Christmas Gifts for Best Friend, Plus the Etiquette Nobody Explains
By the Gift DeskUpdated 18 hand-picked ideas
The ideas at a glance
The short answer
A gift you’ll both get to enjoy lands best with a best friend: matching Christmas pajamas, a Philips sunrise alarm clock for the dark weeks, or a national parks passport kit that becomes next year’s plan, with popcorn gift sets under $25 for the whole group.
Christmas gifts between friends are optional in a way family gifts aren’t, which somehow makes them more stressful. Are you exchanging this year? Did they already buy you something? Is the friend group doing Secret Santa, and if so, do the two of you still swap on the side? Friendships rarely come with rules, and December is when the lack of them shows.
So we’ve started with the etiquette, briefly, and then the gifts: things to bring to a friend’s holiday get-together, matching gifts for the two of you, cozy picks for the darkest weeks of the year, a run of cheap gifts for when you’re buying for the whole group, and gifts that are really a plan for the year ahead.
Our main gifts for best friend guide covers the rest of the year. For a friend-group exchange with a fixed budget, the Secret Santa gifts list is more useful, and stocking stuffer gifts has plenty of small extras.
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A few December reminders
Text before you shop. "Are we doing gifts?" is a perfectly normal question between friends.
Hand gifts over before everyone leaves town. A package mailed on the 22nd can sit in a sorting center until January.
If they celebrate a different holiday, or none at all, a New Year’s gift sidesteps the question entirely.
The card can carry more than the present. A line about your favorite moment together this year costs nothing.
If you’re stuck, tell our gift finder about your friend and your budget, and you’ll get a shortlist in seconds.
Friends at Christmas: common questions
Should I get my best friend a Christmas gift?
Only if you both want to. Plenty of close friends skip presents and go out for dinner instead. If you’re not sure, ask; most people appreciate the question more than a surprise they then have to match.
What’s a good Christmas gift for a best friend on a budget?
Hot cocoa spoons, an amaryllis bulb, matching ornaments or friendship bracelets all come in under $25. A small gift with a long, specific card is often the one people keep.
What can I give a best friend who doesn’t celebrate Christmas?
Give a New Year’s gift instead, or a winter gift with no holiday theme at all: a heated throw, a book subscription or a plan for a trip together. Skip the Santa wrapping paper.
When should I give my best friend their Christmas gift?
Before either of you leaves for the holidays. A December dinner or a Friendsmas night gives you a natural moment, and it means they open it with you rather than alone.
And if the two of you decide to skip presents this year, that’s a perfectly good outcome. Book a dinner in the strange week between Christmas and New Year’s, when family obligations have thinned out and everyone is a little restless, and make that the tradition instead. Friends who have been close for a long time often find that the night out becomes the part of the season they look forward to most, and nobody has to worry about matching anyone’s budget.
