The Absolute Best Dorm Gifts for College Students | 34 Gifts Perfect For A College Dorm Room

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Holiday season is the perfect time to buy the college students in your life some new gifts. Guess where college students live? In dorms! College dorm room gifts are so appreciated, and I know I loved receiving them.

There’s so much you can buy for a dorm room. Big stuff, like a mattress topper or new bedding set, or small stuff, like little decor ideas. All holiday gifts are amazing, and your college student will love them!

I received some dorm room gifts around the holiday season, and I cherish all of them. They were so personable, and more importantly, I really needed some stuff for my dorm room!

If you have a student who’s graduating soon and is excited to go to college, this is the perfect holiday dorm room gift guide.

Here’s 34 holiday dorm room gift ideas that your college student will love!

Holiday Dorm Room Gift Ideas

1. Mattress Pad

A dorm bed isn’t even really a bed. It’s more like some weird super firm foam with a plastic covering. Do your new college student a favor and get them a nice, memory foam mattress pad.

Mattress pads tend to be a little more pricey, especially for someone that’s entering college. This is the perfect gift that they’ll be able to use for quite a few years!

I highly recommend this one. It’s cooling, and is a full 4 inches.

2. Airpods

Airpods have been all over recently. Ads, reviews, in people’s ears… they’re everywhere. Let me tell you, they’re everywhere for a reason! I absolutely love my airpods. They are worth every single penny!

Airpods are the perfect holiday gift idea for college students.

3. Laundry Detergent/Fabric Softener

If you think this would be a super boring gift, think again. Every time I have to buy laundry detergent, I’m super disappointed that I’m spending money to literally clean my clothes.

Give your new college student a break, and get the first round of laundry supplies for them. they’ll be thanking you!

4. Canvas Prints

Decor is a must! Dorm rooms are like prison cells, until you make them super cute and homey. Canvas prints are an affordable way to add a lot of dimension to a dorm room. They’re super cute, and usually look a lot more expensive than they are.

Here’s some of my current favorites, that will go well with almost any dorm room color scheme.

5. Shower Caddy

A shower caddy is a must have for every college student. There’s a couple options for these, but I highly recommend the mesh version. No water collects in the bottom of the caddy, and it’s very convenient to just set the drying caddy on a towel.

Related: 12 Super Cute Holiday Dorm Decor Ideas

6. Cordless Mini Vacuum

Bringing your own vacuum to college is never a bad idea. Odds are, your dorm room is really far away from the housing rental center, and the vacuum they give you is extremely heavy.

Save all of the hassle and bring your own vacuum. A lightweight, cordless one that is rechargeable is perfect for keeping in any dorm room.

7. Cordless Desk Lamp

Sometimes, a bigger lamp on your desk that you have to plug in can just be a little too bulky.

Luckily, cordless lamps are inexpensive, super bright, and perfect for long college dorm room study sessions.

Here’s one of my favorites:

8. Bedside Shelf

With the lack of seating in a college dorm room, college students end up spending a lot of time sitting or laying in their beds when they’re in their dorm room.

A bedside shelf is the perfect addition to any dorm room bed. If your college student’s bed is lofted, this is especially useful!

9. Extra Phone Cords

Phone cords break left and right, and get lost constantly. Having a few spares is so useful!

Extra phone cords make the perfect holiday dorm room gift idea. It’s affordable, super useful, and very appreciated!

10. Twin XL Sheets

Every dorm bed across all college campuses is a twin xl. This is especially useful for gifting, since you know exactly what size bed your college student has.

Sheets is the perfect holiday dorm room gift. After a long day of studying, extracurriculars, and social activities, crawling into some high quality sheets is fantastic!

Related: 9 Dorm Room Desk Organization Ideas

11. Portable Battery Charger

Long days on campus leads to a phone that needs to be charged. A high quality power bank is exactly what every college student needs in their backpack.

Anker makes extremely high quality battery packs, and they can charge a phone tons of times over. Here’s the best one to carry around in a backpack – it’ll be able to charge your phone for days on end!

12. Plush Towel Set

Just like your dorm room bed, the towels you use every day makes much more of a difference than you would expect. Getting huge, plush towels is the perfect dorm room gift!

13. Rapid Ramen Cooker

Whether we like to or not, college students always end up eating quite a bit of ramen. It’s cheap, tastes pretty good, and can be made in the microwave.

A rapid ramen cooker makes cooking ramen in the microwave so much easier! It’s the right shape to cook ramen, and helps make sure it’s cooked a lot better.

14. Fairy Lights

Fairy lights are in essentially every college dorm room. They’re an actually pretty great late night light source, and they add a ton to dorm room decor.

Here’s my favorite fairy lights:

15. Surge Protector

College dorm rooms probably come with 2 outlets per side.. if you’re lucky. A surge protector is a must! I really like how this one has usb inputs as well.

Related: 28 Best Gifts For College Students

16. Power Strip with USB

Hand in hand with a surge protector, a super boujee power strip is a college dorm room essential.

I’ve used this power strip for the last two years, and it’s fantastic. Last year I used command strips to adhere the strip to my bed, and now I use command strips to keep it on the side of my desk. It’s truly awesome!

