Writers love writing-related gifts. If you’re stumped for ideas, try out these gift ideas – your favorite writer will thank you.
Using the Gift Guide
I have included links and a highly unscientific price rating for each item ($ to $$$$), but they’re really just suggestions. You can adjust to your writer’s taste and your budget.
Most items come in a range of prices: A sampling of tea, for instance, could be as humble as a box off the shelf of your local big-box store or as fancy as an imported sampling of premium tea in a wooden display case.
I suggest springing for the luxury version of less-expensive items: a fair trade, single-origin chocolate bar is just a few bucks more than the grocery check-out version, but it feels decadent.
Food and Drinks Gifts
Food and drinks gifts hit that sweet spot of being both budget-friendly and truly appreciated. You really can’t go wrong here.
Caffeinated beverages
If you hang out with writers, you will soon learn that we love our caffeinated beverages.
Most writers don’t earn a full-time income from writing and may take many years to “make it.” We write early in the morning or late in the evening and subsist on caffeine. Liquid motivation can go a long way to making the writerly lifestyle work around full-time employment and other life demands.
Or maybe there’s just something about a steaming cup of coffee that’s downright magical.
In any case, find out the preferred caffeinated beverage of your writer and go to town. Options include:
- $ A sampling of teas
- $ A bag of coffee
- $ to $$$ Gift card to a coffee shop or tea house
- $$ to $$$ Membership is a tea subscription box or coffee subscription box
Things to put caffeinated beverages into/make them with
Again, writers like caffeinated beverages. So why not give them the gift of making a swanky cuppa at home. Or a fancy mug to hold that steaming cup of inspiration.
Consider:
- $ Writerly mug
- $$ Teapot to inspire them
- $$ to $$$ Coffee bean grinder for the coffee snob. (Ahem.)
- $$$ Swanky coffee pot or electric kettle
- $$$$ Espresso machine
Comfort foods/drinks
Aside from caffeinated beverages, comfort foods and drinks are also a good bet.
The path to success is paved with rejection and angst. Chocolate won’t get you a book deal, but it can ease the pain of rejection a little. Or homemade strawberry and balsamic vinegar gelato. (Which I will definitely be making soon.)
Which is why, in addition to caffeinated beverages, writers are fond of our comfort foods. Ferret out the comfort food of choice for your writer and then get creative. Common choices include:
- $ Luxury Chocolate Bar (that won’t break the bank)
- $ Ice cream
- $ to $$$ Wine
- $$ to $$$ Chocolate subscription box
Stationary Gifts
Even us writers that do our writing on a computer, still love the old-fashioned tools of the trade like notebooks and pens. Note that owning and using these things are two different hobbies.
A Fancy Pen (or two)
A good pen is a wonderful thing. Like a bottle of wine, I find the price bump from “mediocre” to “good” is not too bad ($). But you can easily spend upwards of “that could have been a mortgage payment” ($$$$).
Here are pens I currently use and love:
- $ Pentel Energel with metal body – rollerball with gel ink. Toss in some ink refills, too.
- $ Pilot Metropolitan Fountain pen – great introductory fountain pen that will take ink cartridges or can be be filled with ink.
- $$ TWSBI Diamond 580 Fountain pen My favorite fountain pen. It’s hard not to feel like a writer while using this pen.
If your writer is already a fountain pen lover, check out these pen recommendations.
I suggest buying ink to go along with fountain pens. An ink sampler is a fun way to try out different inks.
Notebook or Journal
A nice notebook pairs well with those new pens you’re buying.
If your favorite writer has not yet discovered the joys of Bullet Journaling, they will. Trust me. I give it a year or until they open an Instagram account, whichever comes first. Dotted notebooks are better than lined for bullet journaling – all of these come in both options.
- $ Moleskine Notebooks – A classic.
- $ Leuchtturm – Hard to spell, easy to write in. Great for fountain pens.
- $ to $$$ Or go bespoke on Etsy.
Books
I left this to last because it seems…. obvious….?
Every writer is also a reader. Period. And most of us could use help in financing our book addiction. If you don’t have a book in mind, try one of these suggestions:
- $ One of these writing books
- $ One of these kidlit books
- $ to $$$ Gift card to your nearest indie bookstore
- $ to $$$ Payment of library fines. (No idea how this would work but boy would it be nice.)
- $$ An e-reader. I enjoy my Kindle, but I’m upgrading to another e-reader soon so I can support Indie Bookstores.
The ultimate (and free) gift for any writer
Whatever you’re purchasing for your writer, there’s one thing you absolutely MUST give them: your support.
It’s simple. It’s free. But it’s the one thing most writers can’t do without.
Writing can be a lonely endeavor. It takes persistence and years of dedication. Let your writer know you support them.
Support can come in many forms:
- understanding that your friend may need to stay in and write rather than hit the town with you
- knowing that it’s a long process and that lack of tangible progress (like a book on Amazon) is not a sign of failure
- gifting them with the time to write
- realizing that this is a commitment and a passion, not a hobby
However you show it, shower your writer with support and they will thank you every time.