21 Legitimately Great Gifts To Give Your Boyfriend, Husband, Brother, Or Dad

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First things first: I generally loathe posts with gifts "for men" or "for your boyfriend" because most focus exclusively on items that are normatively masculine (gadgets! woodgrain! whiskey! bacon!) in a way that I find reallllllly obnoxious. And I think that when people are searching for gifts "for men," what they mean is "people who are hard to shop for/who don't love cute things." So that's what this list is: a roundup of cool gifts that my coworkers and I love, own, and have actually given men (and hard-to-shop-for women!) we know, not a bunch of gifts "for men" based on dumb stereotypes. Most women I know would also appreciate these gifts — because they are objectively great gifts, and gender is a construct!!! That said, I know what y'all are typing into Google, and I'm just here to give the people what they want.

Cool? Cool. Onto the gifts!

1. A nice pillow.

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I'm a huge fan of giving bed-related gifts/upgrading people's bedding. After all, what's a greater gift than a good night's sleep? I love my memory foam pillow (which you can get for $99.99); the "Snuggle-Pedic" one pictured above has almost 9,000 Amazon reviews, a 4.5-star rating, and a B on Fakespot.

Get it on Amazon for $49.99.

2. A great commute and/or desk mug.

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This stainless steel RTIC one is beloved by Amazon reviewers and can apparently withstanda tumble (heh) from a moving golf cart. (Not that that's something men would care about!!!)

Get it on Amazon for $14.50, and grab a pack of four extra straws for $6.88.

3. A bunch of great puzzles and a puzzle mat.

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Puzzles are the best, and one of my favorite gifts to give! I love/recommend New York Puzzle Company's Jim Golden photo puzzles and Charley Harper puzzles. And a puzzle mat is a nice add-on that's genuinely useful.

All of these are on Amazon — get the Wonder Woman puzzle for $14.99, the mountain puzzle for $13.99, and the Glacier Bay puzzle for $18.95.

Get the puzzle mat on Amazon for $21.99.

4. A few pairs of Smartwool socks.

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I'm fairly certain if Family Feud ever did the question, "Name a bad Christmas gift," socks would be the number one answer. Giving people socks is seen as terribly blah, which is a shame because, like our beds, we spend a LOT of time in our socks and we should love them!!! I finally got my first pair of Smartwool socks, and I now I feel like regular socks were lying to me my entire life. Get them for $15.95 on Amazon or from Smartwool (with free shipping, BTW).

(PS You can get the women's version — the exact ones I have — for $17.95 on Amazon or from Smartwool. And apparently the women's ones cost $2 more because they have more cushion; I asked.)

5. This book, which features literally every Playboy centerfold from 1953–2016.

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I know I said I wouldn't give you a bunch of normatively masculine gifts, but listen: I'm a straight lady and I'm here to tell you that this book is legit. It's incredibly nice (super heavy, high-quality pages, smells great) and the content is fascinating. It's really interesting (and mildly depressing, but mostly just interesting) to see how the Playmates have changed over time. Trust me on this one.

Get it on Amazon for $50.97, from Barnes and Noble for $53.49, or a local bookseller through IndieBound here.

6. Or this book will teach them literally everything they need to know about keeping a home in running order.

Tom Vellner / BuzzFeed

Just a heads-up that this book is going to appear in every gift guide I write because I love it so much!!!! Read my full review here.

Buy it on Amazon for $15.93+ or a local bookseller through IndieBound here.

7. Annnnd one more book.

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I recently saw Gabrielle Union speak on a panel and walked away feeling like I'd just been to church. She's a truly remarkable human, and the first thing I did was buy her book, which is 💯. It covers career, race, relationships, self-worth, and so much more, and is great for anyone who loves memoirs or Gabrielle Union. (It's already a New York Times best-seller!)

Get it on Amazon for $12.99+, Barnes and Noble for $12.99+, or a local bookseller through IndieBound here.

