The unique bond of friendship is expressed in songs, religious texts, and even in entertainment. These rare connections require love, care, and nurturing to grow and flourish. One way to maintain a strong friendship is to show appreciation. Giving a gift is a meaningful way to express gratitude, love, and adoration for your friend. Whether you’re looking for birthday gifts for your best friend, holiday or Christmas gifts for friends, or general friendship gifts – this list is for you. We have gift ideas suitable for different interests, occasions, and budgets for the best friendships in your life.
Personalized Keepsakes
The sentimental value of personalized gifts is inherent in the “keepsake” name. These gifts last forever and remind your friend that you care. These keepsake gifts for best friends are customizable to fit your friendship and your friend’s style. They can capture special moments and inside jokes, and make good gifts for friends who know each other well.
A personalized photo album gathers your shared experiences in one place where your best friend can remember them forever. This album has customizable features and blank spaces that you can decorate yourself. Customize this gift to match the nature of your bond. Fill the album with photos, inside jokes, and personalized quotes. Choose a color theme you know your best friend will appreciate for a truly memorable gift.
In the world of gift ideas for friends, you can never go wrong with jewelry. Engraved jewelry is a classic gift that your best friend will have eternally to remember how much you care. This gorgeous necklace allows personalization with a message, initials and a choice of crystal color. It will enhance your friend’s outfit and her mental state each time she looks at it and remembers your bond.
When your bestie makes her morning coffee or enjoys tea to wind down for the evening, a customized insulated coffee mug from you can put her in the right mood. This gift allows you to write a funny inside joke, or an encouraging message, or add both of your initials. It’s a unique yet useful gift that your best friend can use repeatedly.
If you and your best friend bond over your sense of humor, funny socks are a great gift to consider. Inside jokes are the glue that keeps the best friendships fun and exciting. If you want to put a smile on their face, add a silly photo of the two of you, their pet, or something only you two would understand onto a pair of customizable socks.
For wine drinkers, a personalized glass will become their favorite new glass to drink from. Add a photo of the two of you, a decoration you know they’ll love, or simply their name to the glass and watch their delight at your thoughtful gift. You can also buy a pair so that when you visit, you can share a glass of wine. If they are more of a whiskey than wine drinker, you can choose a whiskey glass instead to customize.
Help your best friend organize jewelry with a beautiful and personalized jewelry box. This shabby chic antique jewelry box will also be a gorgeous decoration piece that your best friend will feel so special receiving. Personalize this keepsake with her name and a color you know she’ll love.
This is a perfect gift for the deep thinker best friend who spends a lot of time journaling. Add a quote on the front cover that you know they’ll appreciate or have their name added in unique print. Write a note on the inside cover for an added personal touch.
Experiential Gifts
Shared experience gifts deeply impact friendships and memories for years to come. Spending time together creates an opportunity for greater levels of intimacy and shared history. The gifts below showcase a wide range of gift ideas. If you’re looking for birthday gifts for your best friend or cute best friend gifts for any occasion to remember, these gifts are up your alley.
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Concert Tickets
There is nothing like enjoying your favorite music with your best friend. These two nicely wrapped tickets say not only that you want to spend time with your bestie, but also that you two share a special bond through music. Even if you choose a concert that your best friend loves more than you do, the thoughtfulness of this gift and the bonding experience will last a lifetime.
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Cooking Class Voucher
Your friend has always wanted to learn how to make a specific cuisine or dish, or simply loves spending time in the kitchen, or just wants to learn how to cook. If this is your friend, then a cooking class voucher is a great gift that you can buy for a fun and educational experience. Buy an extra voucher for yourself to make this a memorable shared experience.
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Weekend Getaway
Planning a weekend getaway for a stressed or adventurous best friend is a perfect gift idea that is sure to impress. Consider your friend’s favorite things and set up a weekend they are sure to remember. The best part: sharing this experience with their favorite person, you.
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Spa Day Voucher
A spa day voucher is the perfect way to pamper your friend and share a bonding experience that will relax you both. Choose your best friend’s favorite spa experience to share or try a lavish new one that neither of you has tried before. From a massage to a facial or day spa mud bath, there are so many unique spa experiences that you’re sure to find something perfect for the two of you.
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Gift Card for Dance, Art, or Music Lessons
Does your friend always want to learn to dance, draw, or have a guitar they haven’t played yet? A creative experience gift card can give them the boost they need to pursue their experiential dream. You can join them to make their first-time experience fun and less daunting.
