Gift Ideas for Friends & Family Abroad That Are Actually Useful
Feature Photo by chriswanders on Pixabay
On many occasions, it becomes important to show friends and family abroad that you care. Gift-giving seasons come often and fast. When the time comes, you need to find meaningful, practical gifts that show you care and are thinking of them.
The right gifts improve your family and friends’ emotional well-being and often other parts of their lives. These gestures stay in their minds through the comfort, psychological or otherwise that they provide.
Maintaining your relationships becomes just a bit easier when you are able to share your love for those close to you in a deeper way.
In this guide, we will provide practical, thoughtful, and accessible gift ideas for families/friends abroad.
Let’s get right into it.
Streaming Services
Popular streaming platforms like Netflix, Spotify, and Disney+ offer endless entertainment.
The first reason why streaming services make great gifts is their simple entertainment value. You are giving your family member or friend a massive selection of films, shows, and documentaries.
They have many genres and individual shows to pick from. When they’re winding down after work or simply want to kill some time, they can use the gift you gave them. It’s entertainment and/or education over a long period.
Of course, streaming services are also easy gifts to give. In many cases, you just add the recipient to your own account. You can just let the streaming service know about their device and account. In other cases, you can just offer them and pay for their own account.
Streaming subscriptions offer fast, direct entertainment and education without ads or other annoyances. This is a great gift for the simple, appreciated, and ongoing benefits you are giving to your friend or family member.
E-Book or Audiobook Credits
E-books and Audiobooks are similarly beneficial and easy to give, yet meaningful.
E-book platforms like Kindle enable you to seamlessly give credits as gifts. It’s a fast and easy way to provide entertainment, knowledge, and culture across international borders.
The Kindle library is the easiest to provide gifts on. It also has a massive library that includes all kinds of fiction and non-fiction literature in many languages.
If your friend or family member is less of a reader and more of a multi-tasker, Audiobooks are a great alternative. Audible subscriptions come with one book per month.
You can turn your recipient’s commute into a time for education or entertainment. Audible and Scribd memberships offer all these benefits and, like E-books, are easy to give to and from anywhere.
Online Courses & Skill Platforms
These are the best gifts for your family and friends who value practicality and education.
Online courses and skill platforms like Skillshare or Coursera provide different approaches to learning new knowledge and skills. On Coursera, for example, learners can take courses up to the university level. But most of these platforms offer ways to improve their users’ credentials or day-to-day life skills.
Online Courses & Skill Platforms are accessible throughout most of the world. They are an easy type of gift to give, and the right recipients will benefit from and appreciate them.
READ MORE: Digital Nomad Jobs
International Mobile Top-Up – Stay Connected
International mobile top-ups are mobile credits or data sent directly to a recipient’s phone. For family and friends with prepaid plans, they are an infinitely thoughtful and practical gift.
All you need to do is use an international mobile top-up service to:
- Select the recipient’s country and mobile operator
- Punch in their phone number
- Choose the amount to top up
- Click “Send”
The simplicity of sending this gift is even clearer than the other items on this list. You don’t need to take any extra steps, and all you need to get ready is a payment method and the recipient’s phone number.
The payment is in your currency but is momentarily (or sometimes instantly) carried over to your friend or family member’s account. Once they receive it, they can start calling, texting, or using mobile data.
Most recipients gain many benefits from a gift like a mobile top-up. It’s a simple way of showing you care and injecting convenience and connectivity into their lives. It’s also a great way to show them that you’d love to catch up!
Quick Tip: Always look for promo offers and recharge a mobile number even in Cuba or other distant countries without breaking the bank.
Local E-Gift Cards
Local E-Gift cards are digital coupons/gift cards that can be used at specific stores. It’s a flexible gift option, but it’s another digital gift that is:
- Easy to send
- Infinitely practical for the recipient
Many local and international chains like Carrefour or Grab offer these gift cards. For the best effects, be sure to:
- Always choose a chain and version available in the recipient’s country
- Double-check the currency and retailer’s availability before purchase
- Ensure the platform accepts e-gift card payments online or in-store
Financial Support with Purpose
In some cases, we all just need a little more money for day-to-day life. But financial support doesn’t need to mean cash without context or purpose.
You can make your financial support practical and thoughtful at the same time. Let’s look into your two best options.
Money transfer services enable you to send money directly to a recipient’s bank account or mobile wallet. They can often be fast, and the most popular services serve most countries in the world.
These services are known for speed and convenience, offering many people a way to reliably support international friends and family. There are normally several delivery methods and you can compare options to get favourable exchange rates.
READ MORE: Dealing with money abroad
Prepaid travel cards are another great option that can be best for family members traveling or studying abroad. They are preloaded cards with a fixed amount of money that can be used for daily expenses like debit cards.
Prepaid travel cards are often used as safe alternatives to cash. They can be topped up easily by the sender, which is why they are good for budgeting with family oversight.
Conclusions: Choosing the Best Gifts
Over time, most people prefer gifts that are useful over gifts that are flashy. For family members and friends in different countries, these digital gifts are useful and practical.
The best gifts offer a mix of emotional and practical benefits. The gifts we’ve covered here offer a good mix of both.
As a final tip, consider their timezone, lifestyle, and local context when choosing.
