Everly Jazi | Hatchet Staff Writer
We get it: Between cramming for finals, working out the logistics of graduation and – let’s face it – binge watching “Game of Thrones” with your roommate’s HBO password, finding gifts for your senior friends was the last thing on your mind last week. But this list offers up some ideas for last-minute – but still thoughtful – presents.
“Salad Days” – Mac DeMarco
$6.99, iTunes
“Salad Days,” released this year, is an album of jazzy instrumentals and surf-inspired grooves. The record is made for relaxing, since it’s named after a phrase that means “the young, innocent and untroubled years.” And, naturally, friends will remember you every time they hear a track by Canadian musician Mac DeMarco. Tell them to listen on their way to work or when they unwind after a long day.
Bonus points: Treat them to Mac DeMarco concert tickets. He will play at the 9:30 Club on July 19. Tickets are $15.
Gym membership
$10/month, Planet Fitness
It’s easy to take the Lerner Health and Wellness Center for granted. For recent graduates, gym memberships that cost between $50 and $100 a month are an upsetting reality. Make sure your graduating friends know you care about their well-being and help them ease stress with a membership to a local gym. It’s easy to sign them up online. They will like having a place to lose extra pounds and get toned.
Bonus points: Splurge on a membership with extra benefits, like a sauna or rock-climbing facilities. You can pay $19.99 a month at Planet Fitness to use massage chairs. At a more upscale fitness center like The Sports Club, $4,300 a year will give you access to 100,000 square feet of amenities like a roof deck, more than 100 weekly fitness classes and tastings of gourmet local foods.
Houseplant
$9.99 Victory roses, Whole Foods
Or apartment plant. Or closet plant. Recent graduates can add some green décor to their new places. Consider buying one of the best air-filtering houseplants, like bamboo palms, chrysanthemums or peace lilies, to boost indoor air quality. In a time crunch, you can get a few from Whole Foods’ low-price selection.
Bonus points: Cacti generally require minimal maintenance.
“The Beats” by Larry Fink
$50, powerHouse Books
This new black-and-white photography book by Larry Fink is sure to prompt feelings of 1950s disillusionment. Shots of beatniks and dark, but beautiful, working-class men and women in Greenwich Village line the pages. Give this counter-culture piece to your friends who are interested in art. The book is back-ordered on Brooklyn-based publisher powerHouse Books’ website, but you can order the book through a third-party distributor like Amazon.
Bonus points: Order a $35 build-it-yourself film camera with interchangeable lenses.
Hammock Pack
$25/month, Hammock Pack
Dubbed the “doorstep getaway,” this subscription lets you enjoy products from small businesses across the nation without actually shelling out the money to go on a road trip. Each box arrives in the middle of the month. The May box is Florida-themed, packed with summer items. Previous boxes contained cookies, lip balm, candles and headbands.
Bonus points: Get a full-year subscription for your friends or find a company that caters to their interests. For the resident fashionista, try a monthly beauty box like Glossybox ($21 per month). The Fancy option offers celebrity-curated boxes with partners like Snoop Dogg, T-Pain, Coco Rocha and Kelly Rowland ($39 per month).
