Dear Tuffy Luv,

What do I get my new guy for Christmas? We’ve been dating for a month and a half. I don’t want to come on too strong but I also don’t want to look cheap. Thanks!

Gifter

Dear Gifter,

Okay, I love it!

You’re totally right. You don’t want to come off as a creepster. So no, like, gold watches or new Adidas or helicopters or something. But you’re also right you don’t want to look disinterested by getting him, like, a plastic piece of poop. So walk that line!! Here are some guidelines lil’ ol’ Tuffy done thought up:

1. Keep it around $30. That’s the right amount at this stage. It’s thoughtful but not over the top.

2. Keep it personal. Think about something he told you he liked. Loves a sports team? Get him a team jersey. Extra points if you can get a signed ball. Does he like hiking? Get him a new backpack. He will be so thrilled you were listening (and you better be listening!!) and that you went out of your way to get him something he’d really love.

3. No personal hygiene products. Magazines tell you he’ll love it. Magazines lie. He wants something that’s fun. He’ll brush his teeth after the New Year.

4. Tickets are generally good. Tix to an event that HE is interested in (very important that HE is interested in the event!!!) that you can get to together is a totally sweet surprise. For the ticket thing, you can go a little over $30 if you need to, since you’ll be sharing in the gift. HOWEVER!!! Do NOT get anything too far in advance — too clingy! The event should be within the next few weeks from when he receives the gift.

5. Be genuine. Get him something because you WANT to. If you find getting him a good, personal gift to be too much of a chore, maybe it’s time to break the floop up and find someone you really care about.

Happy holidays!

Hearts & Skulls,

Tuffy Luv

Question?! Answer: Ask Tuffy Luv.

We college kids are absolute masters when it comes to stretching the dollar—we share textbooks, swap party outfits, take rolls of toilet paper from public bathrooms and chug as much beer as we can when playing pong at other people’s apartments. So when we give gifts this holiday season, we’re definitely making sure we’re getting as much bang as we can for every single one of our bucks.

Which is why I figure that this year, we should give gifts that also give back to others around the world. If you’re gonna buy something for someone, why not buy the something that also helps someone else? It’s basically multitasking—you’re crossing people off your Christmas list and making a positive difference. And if you shop online, you can do it all without even getting out of bed.

initiating the gallery...

What are some other gift ideas that also give back?

Ashley is a UC San Diego grad who is holding on way too tightly to a potential career in magazines and goes to Vegas all too often. She’s fascinated with celebrities and strawberry beer and doubles as a pathological texter/emailer/blogger. Feed the addiction with tweets @cashleelee. Thanks in advance.

The holiday seasons are all about eating too many dips, spending way too much money on frenemy gifts, and watching Elf on repeat. This year we’re prepared to take the stress and the frustration out of holiday gift giving by giving you the ultimate gift guides to buying the perfect presents for your favorite people (and we’re splitting into 3 different price ranges so you can choose the gift based on how much you actually like the person!). So set this series as your favorite because all week we’re bringing you the best.

Parents are notoriously difficult to shop for. I mean, how do you do justice to the people who brought you into this world and then continued to give you everything? A homemade “free back massage” isn’t going to cut it, ladies. Luckily, our guide will help you show the love and gratitude with gifts that are appropriate, thoughtful, original and, most importantly, wallet friendly.

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Need more ideas? Come back all week for ideas to give everyone on your list (the BFFs, the boyfriend, the party girls in your life…) this year!

But they still deserve something this holiday, right?

Let me take the guess-work out of buying for the environmentalist in your life, with a few eco-friendly gifts that even Captain Planet could love.

