Gaining on it. My 13-year-old son is easy. He loves Star Wars and Legos. Done and Done. Things are bought or on a list about to order.
It's my 18-year-old daughter who is harder. She is living in a dorm (which I outfitted really well for her). She asked for socks and cheap hoop earrings (she keeps losing them) and nothing else. I don't do gift cards or cash so this one will be tricky.
While I don't have any kid in college anymore...
Dorm living is hard for some kids, even though most will not admit it, they kinda all get home sick at some point.
I took a picture frame and put silly pictures of all of us, sorta a collage...she kept it on her desk.
DD loved different size cute zippered bags for her stuff.
I made her a Disney Princess Pillowcase with Belle, which is her princess... I ended up making another one, as "Mom I have 2 pillows" I ended up making a few more for her friends... one year I she got Disney princess sheets...
A first aid kit - check out the travel sections like at Wal-mart, Target, Grocery Store... Dollar tree is another good spot for this kinda stuff. I found a cute decor' box about the size of a shoe box, maybe a bit bigger, at either Hobby Lobby or Micheal's in the clearance area for like 3 bucks... I put everything I could think of in it, Thermometer, band-aids, neo to go, a small tube of neo, hydrogen peroxide/alcohol, Vitamins, cough drops, tissue packages, Robitussin/Thera-flu, Tylenol/ Ibuprofen, Pepto or Imodium, Tums, Midol.. College kids need this kinda stuff and there is nothing worse than your kid calling in the middle of the night and saying I'm sick mom, what do I do..
Bathrobe with pockets which was very hard to find at the time... which is something that she asked for... I ended up finding one a Macy's ...50.00 dollars and that was after the sale price and other coupons and I still paid 50.00... After that Christmas I found 2 at TJ Maxx, for 14.99 each which I did buy.. and she did use over the next couple of years...
Water proof phone case, the style on a lanyard... another request. I got hers at Bed, Bath and Beyond.
Heating pad... another request -
A basic Desk Set...and bookends.. a lap desk, which was basically like a desk top and under it was a what I would call a bean bag... I don't even know if that make these any more... and a fold-able TV Tray.