Going-Away Gift Ideas for a Friend

Your friend is moving: across the state, across the country or across an ocean. The best going-away gift for a friend is small enough to pack, useful in the first week and personal enough to make them miss you in a good way. Here are 12 ideas that fit in a suitcase or the back seat of a car. Our honest top pick is a song about your friendship, because it weighs nothing and plays on the first night in the new place.

What a Songbond song sounds like

This one was made for another family. Yours would carry your friend's name and your stories.

12 going-away gift ideas for a friend

1. A song about your friendship ($39.90). The night you met, your inside jokes, the diner booth that was always yours. Songbond turns your stories into an original song, ready within 24 hours. No packing required.
2. A print with both towns and the miles between them. A simple map with a line from your place to theirs. Usually $30 to $60.
3. Their first trip back, already paid for. A train ticket, a flight credit or a tank of gas, with a date on the calendar. Usually $100 to $300.
4. A farewell notebook. Pass a notebook around the goodbye party and ask everyone to write one memory. Give it to them on the last day, so every page is full. Under $20.
5. A first-night box. Toilet paper, light bulbs, a phone charger, two mugs, snacks and a box cutter. Everything they need before the truck is unpacked. Usually $30 to $50.
6. A guidebook to their new city, with notes. Ask around for recommendations and write them in the margins. Usually $15 to $25.
7. A book club for two. Buy two copies of the same book and plan a call for when you both finish. Pick one set in the city they are moving to. Usually $15 to $30.
8. One last night at your regular spot. The bar, the taco place or the park bench where you always ended up. Usually $40 to $100.
9. Your hands on moving day. Pack the kitchen, carry the boxes, order the pizza. Free, and remembered longer than most gifts.
10. A small piece of the place they are leaving. A bag of beans from your coffee shop, a print of the local skyline or a jar of sand from your beach. Usually $20 to $40.
11. Packing cubes. Useful for the move and every trip after. Tuck a note or a small treat into one before you hand them over. Usually $25 to $60.
12. A plug adapter and a local SIM card. For a move abroad, this gets them online on day one. Usually $20 to $40.

How to choose a going-away gift

Think about the move itself. How much can they carry, and what will they need before their things arrive? And how long will they be gone? A two-year contract and a move for good call for different gifts.

• If they are moving across the country: the first-night box, the map print and the paid trip back.
• If they are moving abroad: the adapter and SIM, the packing cubes and the song, which takes up no space at all.
• If they are nervous about the move: the guidebook with notes, the farewell notebook and the book club for two.

When and how to give it

Do not hand over a big gift at the party. They will have to pack it, and they already have too much to carry. Give small things early and send anything bulky to the new address. A song works well on the day they leave. Send it to their phone while they are on the road or at the gate, so they hear it for the first time on the way to their new life. Put one line in your message with it: the date of your first visit.

Make a song for your friend

Create a friendship song for your friend. It is ready within 24 hours, and if they leave tomorrow, express delivery gets it to you in about an hour.

Also in the Journal: songs about moving away and long-distance friendship songs.