But first, a few tips:

Tip #1: Look for products with sustainable materials and processes.  Items made from recycled materials (there are tons of these on Etsy!) are very environmentally friendly, as well as unique!
Tip #2: Consider where the product was made.  Items made in your area require less fuel to reach store shelves, and therefore have a smaller impact.  It’s also good to know whether an item is fair trade.
Tip #3: Redefine what constitutes a gift and give to a charity in your recipient’s name.  Use Charity Navigator to make a donation to an environmental organization your tree hugger supports.
Tip #4: Think about how you’re wrapping the gift.  Gift bags can be reused, or you can reuse newspaper for a free way to wrap your present.

And now for some fun gifts!

Items Under $15

Zak! Confetti Dinnerware - Zak! dinnerware is made of recycled melamine. For $15 you could buy a couple dishes that your tree hugger could use on take-out night instead of those harmful paper plates
Little Concrete Planter with Airplant – A perfect addition for your tree hugger’s home, even if they inhabit a tiny dorm room!
Eco Recycled Card Holder – A card holder for your ecoholic’s bus pass or library card made from a recycled billboard banner

Items Under $30

Filtered Stainless-Steel Water Bottle – This water bottle not only reduces the amount of plastic bottles being tossed, but it also has a filter built in! Who needs bottled water now?
Greensburg DVD Set – Co-produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, this series follows the ‘green’ rebuilding of Greensburg, Kansas following a devastating tornado. It’s fascinating!
Burt’s Bees Gift Set – Natural beauty products to pamper your little tree hugger without harming Mother Earth.

Items Under $50

Love to Ride Set – Perfect for your bike-riding environmentalist.  It has accessories made from recycled bike parts.
Butter Nail Polish Pack – Your ecoholic can still look good with natural nail products.
Peeled Snacks – Nourish your favorite tree hugger with a gift tin full of tasty organic treats

Items Under $75

Surge for iPhone Case – This device is seriously cool.  It is a hybrid solar charger, meaning it can charge your techie-tree-hugger’s iPhone in sunlight.  A green-addition to this energy saving gift?  A green iPhone app.

Garden Stacker - This indoor herb garden is perfect for the tree hugger that loves to cook.  Bonus: there are different gardens at various price points.

Yum!

I don’t know about you, but this year I’m in serious money-saving mode.  As much as I’d love to go buy my biffies matching pairs of Alexander McQueen’s 10-inch Alien Heels (if you don’t know what these are, you obviously haven’t seen Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance video), college girls don’t have tons of moolah to buy the most fabulous gifts out there.

Besides, gifts are most meaningful when they require time and thought. And they’re even better when people know that you put blood, sweat and tears (and maybe even a little pee pee if looking through old pictures really makes you laugh) into them.

So if you’ve got tons of people to give to but not tons of money to do it, try some of these DIY gifts on for size. They’ll work for absolutely everyone on your list and you won’t have to drop serious cash or serious elbows at your neighborhood holiday sale.

1. Photo Collages
Photo collages are meaningful gifts that can be given to anyone – family, friends, boyfriends.  Now, I don’t mean just some poster with photos erratically hacked with cheap scissors and doused in Elmer’s glue. Get a cigar box and some Mod-Podge (a specific glue excellent for collages) from a craft store, plan the arrangements of photos before you start cutting, and use a paintbrush to glue them down. Then paint a thin layer of Mod-Podge on top of the pictures,  let it dry and – Voila! – you’ve got a super cute jewelry box full of your favorite pics and memories. You can even get some cute puff paint and embellish.  Cheap, cute, and sure to impress! (This also works with frames, mirrors, boxes, or anything else that you’d wanna personalize!)

Not an artsy fartsy? Don’t worry! You can do it all online, too!

2. Cookie Mix in a Jar
If you’re known for your cookies (or even if you’re only known for tossing them…) this is a really great gift that people can’t help but love. Even better: it’s something you can make in huge batches and keep on tap all season in case you need a quick gift.

It’s cookies. Big, delicious cookies.

