Designers, creators, writers, artists, and other creative types often make it difficult to know what to gift them. There are so many specialist tools or fun creative gadgets, how can you even know what to buy for someone? Here’s an ideal gift list for creatives, ranging from small gift items to larger more extravagant items that would really make your creative friend’s year.

11 Online creative classes

There are many platforms to decide from

Whether your creative friend went to art school or started their creative journey as a hobby by themselves, giving them a membership to the myriad of online creative classes online will boost their skills and knowledge, no matter their position.

There are dozens of platforms to choose from. Some of them are platforms dedicated to creative courses, like Skillshare. But generic course platforms often offer creative courses of varying types too, such as Coursera and Udemy, which both have options for university-level classes in art, design, and UX topics.

10 Pay for creative subscriptions

A month or a year is a generous gift

Most of your creative friends are probably lumped with Adobe subscriptions. If they’re not, it may be Canva, Figma, or they may donate to one of the many open-source alternatives to premium creative software.

Offering to pay for one month, six months, or even an entire year would be a thoughtful gift for your creative friends or family. It helps to ask about their preferences, because some designers are pretty entrenched in a particular software.

In most cases, the option to outright own your creative software doesn’t exist; however, software like the Affinity Suite — containing Affinity Photo, Publisher, and Designer — can be bought outright, which makes a fantastic gift with no pressure to keep paying or passing future payment on to the gift receiver.

For less expensive software gifts, consider Procreate for the iPad or Procreate Dreams, the iPad-focused animation app.

• Adobe Creative Cloud

  Starts at $10/month

• Canva

  $120 at Canva

• Figma

  See at Figma

• Affinity Designer

  $70 at Affinity

9 Tablet upgrade

Especially the latest iPad

Many creative people, whether designers, illustrators, or even tattoo artists, rely heavily on a tablet for day-to-day idea generation or drawing. While not the only tablet for creatives, the iPad is typically the most popular option.

Alternatively, you could purchase paper-like screen protectors or a tablet case, to ensure your creative friend enjoys their tablet while it stays protected.

8 Dynamic stylus

Apple Pencil Pro or other styluses are great options

If your creative friend uses an iPad or a tablet, then another great gift option is a new stylus. You don’t have to go all in on the latest Apple Pencil Pro — although it is a fantastic stylus with dynamic gesture controls for more creative precision — but there are other brands that work with iPads, and other brands that are intended for Android tablet types.

If you can’t afford or don’t want to gift a full stylus, then many styluses require new tips from time to time. The Apple Pencil has a tip that screws on or off and needs to be replaced with lots of use.

You could also buy rubber stylus grips or covers, which not only help your artist friends to hold their stylus, but also can make them look personalized and funky.

Drawing gloves are a great item to pair with a stylus gift too — these are individual gloves that only cover your little and ring fingers with fabric, allowing your middle and index fingers, along with your thumb, to grip the stylus properly. The purpose of drawing gloves is to let your hand slide across your tablet screen without drawing or ruining your artwork.

7 Mentorship membership

A one-to-one tutor for design or creative processes

Online classes are one gift type, but if your creative friend would benefit from more personalized mentoring, you could gift them a creative mentor. Sites such as Superpeer offer one-to-one mentorship on a variety of topics. For example, Gemma Helyer is a UX/UI mentor from South Wales. She works as a senior UX/UI designer and uses the mentorship platform to impart her knowledge to others.

An online mentor is a great option for someone who hasn’t had the opportunity to go to design school and have in-person teachings, mentorship, or customized learning in their creative journey.

6 Tickets to design festivals

Design conferences reinvigorate creativity

Many large design brands hold annual (or more frequent) design festivals or conferences. These are often held in various large cities around the world, but with the largest focus on North America.

The tickets do not come cheap; however, the learnings, inspiration, and networking achieved from attending these conferences or festivals cannot be replicated attending the online versions of the events.

Adobe Max costs close to $2000 for the tickets alone. In October 2024, Adobe Max was held in Miami, Florida, but in previous years it’s been held in Los Angeles and Las Vegas. In February 2025, it will be held in Tokyo, Japan.

Figma’s annual conference, Config, is typically held in San Francisco, and tickets to that cost between $400 - $800 depending on when you book.

Canva’s annual conference, Canva Create, is hosted either in Sydney, Australia or sometimes on the USA’s west coast. Since Canva and Affinity became a partnership in 2023, it’s likely these conferences will be bigger and better than ever.

5 Vintage or digital camera

Fun, creative, and nostalgic rolled into one gift

This one is a fun gift that happens to be right on trend. Many older designers or creatives likely grew up before digital cameras were widely available, but now in 2024, vintage and film cameras are used and purchased more than they have been in the last twenty or more years.

Not only are film cameras on trend, but old digital cameras are too. Let your creative friends be creative in trendy ways by gifting them a camera.

A disposable film camera makes a great gift, or an Instax film camera with a selection of film types and even a scrapbook, so your friends have somewhere to stick their photos and turn them into creative art. These gifts are kitsch and fun, leaning towards the creative gift angle.

4 RGB or strip lighting

A beautifully lit studio is great for creativity

Content creators, YouTubers, and outright cool creative beings love to light up their studio space with funky lighting.

Whether you gift RGB strip lighting, blue or red bulbs, or smart lighting that can be controlled via remote or smartphone, they make fun and thoughtful gifts for most people actually, not just creatives.

3 Traditional art mediums

Let that creativity flow away from the screen

Lots of creative people like to dabble in traditional mediums from time to time. And if they don’t personally dabble, they usually appreciate looking at it. This gives you two options for gifts: artistic mediums to create art with, or art made with traditional mediums they can present and admire. Or both.

As a life-long creative person, one of my favorite gifts to receive — or to buy myself — is a beautifully made sketchbook. I have dozens of them. All are empty. But I appreciate each and every one, despite never using them.

Poska marker paint pens, good quality paints or pencils, high quality paper, Cricut vinyl or cutting blades and materials are all items that make great gifts and let people continue their creative hobbies without being glued to a screen.

Finding local art or design makes a thoughtful gift too. Or find your friend’s favorite designer or artist and purchase something from their independent online store. If anyone is buying for me, I’ll take an art print from Mr. Bingo or anything designed by Aaron Draplin.

2 A standing desk

Gift great posture to your creative friends

This one’s a little out of left-field, but as a creative, I know many of us have terrible posture while doing our hobby or business work. We spend hours — as do lots of people — behind a desk, or worse, curled up like a shrimp and bent over a drawing tablet.

A standing desk makes a great gift for anyone with a home office. It encourages more movement in your work day, ensuring you’re not wasting away sitting on an office chair while burning your retinas in your design studio.

• Vari Electric Standing Desk

  The Vari Electric standing desk is easy to assemble and comes in multiple finishes. 

  $750 at Amazon

• FlexiSpot E7 Pro Standing Desk

  $400 $600 Save $200

  Brand

  FlexiSpot

  Lifting Mechanism

  Dual-motor system

  Maximum Load

  Up to 440 lbs.

  Colors

  Rubberwood, Black Walnut, Black Walnut with oil finish

  Desktop Size

  48" x 24" OR 55" x 28"

  FlexiSpot's E7 Pro standing desk is a simple yet functional way to get work done at home. It's sturdy at every height, looks great, and supports up to four height presets. Best of all, it doesn't try to offer too many features. That means the desk can be clean and clutter-free with ease. 

  $400 at FlexiSpot