Ideas for useful present for fresher

edda

I have a godchild going to Uni next month and think it would be a good idea to buy a present that will come in useful.

Have decided against money - experience tells me this will not be spent sensibly.

Will be in self catering hall on site - sensible but it will all be new (and times have changed since I was there).

What did freshers find they needed - and hadn't thought about until they arrived? Any suggestions from parents or other relatives-in-the-know?

Oops - it's a goddaughter by the way!

jiblets1

SIMPLE cook book

Nice big comfy bath towel

Top up for mobile phone?

Snow_Angel

"essentials" hamper - canned food, bags of pasta/rice, long-life milk, toiletries etc.. Their parents may stock them up too - but these things won't go out of date and they can be stored for when needed.

a nice, but not so practical one, may be a photo album with pictures of places and people important to them.

Maybe an open return train or bus ticket so they can visit you - I always liked to be pampered about half-way through the year.....bath in a "proper" house, home-cooking, that sort of thing!

kittiwoz

My aunt used to send me top-up youchers for my mobile phone when I was in halls. That was really useful and sweet.

How about something to break the ice and help her make friends with her new flatmates eg. box of tea bags, sugar, pint of milk, packet of biscuits or cake, or better yet a roll of cookie dough she can slice and bake herself (with instrustions in degrees celsius). Bet that'd make her really popular.

A door name plate and door wedge are great to have to. People will find it easier to learn her name that way and will be less intimidated to come and speak to her if her door is proped open than if they have to knock. In our halls we had phones in our rooms with individual extension numbers and it was free to make internal calls so we used to write our extension on the door plate too.

Maybe you could get a nice pocket map of the city or an itchy guide if there is one for wherever she's going. That would be very useful and give her some confidence to start exploring without having to worry about getting lost.

As far as cookbooks go my favourite student cookbook and persoanal recomendation is "Cooking in a Bedsitter" by Katharine Whitehorn (after whom I am named). It is the original and IMHO still the best.

robgriz

Many retailers have mini-fridges for around £15-£20 at the moment. Not a bad price just to store some drinks in to prevent them going walkies if kept in the kitchen :beer:

scotgirl

Toasty maker - we had toasties for breakie, lunch, dinner and late night after cider snack!!!! It is amazing the things you can put in a toastie when skint!!!

edda

Some good ideas - thanks to everyone so far.

Going to have fun shopping over the next couple of weeks!

lellie

a toaster or kettle is good if she doesn't have one..

Things like fairy lights or photo frames are nice to make her room more homely - or a nice cushion or similar..

cook books are silly - I was given one and never used it - mind you both me and my boyfriend can cook or if there was something we wanted to make and didn't know how we found free recipes on the internet.

Making cakes is a great way to make friends at uni - so some muffin tins or something would be cool - I made butterfly cakes for my flatmates..

Other ideas - a cork screw or cocktail shaker or something along those lines - there will be parties and there will be drinks - these things are great ice breakers for sharing with flatmates..

bath robe - essential if it's a shared bathroom - (did see a £3 TJ hughes offer for one on quick grabbit).. Make her a hamper of nice toiletries with the bath robe, some nice shower gel etc that she can pamper herself with when she's tired after freshers week! (Freshers flu is bound to hit!!!)

thetope

electrical items such as kettles and mini fridges aren't usually allowed in bedrooms in halls - you might get away with hiding a toaster or a kettle, but a mini fridge is difficult to keep concealed from the cleaners...

if she has a computer, a printer comes in extremely handy. i like the bathrobe/towel ideas. something like a nice, compact but good quality cd player/radio (with an alarm clock) would also maybe be a nice pressie? though in this day and age everyone has ipods, but if you buy one with rca inputs in the back you can plug the ipod into it too. i say compact because it is such a pain lugging big speakers and stereo up and down stairs and it takes up sooo much space in the car!!

ooo also, now i come to think of it, one thing that was a godsend to me in uni was a double duvet. it is so snuggly to have a double duvet on a single bed, partic as i was in scotland and it was blimmin freezin in winter!!

skippie

food vouchers?

My parents left me at halls on my first day with a crate of beer and told me to go and make friends, its a good way to break down some barriers

faithless

scotgirl wrote:

Toasty maker - we had toasties for breakie, lunch, dinner and late night after cider snack!!!! It is amazing the things you can put in a toastie when skint!!!

Yes, this was the most popular thing in my house! Esp as the halls will have kettles and microwaves, but prob won't have a toastie maker.

The bathrobe is a good idea too.