All you need is a jar (like for jelly) and some simple ingredients. Decorate the jar with ribbon, stickers, etc., then in the jar, layer 2 cups flour, ½ teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon baking powder, a dash of salt, 1.25 cups granulated sugar, and 1 cup of chocolate chips. (You can throw in other fun ingredients like candy or nuts, too.) On a piece of paper, write the following directions: mix this up with 1 egg and 1 teaspoon vanilla! Shape into balls the size of walnuts, place on lightly greased baking sheets about two inches apart. Bake in a preheated 375° oven for 10 to 12 minutes. Enjoy! Yum.

Tie the paper onto the jar with a ribbon, throw in a box of Celestial Seasoning’s Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride Tea and your giftee will want to marry you.

3. Bath Salts
Since you already have cute jars from making your adorable cookie mixes, why not make some bath salts, too? These are great for the family ladies in your life – mom, grandma, aunt – because no sane college girl would ever lay her body in those nasty dorm bathtubs. And bath salts encourage people to take time out to relax – something your mama definitely deserves! Plus, you don’t need much to make something totally impressive.

Get some Epsom Salt (enough to fill your jars), some food coloring, and your favorite perfume (or one of those perfumes you stare at but never actually put on…I, for one, have an obscene amount of perfume stockpiled in my bathroom and I KNOW I will never get through them all). Just mix the Epsom salt in a huge bowl with the food coloring and the perfume until the color is even, and spread the mix on a sheet of wax paper to dry. Once it’s dry, put it in the jar and wrap it up! Easy, right?

You can use the salt right away, but it’s even better if you let it sit for a week or two.

These gifts are not only super easy and cheap, but they show thoughtfulness and love. And that’s much better than any gift you can buy… except maybe for those Alexander McQueen Alien Shoes. Those are still pretty rad.

Got something awesome everyone needs to know about? Email your “The Know” ideas to Jill@collegecandy.com and I’ll pass them along to everyone right here, right now.

This time of year brings two things to mind:

1. Gifts you need to get for everyone on your list (and, uh gifts you found for yourself while shopping for said gifts)
2. Show-stopping outfits to wear to holiday parties, high school reunions, or your cousin’s bar-mitzvah, which his parents just happened to plan on January 2nd. In another state. And your parents are making you miss NYE to go.

Well luckily for you, this week’s The Know hits both of those must-gets on your to-get list.

Photovisi:
There is really no one on this earth who wouldn’t love this gift.  Get it for your roommate and fill it with pics from that time you decided to turn your bed into a makeshift beer pong table. Get one for your mom and fill it with black and white photos from treasured family moments through the years (and score major Favorite Child points). Get it for that artsty friend of yours and fill it with her best photographs she’s taken (and no, I don’t mean that awesome shot she got of you doing a keg-stand). You can choose any template you want, load in the pics and order. My friend got me one of these filled with my favorite college memories for my birthday a few years back and it’s my most prized possession. Everyone needs one.

Wear Today Gone Tomorrow:
Don’t you hate it when you spend your time procrastinating that giant term paper and waste hours flipping through the pages of those fashion mags day dreaming about how nice it would be to be able to wear that designer piece to your big bash next week? How UNFAIR that Lindsay Lohan and Anna Wintour get all the insider perks! Here you are slaving away on a research paper about things that MATTER. What does LaLohan do besides spray tan?

Well, here’s the secret: celebs have been borrowing these amazing fashion pieces for their events for years.  And now we can, too. A former Lucky Magazine fashion editor has realized us regular girls love designer gowns just as much as the celebs (duh), so she’s renting them out to us. Now you can borrow a beautiful designer dress for a fraction of its retail price, risk-free. And membership is F-R-E-E. Just search (the online closet is massive!), click, order, wear, get tons of compliments (don’t forget the standard hand-on-hip red carpet skinny arm), return, repeat and still have money for dinner.

Oh, and unlike Rent The Runway (which, by the way, was created after WTGT!) that only carries dresses in sizes 0-8, this rental shop carries up to a size 14. Cheap designer gowns for all! Now that is something worth knowing about.

Give to those who need it most. And who are really cute.