17. Keurig

If you know your college student loves coffee or tea, get them a keurig! Coffee is super expensive from coffee shops, and is nowhere near sustainable for a college student’s budget.

Keurig’s come in a bunch of different models, sizes, and prices. Here’s a few, pick one in your price point! I also included my favorite k-cup organizer, and my favorite coffee pods – with biodegradable packaging.

18. Moon Lamp

Moon lamps are super trendy, and perfect for dorm rooms. They make fantastic night lights, and look amazing as a late night light source!

19. Desk Organization

A desk is bound to get unorganized in a college dorm room. However, you can help prevent the problem before it happens!

Desk organization comes in a lot of forms, but I personally love an organization unit to keep your laptop on. Here you can organize your papers, sticky notes, etc.

20. Hamper on Wheels

Last year, my dorm room was really close to the laundry room. Man, did I take this for granted. Now, I am a full floor away and literally the furthest at the end of the building opposite the laundry room that you can be. It’s awful. I have to take multiple trips or recruit my partner Ian to carry it for me because it’s so far.

Don’t be me. Get a rolling hamper. This makes it so much better, and makes sure that you won’t be struggling to get your laundry to the laundry room!

Related: 10 Best Dorm Room Storage Ideas

21. Saucer Chair

Extra seating is a must for college dorm rooms. This seating folds up and can be stored under a bed or futon, which makes it perfect for when more guests than usual come over.

I cannot tell you how many dorm room floors I’ve sat on for the duration of an entire movie. It’s not super comfortable, and this type of chairs solves that issue perfectly!

22. Desktop Makeup Organization

If you’re a beauty guru or trying to find a gift for one, this is the perfect option!

The drawers in college dorm room desks I swear are made for jumbling a bunch of makeup together. Desktop makeup organization is perfect for your beauty guru! The drawers inside of these makeup organizers are in fact made for makeup, and work very well.

23. USB Bedside Table Lamp

If you have a table next to your bed, you need a bedside table lamp!

First, I really recommend you get some kind of table to put next to your bed. I personally had a three tier rolling cart, which worked perfectly. Second, this bedside table needs a lamp! This is perfect for when you come home and your roommate is sleeping, or you want to read in your bed for a little bit.

24. Pink Salt Lamp

Salt lamps are super trendy, and perfect for keeping the air in stuffy dorm rooms just a little more pure. Plus, they’re super cute! I love these pink salt lamps when the dorm room color scheme has pink accents!

25. Inspiring Canvas Print

We talked about canvas prints earlier in this post, and here’s the inspiring version! Some are equally funny and inspiring – perfect for a dorm room!

Related: 15 Dorm Room Cooking Essentials

26. Under Bed Storage Tote

I can guarantee that your college student will be utilizing every inch of dorm room space. Under the bed is the perfect way to utilize a ton of extra space.

Under bed totes are perfect for a college dorm room gift. I keep extra sweatshirts, and out of season clothing under my dorm bed. I then change out what I keep in these totes depending on the season.

27. Bedside Caddy

Just like a bedside table, and bedside shelf, a bedside caddy is an awesome addition or fantastic other option!

This is an especially awesome gift idea if you know your college student will be lofting their bed.

28. Clip on Fan

College dorm rooms are hot. There’s no AC, and it’s especially hot at night!

Alongside a cooling mattress pad, a clip on fan is perfect for keeping a cool temperature while someone tries to sleep in a dorm room. Plus, it won’t bother any roommates!

29. Over The Fridge Storage Organization

Mini fridges are an absolute essential in every dorm room. In fact, most dorm rooms come with a mini fridge!

Keeping an organized dorm room can be difficult, especially with a busy lifestyle. Organizing food is especially hard. Over the fridge organization covers are perfect for keeping essentials nearby.

30. Clip on Bed Light

Just like a clip on bed fan, a clip on bed light is super useful. If your bed is lofted, this is even more useful! You can read if your roommate is falling asleep, and you don’t have to climb all the way down from your bed to turn off a light.

Related: 12 College Dorm Room Food Ideas

31. Three Tier Rolling Cart

A three tier rolling cart is a fantastic organization tool to have in college dorm rooms.

During my freshman year of college, I used my three tier rolling cart as a nightstand and bookshelf.

32. Velvet Hangers

Velvet hangers are a lifesaver for keeping clothes from falling off in your closet. When a college student moves to college, they most likely will just bring whatever odds and ends hangers they have in their closet. Get them some nice, velvet hangers!

33. Over Door Drying Rack

Dorm building washing machines really take a toll on clothes. To help save them, give the college student a space where they can skip the dryer and hang dry clothes right in their dorm room!

An over door drying rack is perfect for saving space, but also making sure all of the clothing doesn’t shrink in the dryer.

34. Desktop Lighted Makeup Mirror

The lighting in most dorm rooms is just awful, especially for makeup! A lighted makeup mirror is the perfect way to solve this problem, and also makes for a mini glam room right in your dorm room.

This post showed you 34 must have college dorm room gift ideas!