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Movie Tickets
Best friends, prepaid snacks, and a movie you’ll both love is a recipe for an excellent shared experiential gift. If you want to get fancy, you can find a theater that serves dinner at your seat. Sharing this experience allows your friend to let down their hair and enjoy your time together doing something you both love.
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Sports Tickets
If your friend is sporty and loves attending live games, tickets to see their favorite team play is a surefire gift win! You can’t go wrong with this shared experience filled with the excitement of the crowd, game, and each other. If sports are their thing, but not yours, they’ll be happy you shared the experience with them or you can get the tickets for them and their significant other.
Relaxation & Self-Care
When your friend shares about the stressors in their life or you know the struggles they have with mental health, it’s time to consider self-care gifts. We can’t save our friends, but a thoughtful gift can encourage self-care and relaxation. From mental health gifts to at-home spa treatments, the list below has you covered.
While a spa day is a lovely experiential gift, a spa gift basket lets your bestie indulge in stress relief in her own time. Include a wonderfully scented soap or bath salts. If you know a specific item she likes, you can include it to add to her collection. This creature comfort gift is a winner for calm and relaxation.
This gift lets your best friend experience a spa atmosphere at home in any room they choose for nervous system relief benefits. They’ll think of how sweet it is to have a friend like you each time they smell their favorite scent wafting through the air. If you know their favorite scent, you can include it with the diffuser.
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Yoga Class Subscription (online or in-person)
A yoga class subscription is a gift for the best friend who wants to practice mindfulness through movement, and this gift is especially great for a seasoned yogi friend. You can choose an online subscription or a convenient location near your best friend’s home or job. Usually, these subscriptions are open-ended. This means they can choose classes to attend based on their schedule.
Sipping tea is relaxing, de-stressing, and beneficial for one’s health. Tea lovers will appreciate your thoughtfulness and the opportunity to relax with a beautiful tea set gift. This gift is elaborate and includes a teacup and an assortment of handcrafted pyramid-shaped tea bags with unique and vibrant flavors. Your friend will feel so special opening this gift.
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Good Vibes, Good Life & Other Books About Self-Care
Have you been hearing about a self-care book that you know she’d like or have you recently read one yourself? Why not buy a copy for your best friend and gift it to her? Self-care books are perfect for avid readers or friends who want to learn new ways to take care of themselves. Good Vibes, Good Life: How Self-Love Is the Key to Unlocking Your Greatness is a bestseller for a reason. It is the perfect gift to remind your friend to practice self-care.
Weighted blankets are meant for stress relief and soothe anxiety as the pressure on the weight makes you feel safe, cozy, and warm. Friends who struggle with anxiety or who have a stressful lifestyle will benefit from this gift.
Cozy bathrobes when visiting hotels or during spas are common, but at home, we often neglect this small luxury. This gift can make for a relaxing everyday experience your best friend will benefit from in their mood and stress levels.
DIY & Handmade Gifts
Handmade gifts are thoughtful and invaluable in a friendship. These gifts require a level of intimacy and understanding of your friendship and a high level of care to put much effort into making your friend smile.
Gather all the experiences you have shared in the life of your friendship and add them to a scrapbook for an unforgettable gift. You can include concert tickets, fun photos, and other memorable experiences you two have shared. It’s a customizable gift that is inexpensive and thoughtful.
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Knitted Scarf or Sweater
If you are savvy with knitting needles, creating a DIY gift for your best friend could be particularly touching. Whether you knit a scarf, a hat, a sweater, or another project, they’ll know that you put time and effort into creating a beautiful gift just for them. While usually cost-efficient, these gifts speak volumes and come from the heart.
Create a customized recipe book for a friend who loves to cook, You can add her name to the front cover of this keepsake leatherbound book and allow her to fill it with her best dishes. Your friend will know you’ve paid attention to what they like and feel special to have a friend like you.
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Baked Goods
If you enjoy baking, whip up your best friend’s favorite dessert for a tasty gift idea. This gift is easy to package in a box or a tin container lined with tissue or parchment paper to keep your treats fresh. For a cute persona touch, tie it up with a string and write a message on the box.
A memory jar is a sweet gift that requires a jar, paper, and your best friendship memories. Cut your paper into small pieces large enough to write a single memory on each. Put them all in a jar. Instruct your friend to pick out a memory whenever they are feeling down. If you are short on time you can buy a premade KindNotes Glass Keepsake Gift Jar with prewritten inspirational messages for your friend.