With the holidays comin’ round the bend, I’m sure most of us are starting to think of gifts both for ourselves and for others.  And although receiving is arguably the most enjoyable part of the gift giving tradition, we must not forget others that need our help during this time.  Giving money or volunteering with any charity is awesome regardless of its cause, but I am an advocate of environmentally-geared charities.  Here are some of the top causes and their most reliable charities to get you in the giving mood this holiday season.

Forest Preservation: Because what would the holidays be like without trees covered in snow (or twinkle lights, if you hail from California as well)?  Forests form important ecosystems for many species of wildlife and plants.  Plus, trees are a great source of oxygen and an effective method of carbon sequestration which can lower greenhouse gas levels in the air.  Some of the top rated charities in this arena are: American Forests, The Pachamama Alliance, and Trees, Water, and People (TWP).

Ocean Protection:  The ocean is the world’s last frontier.  There are thousands of species that we do not fully understand or even know about yet.  The ocean exemplifies diversity in an ecosystem and is very essential to our life on earth.  Plus, dolphins are just adorable.  Help protect them and their habitat by donating to one of these charities: Oceana, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, The Surfrider Foundation, and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS).

Endangered Species:  Biodiversity is key to the survival of our planet.  Each animal serves a crucial role in its respective ecosystem by being both predator and prey for another animal.  For some reason that I just don’t get, the most endangered species are probably the cutest ones as well.  Pandas, polar bears, jaguars, sea otters, pygmy rabbits, and foxes are all either threatened or endangered species.  Protect our furry friends by donating to The World Wildlife Fund, Fauna and Flora International, or the Africa Wildlife Foundation (AWF).

Renewable Energy:  If you don’t know by now that sustainable energy is important, then you really haven’t been reading my articles.  For those of you who haven’t done your homework (tsk tsk), let me drive the point home.  Renewable energy diminishes the amount of oil that we use, reducing air pollution, habitat destruction, and economic dependency on other nations.  Most of us don’t have the power to throw a bunch of solar panels on our roof, but we can compensate by funding charities that do such as the Environmental and Energy Institute, Union of Concerned Scientists and Global Green USA.

Charity donations can be a great gift idea for one of those people that has everything.  Instead of buying something they’ll probably just end up throwing away, make a donation in their name.  Also keep in mind that these charities are just suggestions; it doesn’t mean that every other one is bad.  If you  have a particular charity in mind, go to www.charitynavigator.org first to make sure that your money’s going to where they say it’s going.  Happy gift giving!

Finals week drained me of a lot – my last pint of Cherry Garcia, my final cup of Folger’s, my sanity – plus the extra cash I had stashed in my wallet all semester. Cash that was supposed to help buy gifts for well, everybody, on my holiday gift list.

But it’s the holidays and sometimes magical things happen. So I’d like to extend a big THANK YOU! to the Holiday gods for sending this little gem my way: SwapStyle.com. It reminds me of my junior high days when my BFFs would bring over extra clothes for me to model and “borrow.” We all knew that “borrowing,” however, actually meant my friend would never see her A&F tee again. And she was cool with it, because she only brought it over because it made her look fat.

Yeah, so it’s just like that only on a much larger scale. Thanks to the information superhighway you can “borrow” clothes from women from all over the globe! That means you’re not limited to extra large, ratty Mickey Mouse T’s and super-flare Mudd Jeans from your somewhat-frumpy best friend’s wardrobe. Instead you can “borrow” Coach bags, Forever 21 dresses and MAC eyeshadows.

Plus, clothes-swapping is super environmentally friendly (you are reusing other people’s things instead of wasting new materials!) and the site is easy to use. Did I mention it’ s free to sign up?

Check it out here.

And, um, you only have a week left! Let us help:

Tips before you buy

-If you can make something your parents will appreciate, go for it. If you’re an art student, consider making a one-of-a-kind piece for your parents; it’s cheap and shows you are putting your education to good use.

