Gift Guide: For the Stressed Out Grad Student in Your Life

I love gift guides. Inevitably, I find something that I never even knew existed. And, it's great for drumming up unique ideas for hard-to-shop for friends and family (ahem, I'm looking at you Mr. C).  Some of my favorites are from A Cup of Joe. I never knew I needed a bayleaf wreath until I saw one on her blog.  (I mean seriously, once it drys you can use the leaves for cooking. HOW AWESOME IS THAT?!?!?!?) 

So, in honor of the holiday season, here is the first official Cubicle Catwalk Gift Guide . . . for that special, stressed-out, neurotic grad student in your life:

GiftGuide1 by kpcullen featuring Jonathan Adler

1. A Crockpot,because she/he never has time to cook anymore and can't afford constant takeout. It's even better when it has an awesome design

2. An Everlane Backpack, because if you have to carry a backpack so that you don't permanently injure yourself, it might as well be one as adorably simple as this one.  

3. A Fun Charging Dock. She'll be less tempted to throw her phone across the room when her alarm goes off if it's sitting in something like this. (I know, because I have this one already and it's the only thing that protects my iphone from my early morning wrath) 

4. Urban Decay, Naked 3 Palette. You can't go wrong with the season's most coveted eye shadow palette. 

5. Coasters. Because even cheap wine can stain an ikea coffee table. 

6 and 7. Fun notebooks and pens. Ok, maybe I'm a little strange on this front, but I care alot about my paper and pens. Probably too much. My favorite notebooks are from Russel + Hazel and, don't mock till you try it, but it's really different writing on nice paper. It takes some of the pain out of doing accounting homework.

8. Beverage holders. Because staying hydrated and caffeinated are essential to surviving the day.  This one from Kate Spade is adorable (and only $18) and I love the CamelBak water bottles because the straw keeps you liquids from spilling out even if you knock it over. 

9. A quirky throw pillow. Just because their salary has taken a serious dive and they've downsized into an apartment the size of a postage stamp doesn't mean your grad student doesn't want their place to feel like home. Something like this will help brighten even the dingiest of NY rooms. On the plus side, it gives them something to hug in terror in case they sight one of the asian super roaches that are supposedly appearing in NYC. 

Of course . . . if none of these stand out to you, wine is always a good choice too.