You can get a decent pair of bluetooth earbuds for $50. Pretty much anyone would like that.
Drinking, smoking pot, and having sex. They also study a lot & get good grades.
OK lots of good food for thought in these answers, so thanks to all who responded. And yes, I’m rethinking the gift card idea based on these replies. Will probably do a hybrid of sorts—a small token gift with $$ along with it.
Snoop Dogg has a cookbook out this year. I bought one for each of my college aged children. My daughter is in a dorm room and won’t cook - but may be in a room with a kitchen as early as next year. My son does cook. Both will enjoy it for the humor value (we have an ongoing joke in our house that Snoop probably bakes the best brownies - after all, he’s a friend of Martha Stewart - and there is a brownie recipe. Its actually a fairly broad set of recipes - not a great general use cookbook, but useable.
Socks and - if they go to school in a cold climate - gloves - they always get lost over the course of a semester. A girly college student would probably enjoy a bunch of sheet masks - my daughter and her room mate do them as bonding time.
Personal care crap…chapstick, body lotion, advil
Earbuds - mentioned upthread - also always get lost and are in forever need of being replaced.
Personally, I don’t like gift cards unless you know the student and the campus. At my daughter’s school there aren’t a lot of places you can get to off campus where you can use a gift card. The movie theatres are a $10 Uber ride one way - they never go off campus to movies - they watch everything as it comes out on Amazon or Netflix by hooking the TV up to one of their laptops. There isn’t even a Starbucks close to campus. The pizza places are independent. So it would have to be a non-store specific or Amazon we have everything gift certificate, both which feel like “I guess you’ve outgrown gifts - here is some cash”
As far as movie tickets go, I was obviously considering the many, many colleges and universities located in larger cities that have movie theaters. College kids have ALWAYS been very grateful for the passes I’ve given them. There are also blockbuster movies out that are best seen on a large screen, Try watching Black Panther on a laptop. College kids have ALWAYS been very grateful for the passes I’ve given them. And the theaters here are packed with college-age kids. My city has at least 7 colleges within the city limits, 6 within walking distance of a major theater. Obviously the OP can use her reasoning powers to figure out whether the student is close to theaters.
Maybe some household items (cooking items, coffee/coffee mugs, dishes) or school supplies (notebooks, pens, pencils - maybe fancy ones.)
We always send checks to our grandchildren for their birthdays inside a carefully chosen card. We don’t give Christmas presents.
Ooh, another thought: if any of them have study abroad or other travel plans in the near-to-not-too-far-distant future, a good-quality hiking / travel backpack is indispensable, and will last fifteen to twenty years. Or if you don’t want to spend that much, there are always money belts, inflatable pillows, and other useful gadgets of that sort.
Do college laundry rooms still take quarters? Rolls of quarters would be more welcome than gold if so.
Each and every one of them has a laptop and uses it for writing. Maybe an inexpensive laptop stand (they still need to sit down at a desk once in a while, don’t they?).
Oh, good one. If they’re using quarters for laundry, those coins start to be worth more than their monetary face value.
At my daughters school laundry is free as long as you wash cold. I don’t know how common that is, but its been heaven on the needing quarters front.
Go on Amazon and check their Wish Lists. That way you know you’re getting something they really want. That’s how I buy for my impossible-to-buy-for husband and friends.
Our college student spends a lot of time wrapped in one of those super-soft, plush blanket/throws you can find for sale everywhere. Our teens keep asking for more of them. Apparently your nest can never be big enough.
That rings true.