The holiday season offers a sojourn for college students: they get a month off from school to sleep for 10 hours a day and watch reruns on MTV and BET. Before relaxing, however, many tackle the task of shopping for the holidays, which can be stressful and time consuming. Nevertheless, Tufts students have made their holiday shopping lists and have begun their search for gifts.
With so many options of what gifts to buy for family and friends, and where to shop, what do students do? "Talbots is [great]," sophomore Sal Greenwald said. "I shop there for my parents."
"I shop for my parents at Brookstone," added Greenwald's roommate Meg Fitzgerald, also a sophomore.
Greenwald admits to spending an average of $40 on her parents over the holidays. "This year, I got my dad some Egg Nog shampoo for $20," she said.
Freshman Amanda Richardson also gave one of her parents a unique gift. "I'm buying my mom dance lessons for 10 weeks - it'll cost $80," she said.
Shopping for parents can be difficult, said senior John Dulac. "My mom, she's so hard to shop for ... but I'll probably buy her some jewelry from Michael Good," Dulac said.
While some students are heading off to the malls, others are shopping for gifts on campus, including at the Tufts bookstore, where students frequently purchase sweatshirts and other Tufts memorabilia for family members.
Shopping at the bookstore is popular because it's right on campus, and is therefore convenient for students who are busy preparing for exams and other final assessments.
For some, however, it's popular for other reasons. "I plan on getting people plenty of gifts from the bookstore and charging it to the bursar," sophomore Melissa Peters said.
Secret Santa and care packages are two holiday gift-giving traditions that are still common. "I still do Secret Santa with my friends - we have a $10 budget for each gift," freshman Laura Uwakwe said. "I make it creative. I create my own holiday cards and send them with care packages."
Fitzgerald also participates in a Secret Santa exchange with her friends. "It's easier to do this because I only have to get one person a gift - I'll spend, like, $30," she said.
Shopping for siblings and friends seems easier for students than shopping for parents. "It's fun to buy for my sister because she's 13," Fitzgerald said. "I buy her clothes. I go to Abercrombie and Fitch because it's hip. With younger siblings, anything you buy them is cool to them because you're older."
The same goes for shopping for siblings in the same age group. "My sister's 21, and I love shopping for her," Greenwald said. "I bought her lingerie at Victoria's Secret, and I spent $40."
Clothing and accessories seem to be popular gifts. "I got my sister a shirt, scarf and a pair of socks from Ralph Lauren, which cost me $100," Dulac said.
All students interviewed agreed that they only buy gifts for friends and send cards to acquaintances.
So when do students start their shopping?
"When the turkey's off my plate, my ass is off to the mall!" said an enthusiastic Greenwald. "I try to beat the crowd to get the best sales."
Not all students are early-bird shoppers. "I'm a last minute kind of girl," Fitzgerald said. For late December shoppers like Fitzgerald, there are still numerous options for gift ideas for women and men.
When shopping for clothing and accessories for women, Ugg boots, ballet flats, chandelier earrings, and wristlets are possible choices. For men, there's an array of popular video games, including "The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King" and "Tony Hawk's Underground," both of which are available for Playstation 2, Xbox, Game Boy Advance and GameCube. For football fans, Madden NFL 2005 for Xbox is another popular gift.
In men's fashion, the signature Usher look of a dress shirt and blazer is big fashion trend. Peters loves this look, and said that she's getting her boyfriend a blazer. Warm and comfortable clothing is also a popular fashion trend - Greenwald has opted to get her boyfriend a fleece.