-Before you go shopping, set a budget. Decide how much you want to spend on each parent and stick to it. Chances are your budget isn’t going to be very high, so if you want to splurge a bit, consider combining resources with your siblings. Not only will you have more money to work with, but your parents will appreciate that you are mature enough to cooperate.

-If your parents are together, consider buying one gift for both them. It can be something they can enjoy together, and you can either save money or get a more meaningful gift.

Gifts for both parents

1. Family Pictures — If you have siblings, go to the nearest Walmart or Sears photo studio and get group pictures done. Choose the nicest (as a group), get a package that is within your budget and go buy a nice frame. Not only will your parents have a nice picture of the group of you, but they will have a set of pictures for next years Christmas cards, without nagging you.

2. Art Replicas – If your parents aren’t avid art collectors, consider buying them a replica piece. Art gallery gift shops often have framed or plaque-mounted prints of famous art pieces that aren’t too expensive.

3. Date night — Most parents don’t take the time to go out on dates. Why not buy a gift certificate to a restaurant or coupons for a movie? An added bonus would be to babysit any younger siblings you might have.

Gifts for Mom

1. Bath Products that give back — Bath products are always a nice gift to let Mom know you want her to unwind, but what about a gift that also gives back? Philosophy has select products that donate 100% of net proceeds to charity.

2. Fun accessories – If your mom is anything like mine, she doesn’t often treat herself to new things. Mom’s are often tricky to buy clothes for, so fun accessories, such as a scarf or a funky piece of jewelry, are the way to go.Find something that you know would look great on her, but she might not pick out for herself. An added bonus is to buy something from Etsy, or from a local artisan; the piece will be more unique.

3. Bonding Activity — When you’re busy with school, you don’t always get the chance to spend some quality time with Mama. Why not plan a fun activity while you’re at home? Or if there’s an upcoming play or concert in your area that you both would enjoy, buy some tickets for you and your her. Spending time with her daughter is priceless (and you know she can’t re-gift.)

4. Books — A book is always a good choice for Mom. You could buy her a bestseller she would enjoy, or an instructional book to give her tips to treat herself. Just steer clear of anything that may make her feel bad, like self-help or diet books. Trust me.

Gifts for Dad

1. Magazine subscription — find a magazine your dad will enjoy and sign him up for a subscription. The gift gives as many times over as issues in the year. Plus, your dad will think of you each time it comes in the mail. Awwww.

2. Power Monitor – This device is seriously cool. It will allow Dad to track how much energy things in your house consume. It’s an environmentally-friendly gift, and in the current economic state it will help save money.

3. Book Light – If your dad travels a lot, or likes to read before bed, a book light is a great gift. An individual light means it will be easier on Pop’s eyes, and he won’t disturb your mom if he’s up reading later.

4. DVD Season — If your dad is too busy to watch TV, or falls asleep halfway through a show, why not buy him a season of a show you know he’d enjoy. He might not have gotten around to watching a show like Mad Men, but he might get hooked if he could watch a whole season at once.

Got any other bright ideas? Help a sister out!

But if you’ve got The Itch, then we’ve got the remedies. College Candy prescribes a heavy dose of mindless entertainment. This week, we got all the facts on the hottest celebrity cat fights, contemplated the progression of Disney starlets to Hollywood harlots, and watched some real heavy drama on The Biggest Loser.

After a few good laughs (and maybe seeing Amy Winehouse look like a hot mess), it was time to spruce up. We relaxed our wild tresses with these tips for curly hair care, raided our closet for high-waisted pants, and upgraded our wardrobe to be sexy for winter. And once we got the dirt on down-n-dirty hookups, we were all prepared for a night on the town.

If all this hasn’t relieved that Fall Semester Itch, this week we also looked longingly to Thanksgiving (with this pumpkin pie recipe) and brainstormed ideas for holiday gifts! With this week in the books, the excitement of the holiday season lurks right around the corner!