40 Great Gift Ideas for Web Designers & Bloggers

It's that time of year again when we're all in high-gear trying to find creative gifts to give to friends and loved ones, and thoughtful gifts are always the best. From big, extravagant, outside-the-box gifts like a MacBook Pro, or a stand-up desk to smaller, practical (and incredibly useful) ones like a pound of really good coffee, or a Field Notes notebook, this list was compiled to give you all kinds of ideas. 

Some of the most memorable gifts I've received haven't been expensive at all. You don't have to spend a lot of money on gifts for them to be awesome. 

I've sorted the list in to a couple different categories to make it a little more readable. Here are 40 suggestions that should help you find something awesome.

(Affiliate disclosure)

Office Gift Ideas

• Stand up Desk - Designers and bloggers spend a lot of time in front of a computer, and sitting too much can kill you.
• Field Notes or Moleskine - Even in this digital age, analog still has its place.
• Classic Leather Messenger Bag ($352) - Saddleback makes amazing stuff. Period.
• Coffee Cup Mug Warmer ($7.99) - Because cold coffee just sucks.
• Capresso MT600 Thermal Coffee Maker ($114) - Because it's all in the brew.
• Peet's Coffee - ($12) This stuff is awesome.
• Heil PR 40 Microphone for podcasting ($295) - For the podcasters out there, this is an industry standard.
• Mackie 1402-VLZ3 Mixer ($391.99) - For the podcaster who wants to take things to the next level.
• Boom mic stand ($109.99) and shock mount ($23.76) - you need it to be quiet, and to be able to get it out of your way.
• Audio-Technica ATH-M50 Professional Studio Monitor Headphones ($155) - for the discerning audiophile who wants studio quality audio.
• Bose Computer Speakers ($216.88) - Good audio quality can not be underestimated.

Computer Gift Ideas

• Apple Thunderbolt Display ($949.99) - When it comes to monitors, can they ever be too big?
• Macbook Pro (starting around $1000) - Because PCs aren't cool.
• iPad 2 (starting around $500) - Because a laptop, desktop and smartphone just isn't enough.
• iPhone 4S (starting at $199)  - Now available on Verizon! Seriously though, everyone's buying one, what are you waiting for?
• Motorola Xoom ($499) - Okay. Not everyone is an Apple fan boy.
• Kindle Fire ($199) - Kindle, and Android? Absolutely.
• Wacom Tablet ($369) - Digital artistry.
• Western Digitial MyBook External Storage ($229.99) - Media files are always huge and you can never have enough storage.
• Ironkey Thumb Drive ($87.81) - Secure, strong, and just cool.
• Apple/Roku/Google TV Box (starting around $80) - Who really wants to pay all that money for cable these days with so much good stuff on the internet?

Website & Software Gift Ideas

• Studiopress (starting at $24.95) - For Wordpress users, using a premium theme is the quickest and easiest way to give their site a professional look, Studiopress is among the best...
• Standard Theme (starting at $49) - ... and the Standard Theme is just as good, just different.
• Vaultpress Wordpress Backup System (starting at $15 per month) - Because if your blogger doesn't have a good back-up system in place, all their hard work can be lost forever.
• Premise Landing pages for Wordpress (starting at $85) - So your blogger can quickly and easily create landing pages for their Wordpress site.
• Fusion Drupal Themes (premium themes start around $200) - We can't forget about the Drupal people!  Fusion themes are absolutely fantastic and a great buy for someone more worried about building a website than designing one.
• Stone Edge Order Manager - for e-commerce people - Pricey, sure, but an amazing platform for anyone who is selling products via the internet
• Market Samurai ($149) - There isn't a better keyword research tool available in my opinion

Subscription Gift Ideas

• Drupalize.me subscription (starting at $35 per month) - For the Drupal people out there the learning never stops.
• Subscription to ScribeSEO (starting at $17 per month) - Drupal? Check. Wordpress? Check. Help your blogger optimize their content.
• Need A Topic Subscription ($80 per year, or $7 per month) - When your blogger need ideas or writer's block hits, they need a source for inspiration and topics.
• Hosting plan at Orracle Hosting (starting at $6 per month) - The best cloud hosting for small businesses, bloggers, and other entreneurs, powered by the Rackspace Cloud
• Dropbox Pro (starting at $9.99 per month) - The free version is great, but the pro option gives you a lot more space.
• Evernote Pro ($5 per month, or $45 per year) - The free version is great here too, but the pro version allows for additional types of documents like Excel, and Word.

Reading & Learning Gift Ideas

• Evernote Essentials ($25)- Evernote has become a revolutionary tool. Help your blogger/designer get the most of it.
• Hardboiled Web Design Kindle Edition - Andy Clarke's seminal work on web design, HTML5 and CSS3.
• Podcast training course from the Podcast Answer Man (starting at $39) - Learn from the guy who's absolutely crushing it with podcasting.
• 31 Days to a Build a Better Blog ($22.49) - Problogger.net - Darren Rowse is THE Pro Blogger.
• Amazon Gift Card - When you just can't come to a decision on anything else, this is always a great option.

Got an idea for your blogger or designer? Please leave a comment and let us know what it is!

image by Jennifer C.