AACC students want everything ranging from guitars to tattoos to model cars and video games for Christmas. 

Second-year studio arts student Finch Merryman said sentiment is an important factor in gift-giving, and the best present is “something that somebody has sort of thought about, and like, sort of considered [for] who I am as a person.”

“Maybe they, at some point in the year, saw something in a shop and thought of me,” Merryman said. “I really appreciate those kinds of gifts. … I think it’s easy to shop for people that you know the best.”

First-year business administration transfer student Tristan Wortz agreed. 

“The more creative the better,” Wortz said. “Like you know how when AirPods first came out, everyone that Christmas had AirPods? [I’d rather something] that’s not, like, super original but … just creative and neat.”

Some students said they make sure to get their Christmas shopping done early. 

“I actually just finished Christmas shopping for my family,” first-year computer information systems student TJ Majors said. 

Second-year early childhood education student Maya Cruz said she has most of her shopping done because of her job.

“I just work at a clothing store,” Cruz said, “and so I went ahead and used my discount and got as much as I could out of the way.”

Some students shared their thoughts on what gift-giving mistakes to avoid. 

Cruz said a common mistake is gifting “jewelry [because] people think that as long as you get some jewelry, it’s got to be good. And that’s not always the case. Sometimes it’s just ugly. And sometimes people just don’t want that. Just because it’s expensive doesn’t mean it’s a good gift.”

Merryman has a similar view. 

“I feel like a lot of people are like, ‘Oh, yeah, you can’t go wrong with socks,’” Merryman said. “At a certain point, you just end up owning so many because there’s so many people who just give out socks all the time for Christmas.”

Many students said they prefer gaming-related gifts. 

“Honestly, I’m really big into gaming,” Majors said. “So anything gaming related really works for me, to be honest.”

Second-year graphic and web design student Mason Butler said he “mostly just got video games off Steam for my friends,” adding that gift cards are an ideal gift to buy “whatever I want, whenever I feel like it.”

First-year transfer studies student Christian Gionis said his ideal gift “would probably just be clothes or money. Simple.”

First-year homeland security student Jack Ryan said he prefers shopping for gifts over the internet compared with brick and mortar.

“Definitely, definitely online,” Ryan said. “It’s just more convenient.”