practical gifts that show you care, despite putting in zero effort to speak all year
Chapstick.
Spring for a bougie kind that she will immediately lose but won’t feel guilty about because she didn’t buy it. Bonus: let me know if you find a kind that doesn’t melt in your winter coat’s pocket over the summer.
Moisturizer.
There is nothing more mundane than the simple fact that everyone has dry skin in the winter. Let her know you care by giving her something she can put in a purse she rarely uses and promptly forget about for the next four months.
Contact solution.
I have never met a woman who wasn’t wearing contacts.
Printer ink.
Printer ink is more precious than diamonds. Help a sister out the next time she needs to send a signature page. (If you don’t know her printer situation, are you even related?)
Contact cases.
They’re “dirty after thirty,” which is what my optometrist tells me about contact cases (and what society tells me about my body).
Bandaids.
Chances are you only realize you don’t have them when you need them. Most of us are walking around holding a tissue to our open wounds, waiting for our anemic blood to clot. Help us save time. Buy us bandages. Bonus: if you really care, throw in some name-brand Neosporin.
Nice detergent.
I always touch the nice detergent at Target and think, maybe next job, you’ll be in my pay grade, but it never is.
Bleach sponge pads.
These are great. They’re so great that I cut them into quarters so as to save them, making sure my bathroom is only a quarter as clean as it could be.
Reusable straws.
Save the earth. Just kidding, it’s probably too late for us.
Tape.
The only time I buy tape is when the December holidays are fast approaching. And, yet, it is not the only time I use tape.
***BONUS***
Stamps.