8. A sunrise alarm clock.

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A great gift or a great passive-aggressive way to say, "OMFG STOP HITTING YOUR SNOOZE SIX TIMES EVERY MORNING, YOU FOOL"? Who cares??

Get it on Amazon for $109.79.

9. An electric toothbrush.

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You can read my full review of this toothbrush here.

Get the plastic quip for $30 (comes in two colors), or the metal one for $45 (comes in four colors).

10. A nice notebook.

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For the man who has a lot of thoughts! I stan hard for this navy blue Leuchtturm1917 hardcover dot grid notebook, and have sold several/friends and coworkers on it. (BTW if you think a notebook is just the thing, you can see more of my favorite notebooks here.)

Get it on Amazon in one of 15 colors for $19.95.

11. A squatty potty.

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Get a basic one on Amazon for $24.99 or upgrade to a teak one for $59.99 or bamboo (pictured) for $77.84.

And for the man who has everything — including a Squatty Potty — consider this genius foldable travel one for $29.99.

12. An Amazon Echo or an Echo Dot.

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I have the Echo, as do a lot of my male friends, but a lot of my friends rave about the Dot. Totally your call!

Get them from Amazon — get the Echo for $99.99 (comes in six colors, including manly woodgrain!!!!) and the Dot for $49.99 (comes in black and white).

13. A couple of smart plugs.

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I know, we're starting to slide into "stereotypical things dudes like" with tech stuff but... this is a really good gift, in part because it's something a lot of people want to try, but aren't willing to pull the trigger on themselves.

Get them on Amazon for $24.83 each.

14. A cool piggy bank.

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A lot of men's wallets don't really hold change, so men empty their pockets every evening onto nightstands, dressers, and entryway tables. Putting it in a bank makes your place look tidier and adds a little decorative ~flair~ to the home.

Get the gold bar for $16.30 and the Storm Trooper for $19.93 from Amazon.

15. A good knife.

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Because who among us doesn't have lots of boxes to open/break down/etc.?!

Get a set of two from Amazon for $26.99.

16. An Audible gift membership.

Audible / Via instagram.com

Great for anyone who is intellectually curious but doesn't, like, love to read. Also listening to audiobooks is a nice activity you can do together!

Starts at $45 for three months.

17. A bottle of Dr. G Brightening Peeling Gel.

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As I've written before, this stuff is the tits.

Get it on Amazon for $15.98 or Nordstrom for $28.

18. A cold brew coffee maker.

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Whether the person is REALLY into coffee or casually into coffee, this thing is a great gift. (I own one, it's awesome.)

Get it on Amazon for $34.95.

And, if you feel like treating him right, throw in an electric coffee grinder ($17.99) and some fresh whole beans.

19. A nice candle.

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One of my favorite ways to lovingly troll frugalish men is to buy them really expensive things and have them not realize how much I spent until much later. 😇A Diptyque candle is a great way to do that! Figuier (which I try to avoid saying aloud at all costs) is a great clean scent that isn't too strong or too floral, but also, isn't, like, JIM BEAM TRACTOR TOBACKY or whatever the hell constitutes "man" candles these days.

Get it on Amazon for $64.

And if you don't want to spend that much money on a candle (which is fair!!), you could go with Mrs. Meyer's lemon verbena candle instead.

Get a pack of two on Amazon for $17.98. (Keep one for yourself, obviously!)

20. A classy AF college sweater.

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My Hillflint sweater is the first piece of college gear I've bought/worn since I graduated 10 years ago and I can't say enough great things about it! It's thick, cozy, soft, stylish, and worth every penny. I was really afraid that wearing it might make people try to talk to me about sports, but so far, so good!!!

Get one from Hillflint (100+ schools, six sizes, sizes S–XXL) for $120.

Oh, and the brand also recently introduced sweatshirts, which start at $65.

21. And some yummy chocolate.

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I'm a huge fan of Chocolove's Almonds & Sea Salt in Dark Chocolate bars!

Get a pack of 12 on Amazon for $16.79+.