Christmas Gift Ideas for Your Boyfriend

Shopping for a boyfriend at Christmas usually comes down to one worry: will he actually like it, or will it end up in a drawer. The best Christmas gift ideas for a boyfriend fit the way he already spends his time, and carry one small sign that you know him well. Below are 12 ideas across budgets, from useful to memorable. Our top pick is a song about him, because it is the one gift on this list nobody else could give him.

Hear what a real Songbond song sounds like

This one was made for another family. Yours would carry his name and your stories.

12 Christmas gift ideas for your boyfriend

1. A song about him ($39.90). Tell us his nickname, how you met and the things he does that nobody else notices, and Songbond turns it into an original song. It is ready within 24 hours, and it is the gift he will quietly play again when you are not in the room.
2. Tickets to see his team or his band. A home game, a good seat or the band he has already seen three times. Usually $60 to $200 a ticket. Buy two, so the gift is also a night out together.
3. A wallet that will last ten years. Full-grain leather ages well and looks better worn in. Put his initials inside, not on the front. Usually $40 to $120.
4. The hoodie he will live in. Heavy cotton in a plain color, one size roomier than you think. If he keeps stealing yours, this is the fix. Usually $50 to $100.
5. A class you take together. Climbing, knife skills, pottery or a whiskey tasting. Pick something neither of you has tried, so you learn it side by side. Usually $50 to $150 for two.
6. A subscription for his hobby. Fresh coffee beans every month, a craft beer box, a fly-tying kit. Usually $15 to $40 a month, and he thinks of you each time a box lands on the doorstep.
7. A speaker for where he spends his time. A rugged, waterproof one for the garage, the grill or the shower. Usually $50 to $150.
8. A proper shaving kit. A good safety razor, a brush and a beard oil that does not smell like a car air freshener. Usually $30 to $80.
9. A game you play together. A two-player board game for the kitchen table, or a co-op video game for the couch. Usually $25 to $70.
10. A multitool or pocketknife. The kind of thing he will carry every day and reach for without thinking. Usually $40 to $100.
11. A weekend away he does not have to plan. Book the cabin, the drive and the dinner. Hand him the details in an envelope and tell him only what to pack.
12. The good version of something he wears out. The boots with the split sole, the headphones held together with tape, the cheap kitchen knife. Replace it with one built to last. Usually $60 to $200.

How to choose for him

Look at his weekends. What he does with a free Saturday tells you more than anything he says he wants. Then decide whether this Christmas calls for something useful, something shared or something that says how you feel. Often the best answer is one small gift of each kind.

• If he is always outside: the speaker, the multitool or the weekend away.
• If he is a homebody: the hoodie, the game or the hobby subscription.
• If he is quietly sentimental: the song, and he will pretend he is not moved by it.

Save one gift for Christmas Eve

Many couples keep a small tradition: one gift opened on Christmas Eve, just the two of you, before the family and the noise. It is a good home for the gift that means the most. Save the practical things for the morning pile, where a wallet or a hoodie fits right in. Give him the one with meaning the night before, when the room is quiet and he can actually take it in. If it is a song, play it in the car or at the kitchen table, not in front of his whole family.

Make his Christmas song

Make a Christmas song for your boyfriend in a few minutes. It is ready within 24 hours, and if you are cutting it close, express delivery gets it to you in about an hour.

Also in the Journal: a personalised song as a Christmas gift and romantic Christmas songs.