Gifting can be a challenge each holiday season, but never more so for me than when I’m choosing gifts for the men in my life. Men’s “toys” are notoriously expensive, large, or involve too many specifications. The wrong model, version, size, or memory can take your gift from exciting to disappointing pretty quickly. To solve this problem, let’s let some guys pick out the gifts for our guys this year.
Subscription boxes have become a huge industry, and I enjoy a few myself. Did you know that men have almost as many options as the ladies? Is your dad into barbecue? There’s a box for that. Is your brother into cool socks? Well, there’s a box for that too. Today I’ve rounded up the coolest gift ideas for guys, and you don’t even have to wrap them.
Gift Ideas for Guys
Beverages
No matter your guy’s drink of choice, there’s a subscription box for it. While there are many options out there, these seemed to be the most popular:
- Mistobox – premium coffees are hand selected for you based on your taste profile. The beans are roasted right before shipping to ensure freshness. I really appreciate that this subscription box provides gifting options. You can choose to send a sampler for their first box, or just one 12oz bag. You can also choose to purchase just one month, three, six, or twelve, with one month ringing in at just $20. COUPON CODE: Save $10 on your first order with the code DJI0
- Beer of the Month Club – a dozen 12oz bottles of beer delivered to his door. Choose from U.S. microbrew, U.S. & International Variety pack, Hops-Heads, or a rare beer club. Prices start at $42 (includes shipping). If your guy appreciates a complex beer, this is a great subscription to gift. Bonus: they also have wine clubs, cheese clubs, and more!
- Taster’s Club – have a 750ml bottle of whiskey delivered to his door once a month. He will also learn about production techniques, trends, and history. You can choose between a general “whiskey” subscription, or get more specific with only bourbon or scotch. (They also have rum or tequila!) A little more pricey for this box, but they are offering a holiday sale for $69 plus shipping. A fancier price for a fancier gift.
(beware that due to shipping laws, alcohol cannot be shipped to all 50 states)
Clothing & Personal Care
Even the most manly of men need personal care items, right? The personal care industry has exploded, and that means there are a lot of products competing against Old Spice and Axe these days. If you have a hard time getting your guy to go shopping new clothes, there are some boxes for that too.
- Birch Box for Men – it’s not just for women! You can expect to find trending products like Jack Black moisturizer (my husband’s favorite), a slew of shaving creams, shampoos, and body washes, as well as organic, good-for-you products. Bonus for the guys, each box comes with an accessory, such as headphones, a razor, or a travel case. The men’s box is a little more than the women’s at $20 a month. If you are buying this gift for a guy who lives outside of your home, gift subscriptions start at $60 for 3 months of boxes.
- Trunk Club – The Trunk Club experience feels so very posh. My husband has had 3 so far and really enjoys the experience. After filling out a profile online, a stylist calls you and talks about your style preferences, colors, and what you’re hoping to get from Trunk Club. The stylist sends a curated box tailored to your requests to your house. (you can even preview the box and reject some items which are then swapped out for other things you might like better) Trunk Club is part of Nordstrom, which in my mind equals amazing customer service and quality clothing. His shirts have ranged from $100 to $200, and his pants/jeans $150 to $250. They also send shoes, belts, ties, socks, jackets and any other special requests you may have. To keep the whole box would be a lot of money, but it’s great option for a guy who hates to shop and has a gift card. 🙂
- Stitch Fix for Men – I have long been a fan of Stitch Fix (see my review here), so I was really excited to see that they have a program for men now! While I haven’t done a fix for my husband yet, I am sure you can expect the same great service that I get with the women’s department. Cool, unique brands at an affordable price.
Just Cool Stuff
Finally, I want to show you my two favorite subscription boxes. It’s hard to put guys interested into a “box” (pardon my pun), so the next two boxes are awesome because of the tailoring you can do to make them fit your guy.
- Quarterly – is he into cooking? Health/exercise and wellness? What about reading or science? With Quarterly, you choose a box based on the category. 4 times a year, a different curator will fill the box with their favorite products in that category. I first heard about this box through Tim Ferris, author and podcaster, and I know my husband would love to see what Tim would pick out for the health and wellness category! The boxes range in price from $50 to $100. Please note that because each box is only released quarterly, there may be a wait time of up to 3 months before you receive your first box, depending on when you sign up. The categories seem to release in different months to help with this.
- Bespoke Post – this box seems the most interesting to me personally. Each month they release a box with a cool theme and name. For example, “Copper” which included items to make Moscow Mules, and Refresh, which included a waxed canvas dopp kit stuffed with quality grooming products. The nicest feature that really set this subscription box apart is the ability to preview the next box that is coming. Once you’ve seen what will be in your next box, you have the option to skip it or switch it out for a completely different box! For gifting, you can purchase one box for $45, or you can purchase in quantities of 3, 6 or 12.
There you have it, my very best gift ideas for guys this year. For once, I am going to have a hard time choosing! What are your best gift ideas for guys?
Oh, and if you were really looking for subscriptions for cool socks or barbecue, there you go! :-). Need a really last minute gift? I wrote a post for that too, Last Minute Gifts for Guys.
Note: This post contains some affiliate links, which means that I make a small commission on items you purchase through my links. This does not affect the price that you pay! Thank you for supporting the running of this blog!
Like this gift list? Check out my home decor gift guide and the September Favorites post!
Jessica says
I had no idea that most of these existed! What great ideas! I can think of someone that each of these would be perfect for!
HappyMeetsHome says
I didn’t either until last week! I’m going to have a hard time choosing between them now!
Leanna says
I find men so difficult to buy for. Of course I have three adult sons now so I always struggle. I read your article for some ideas. These are really different, well done. good ideas.
HappyMeetsHome says
Thanks Leanna! Agreed, men are tough to shop for!
Sadhna Grover says
So many good ideas you have given, actually it is difficult to decide what should we buy for men and we find it easy to buy for women.
Thanks for so many good ideas, your post will really help us.
HappyMeetsHome says
So glad it was helpful Sadhna!
Michelle says
Guys are always so difficult to find gifts for. Why is that? Love your ideas Shandy. I got hubby the Beer of the Month subscription 2 years ago and he’s still enjoying the new craft beers every months. The other ideas you shared are definitely going to make it so much easier to find him something for this year. Thank you
HappyMeetsHome says
Good to know that your husband likes that subscription Michelle!
Nikki Frank-Hamilton says
These are some great ideas, I had not heard of many of these services. I love the coffee box, we love great coffee and my husband would love this. Or the BBQ box, Bruce loves to cook on his smoker and grill. This would be just as much fun for you as it is for him, watching him open the box and try on or use what’s inside. Love these ideas!
HappyMeetsHome says
We just got our first bag of coffee, and it was actually local to us, but we’d never tried it before! I love that the curator of MistoBox did that, it tells me he’s paying attention! Yes, a lot of those gift ideas are fun for everybody!
Smith says
Getting a gift for a man is basically one of the most stressful parts of the holidays. What will he actually like? Luckily there were actual men around for me to interrogate about this very pressing issue, and the following things are what they said they’d love to get right now. It might not all be perfect for your guy, but it’s a solid place to start.
HappyMeetsHome says
Yes, I totally agree! Men are the hardest. I’m glad at least some of the ideas resonated with them!