Real best friends have a great and sometimes weird relationship with each other. They’re the people you’re supposed to trust, confide in and have the best time of your life with. If you have someone like this in your life, you’re a very lucky person. You’re there for each other in difficult times but also ready to play a trick or two for some fun. So, when it comes to gift giving you can be creative and buy them something they’ll never expect.
A Cutout of Their Favourite Celebrity
Everyone has their favourite celebrity. This can be an actor or actress, a musician, an athlete or a random famous person. Some people are obsessed with collecting anything connected to that celebrity, tees, mugs, books, cards, magazines, Funko Pop dolls, posters, anything they can get their hands on.
If your friend belongs to this group of people, you can gift them a cardboard cutout of that person. Your number one priority should be finding a reliable seller. Someone who works with high-quality equipment and creates realistic, picture-perfect celebrity standees. Image quality is very important. No one wants a pixeled picture of their favourite person.
There should be clean lines and bright colours. You should be able to spot details on the face, hair and clothing. Manufacturers use cardboard as their base. It’s oftentimes corrugated which makes it sturdy and rugged enough to work with. Some companies turn to recycled cardboard as an eco-friendly option.
This is a wonderful gift for many occasions. It can be birthdays, graduations, anniversaries, parties or even with no occasion at all. Imagine your friend is having a Harry Potter-themed birthday party and you show up at their doorstep with a cutout of Harry with his wand in hand. Or if they graduate from acting school and you gift them a lifesize cutout of Leonardo DiCaprio or Margot Robbie.
If you want to take it up a notch, make a cutout of them. Find a funny picture with good quality and print it out so they’ll have a specific version of themselves forever. Or even a cutout from you. It’s a fun way for them to have you by their side and remember the good time you had together. Of course, if you don’t want to go full-size, there are always miniature versions that can easily fit into everybody’s home.
Fun Board Games
If your best friend is a big fan of board games and loves to play them with you, now is the perfect time to gift them a game they still don’t own. This is a great way they can spend their free time and have some fun exploring new games. Nowadays, you have so many choices. Board games got a lot more creative, engaging and challenging.
Catan is a good choice. This is a game with perfectly balanced luck and skill. The story is set on a fictional island called Catan. The goal is to build, trade, and establish roads and settlements through negotiations with players. It’s anyone’s game, the master builder, the trader or the astute settler.
Carcassonne is similar to catan. It’s a tile-laying board game settled in southern France. With each drawn tile the players build a map of roads, rivers, fields and cities. There are plenty of strategic opportunities with different outcomes and a lot of adventures. If you’re looking for something funny, get them Exploding Kittens. It’s a card game where the players avoid the exploding kitten and win the game with action cards.
If your friend is a fan of Scrabble, get them the fast-paced Bananagrams. It has no board and players just create words as fast as possible. Imagine what you would come up with after 2 glasses of wine. There are so many choices, a new version of the classic Monopoly, Gloomhaven, Scythe, Wavelength, Rummikub and much more.
Have Them Grow a Boyfriend/Girlfriend
If your friend has been single for a long time now, it’s time to have a good laugh and gift them a Grow a Boyfriend/Girlfriend toy. This hilarious toy is made of a non-toxic material with a sponge-like consistency. When bought, it’s around 10cm big and it needs water to grow.
Your friend will place it in a tub full of water and leave it there for several hours. The toy will grow to a full-size adult. Once they take it out of the water, it’ll shrink down to its original size. Just like with celebrity standees, they can have fun more than once. These toys come in many shapes, forms, sizes and colours, so you have plenty to choose from.
Creative Personalised Presents
Now this is a very broad gift category. You can go any way you want. Take note of your friend’s preferences. Think about the things they like and use. You can start with a throw blanket with your face on it. Printed socks with a funny quote or a phrase the two of you love to say. You can also do a customised mug or a water bottle they’ll use every day and be reminded of the fun times you have together.
Instead of celebrity cutouts, you can make a cutout of you. If your friend has a favourite sport, you can get them memorabilia, or something signed by their favourite player. Maybe a jersey or a shirt with their favourite team and their surname on it. If they like jewellery get them a locket with a picture of you inside and an engraved date that’s important for you. You can also do:
- Calendars;
- Notebooks;
- Wine glasses;
- Wall art;
- Photo frames;
- Cushion covers;
- Aprons;
- Cutting boards;
- Doormats;
- Puzzles.
A Relaxing Colouring Book
If your buddy is feeling a bit stressed and you want to help them, buying them an adult colouring book is a good idea. Colouring books have the power to relax the brain, induce a meditative state, improve sleep, reduce anxiety and relieve stress.
There are so many themes you can choose from, motivational, swear words, random people drawings, funny animals, cute kittens and much more. Get them some art supplies like crayons, markers, watercolours, acrylics or whatever else is their preference.
Australian Flow 