The thoughtfulness and empathy that this gift requires can only happen between the best of friends. You’ll write and seal several letters in envelopes. Write each encouraging letter to your friend to get them through tough times. You can put all the sealed letters in a box with instructions to open them when the situation on the envelope applies to them. For example: You might write “Open when you’re stressed at work” or “Open when you feel lonely.”
Em & Friends A Box of Friendship offers premade “Read Me When” letters that allow you to fill in the blank letter with messages like “One of my favorite things about you is___.”
This adorable gift can be made with old sweaters you no longer use. Depending on the thickness of the sweater you use, you can cut a sleeve or two to create a cozy jacket for your best friend’s favorite hot beverage cup or mug. You can cut shapes from other parts of the sweater and hot glue them on for a decorative touch.
If you prefer to purchase a knitted mug sleeve, these adorable mug sleeves provide the same aesthetic.
Tech Gadgets
A tech gift will not only keep your tech-lover friends current with the latest trends, but they’ll also thank you for knowing them so well. Tech gadget gifts are fun and make life easier with useful innovations to help humans live their best lives. The list below showcases tech items that will enhance your friend’s life.
It’s easy to forget to charge your phone and lose power while running around town, especially if you live a busy life. A wireless charging station is a thoughtful gift that will save your busy bestie in their day-to-day life. This charging station allows your Apple user friend to charge their phone, smart watch, and air pods.
Bluetooth earbuds are great for friends who enjoy listening to music while working out, listening to a podcast on their public transit commute, or listening to music while reading. They provide a quiet listening experience without the hassle of tangled chords.
Since most photos live on digital platforms in the modern era, a digital photo frame is a convenient way to frame memories. You can gather your favorite online photos or images saved to your computer and add them to a digital photo frame without printing anything.
A fitness-focused best friend will appreciate a fitness tracker smartwatch or device that tracks their fitness goal progress. They can track their activity levels, steps they’ve taken, and even water intake for some.
This gadget puts a modern spin on a classic by introducing a way to heat water to a precise temperature for the perfect warm beverage. If your best friend is both contemporary and classic, they will appreciate this gift.
For health-conscious people, a wake-up light is a modern gadget that will help regulate their circadian rhythms for deeper sleep and better focus during the day. You can get one with an alarm clock that will provide an extra “wake-up” signal for heavy sleepers.
If your friend works from home, often takes video call meetings, or is an aspiring influencer, a ring light can provide the best lighting so she can always show up looking her best. The best part is she’ll have you to thank for it.
Books & Learning
The gifts below celebrate the joy of learning and escaping through literature. Avid readers and self-development friends will gravitate toward the opportunities to enjoy stories and grow as a person. From tools that will aid in the reading process to ideas that expand the horizons of one’s knowledge, we’ve got books and learning gift ideas covered.
Imagine the joy and excitement of receiving a new book each month curated just for you. Your friend will receive this if you sign them up for a book box subscription. Some subscriptions send new releases or specific genres, or combine the books with a coffee of the month or fun bath items. You can find the perfect one personalized for your friend.
Audiobooks are great for busy readers or readers who like an audio format. Catching up on the latest best-selling novel or book is easy on the go with an audiobook and a membership gives your friend access to a library of books to choose from.
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Online Course Enrollment
Enhance your friend’s life with a course focused on a topic they have expressed interest in. An online course allows them to conveniently join the course from home without the hassle of an extra commute, encourages self-development, and is a thoughtful way to show you’ve been listening.
Avid readers know the frustration of forgetting what page they’ve left off on. Buy a set of unique bookmarks your friend will enjoy while keeping track of the last page they left off on. These beautiful bookmarks are handmade of metal with a vintage feel that bibliophiles will love.
There are all kinds of reading lights for book lovers. This useful gift can be clamped directly to the book your friend is enjoying and has adjustable levels of light. The price is also fantastic and you can choose which color you’d like to make your gift.
There is nothing quite like reading while taking a bath, and a bath tray with a stand makes the task easy. Thanks to this gift, your friend can prop their book up and enjoy reading while relaxing in a warm tub.
Observe most readers and you’ll see them taking various awkward and sometimes uncomfortable or straining positions while enthralled in a novel or poignant story. A reading pillow is a big comfy gift that takes the strain off of the neck and allows a reader to relax in an ergonomic position. Your friend and their posture will thank you.
The Gift of Giving
The joy of giving gifts to someone you care about is immeasurable. These best friend gifts are opportunities to both give and strengthen your bond in the act. While pondering which gift you’ll give, think creatively and choose gifts that reflect your friend’s personality and your unique relationship.
For Further Reading
Heartfelt Best Friend Gifts Infographics
