Professors occupy a strange gift-giving territory. Too personal feels like you're trying to manage them. Too generic feels like you didn't try. The standard moves — a mug, a gift card, anything with an apple on it — are fine and forgotten by the end of the week. The gifts that actually land are the ones that reference who they are outside the classroom. They're a person who thinks hard about something specific and probably has very strong opinions about at least three things. Meeting them there, even briefly, is what makes a gift memorable.
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These are things that work for the thinker, the reader, the person who spends a lot of time with ideas — which describes most professors pretty accurately.
Quality Fountain Pen — For Someone Who Still Writes Things Down
Under $50See Price →Premium Hardcover Notebook
Under $25See Price →Insulated Tumbler — Office Hours Coffee That Stays Hot
Under $40See Price →Specialty Coffee — Better Than the Department Pot
Under $35See Price →A Book Adjacent to Their Field — The One They Haven't Gotten To
Under $30See Price →Low-Maintenance Desk Plant
Under $25See Price →Luxury Candle — For the Home Office
Under $40See Price →Wireless Charging Pad — Cleaner Desk
Under $35See Price →A Great Book Completely Outside Their Discipline
Under $20See Price →If you know enough about them to answer a few questions about their personality and what they're into, the quiz can build something more specific. Worth trying when you want it to land.
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