. I will say…the gifts we got both kids this year are NOTHING we would have thought of ourselves. (DD is getting a rather expensive flat iron for her hair, and DS is getting a fancy handheld digital recording device).</p>
<p>For those who live off-campus, a George Foreman grill.</p>
<p>One of my son’s apartment mates has one, and my son has been raving about it since September. He’s getting one of his own under the tree this year.</p>
<p>Probably can’t go wrong with an ipod. Even if your kid already has the larger size, as my D does, she still wanted the tiny one (Shuffle) to use for working out. It’s around $89 and Apple will engrave the back for free. I ordered one 2 days ago and will have it in plenty of time for xmas (or so they say).</p>
<p>Another suggestion if she already has an ipod is one of those small speaker units you can dock it in. You can spend alot ($299 on a Bose) or a little…there are many options out there for WAY less than that.<br>
Another suggestion is a digital camera. The prices continue to drop and you can get a really decent one for less than $150.</p>
<p>Like Thumpers D–One year my D was dying for a really great flat iron (Brand named Chi can be pricey at more than $100 but I can attest that they work great). It’s a great every-day tool that is something not many would buy for themselves. She got it 3 years ago and still loves it. Also, one year we got her a really good quality ceramic hair dryer.</p>
<p>D1 also turns 21 right after Christmas. She’s a senior, so interview dress clothes and an ipod dock/speakers for Christmas, and a string of medium priced pearls for the big 2-1.
Just a note on the expensive flat irons – make sure they’re ionic and ceramic. Less burning, work faster!</p>
<p>Ipod question: neither of mine have one, and I was thinking of them for presents. Don’t know much about them, and don’t have a huge budget. We’ve nixed the Shuffle. Next step up seems to be the Nano. Is that durable? Is 4gig reasonable (can’t see swinging for the larger one times two).</p>
<p>Any feedback would be greatly appreciated–I know very little about them.</p>
<p>Garland-
Go to the apple website for education - I just ordered one thru UW and got the 8GB Nano for not much more than the 4gb is in the stores! You can usually find it thru your kiddo’s bookstore website. The 4gb prices are good, too. This is how/where they bought their laptops. There is no limit on the amount of ipods purchased per year at the reduced student price.</p>
<p>D2 has a nano. She lost her shuffle a few years back. The first version was way too small and easy to loose… After going without and saving her money, she bought a nano. Its nice, holds plenty, and is durable. Very durable. Not only does she loose things she breaks them. It’s doing well.</p>
<p>We gave our college-age D a nice set of luggage last Christmas. She too has way too many clothes and tends to lug them around between school/home. It proved to be a terrific present.</p>
<p>they love gift cards,especially to food places near their campus,or where they grocery shop or entertain themselves.This is by far my S’s fave gifts every year.</p>
<p>cathymee, I agree with you! My son loves gift cards. My son happens to like something like an American Express gift card over a store/restaurant gift card (only because it gives him more options to spend it).</p>
<p>Just a note on tech: If they have more than 750 songs, you want to get them the video or the 8GB for a little more money. I have the 4GB nano thinking it’ll be enough, but I keep buying music off of iTunes and it’s gotten to the point where I don’t have enough room on my iPod. I have about 740 songs including podcasts, and it doesn’t all fit on my iPod. And I have one of the smallest music libraries in my building. The average is closer to 3500 songs or so. And yes, that’s just songs alone. So when they say 1000 songs, it’s actually good for 750 or so. Take Apple’s song count and multiply by .75 and you get a more realistic song count.</p>
<p>It’s because of the formatting. You lose about 7%-10% capacity depending on size and operating system, it applies to ALL devices with memory. A 4GB iPod will have 3.72GB when you open it up, and my 120GB macbook pro had 111.5GB full capacity and 95GB after OS X. So for computers, subtract 20% from the nominal capacity, for iPods about 10% and 25% off of song count.</p>
<p>Thank you to each of you for your suggestions. One of the things I keep hearing about is that she just CAN’T eat in the cafeteria because it…just junk food…so a gift card is a great suggestion.</p>
<p>Please I was looking at the nano…but I loved reading about the issue of memory…</p>
<p>Thank you again…now I’m looking for that little ‘surprise’ gift that she never thought she wanted…(yesterday I bought 2 books too…and we’re working on a new winter coat and few clothes…)</p>
<p>Happy Holidays to you all…thank you again!</p>