Do you have friends or family members who are working remotely? Ever thought of giving them a gift now that the holidays are fast approaching? Whether the remote worker in your life is within reach or currently stationed a thousand miles away, there are a lot of great gift ideas to help make their roaming days be a breeze.
Crowdsourcing from different groups of freelancers and remote workers, here is a curated holiday wish list ranging from the economical and practical to everyone’s dream high-ticket items:
Planner – price starts at $7.99
Time is of the essence to remote workers. While they might be spending a good amount of their time lounging about or strolling along sandy shores, remote workers follow a schedule no matter how flexible the nature of their work is. Even their tendency to move from one place to another could be time-bound. For instance, they might set a date on the calendar to remind them that it is time to relocate. In this case, a planner becomes handy as a tool to organize the many facets of their personal and professional lives.
Planners come in different styles and sizes—each one designed to appeal to a certain character or personality. For a holiday gift, pick the one that closely matches your remote worker in both form and function. To make it ready to use, include a pen with the gift. Despite our inclination to all things tech, some would still appreciate the nostalgia that pen and paper bring.
Healthy Nibbles – price starts at $13
Go healthy with nutritious snacks! Remote workers beat the occasional humdrum by munching on grub and finger foods. Keep their health in check with fat-free, low-carb, and fiber-rich food such as almonds, pistachios, and banana chips. Other popular snacks include trail mix, yogurt, crackers, and dark chocolate. Just search “healthy snacks” on Amazon.com for a list of choices in this category. For your holiday gift, make sure to check out items in bulk or box to guarantee your remote worker a supply that lasts.
Big Water Bottle – priced at $20.99
Remember what they say about drinking eight glasses per day? Remote workers are hardworking individuals. Once they open their laptops, it is easy to become engrossed in work that keeping hydrated is often overlooked. For this, a half-gallon water bottle with motivational markers would be a great gift idea for remote workers. Make drinking water a habit by starting with a “Good Morning” drink at 7 AM and finishing all the way to “You Did It” at 9 PM. Just remind the giftee to fill the bottle up to the brim as soon as he wakes up and keep it within arms’ reach throughout the day.
Lumbar Support Pillow – priced at $34.95
One of the challenges to living a laptop lifestyle is having to observe a proper sitting posture—it is easier to slouch than to sit up straight after all. When it is not advisable to have an ergonomic chair in tow, nomads can easily transport a pillow that does good for the back. The Amazon bestseller Everlasting Comfort Lumbar Support Pillow helps to improve posture and relieve back pain—perfect for remote workers who spend a lot of their days hunched over their laptops. Wirecutter, the product review arm of The New York Times, likes it too!
Krisp App Subscription – price starts at $60
Krisp is a strongly-recommended app that cancels noise and optimizes sound leaving only the human voice to be heard. It is very useful for remote workers who are engaged in voice jobs or those who need to call or be in a virtual meeting. The free version comes with 240 minutes per week of noise removal but this holiday season, go digital with the gift of crystal clear sound. Get unlimited minutes of noise removal plus other perks when subscribed to a plan.
SSD Upgrade – price starts at $79.99
A bigger and more powerful 1 terabyte of Solid State Drive brings out a computer’s maximum efficiency and increases workers’ productivity. No more worries about storing large files or working on multiple tabs because this hardware can accommodate all that and more! The Samsung 1 TB SSD, which costs $109.44, is Amazon’s editor’s pick for its topnotch overall performance and expandable storage capacity. Upgrade your remote worker’s processor for a worry-free working experience.
Portable Monitor – price starts at $144.49
Specially built for business travelers, portable computers have been around since the 80s and have evolved to the modern, lightweight versions of today. To supplement laptops, remote workers who need dual monitors would love the gift of a portable monitor. Amazon.com offers different brands in this category and some models even come in an ultra-slim package with a touchscreen feature.
Coffee and Espresso Machine – coffee pack starts at $6; espresso machine is $499.95
E-Imports’ Coffee Statistics 2021 shows that coffee remains to be the favorite drink as the United States bags the top spot in coffee consumption. With about 150 million American coffee drinkers, no wonder it is a must-have on every worker’s desk. Remote-working coffee lovers will thank you for a pack of ready-to-drink like Starbucks or, level it up with an espresso machine like the popular Breville Bambino Plus for a DIY coffee experience. This makes for a pretty kitchen piece in camper vans!
MacBook Pro with M1 Pro or M1 Max Chip – price starts at $2,000
A good working laptop is every remote worker’s companion. Sure, a laptop with basic specs can get most jobs done but this holiday season, why not give a MacBook with M1 Pro or M1 Max chip to your favorite remote worker? Techies, video editors, 3D modelers, and Apple fans, in general, are going gaga over these new additions to the Apple family. Available on Apple.com, the powerful hardware is built in the 14-inch and 16-inch options, and is sold at a starting price of $2,000. Check this review to help you decide which Mac to get.
Found anything interesting from this list? Feel free to think out of the box for more gift ideas that can make remote work smooth and hassle-free! Any gift you decide to give will definitely make this holiday special.
Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post. All mentioned brands came from crowdsourced data.
Written By: Frances De Guzman
