When you were in college, you and your friends would drink literally whatever was available. A bottle of disgusting-flavored vodka that your roommate kept hidden in her underwear drawer? Sure. Jungle juice brewed up in a garbage can in the basement of a frat house? Sounded delicious. KEYSTONE LIGHT, for God’s sake? You were into it (as long as you could drink 400 of ’em).
But you inevitably graduated and slammed yourself into (what passes for) adulthood, and drinking all of that awful stuff became a thing of the past. You all make definitive choices about what your drink is, and that ends up defining you. Some of your friends became romanced by high-quality tequila. Some got really into the craft beer scene. But A LOT of your friends got really “into” wine, mainly because it makes them look dignified even if they’ve filled their glass with the cheapest wine in the world. They yell about wine o’clock and complain about the Sauvignon Blahhhhhs (aka: a nasty wine hangover).
So this year, keep this in mind: anyone can get a wino wine as a holiday gift. But you’re more creative than that. Check out our suggestions.
1. Save the Winos ($25, Buy Me Brunch):
A hilarious shirt your friend will love to wear to cocktail hour, and since the winos don’t really need saving, Buy Me Brunch has teamed up with the International Rhino Fund to donate a portion of the proceeds from every t-shirt sale to rhino conservation. Say it with us: awwwwww.2. Club W Wine Subscription ($39 per month):
A lot of people say they’re “into” wine when they really just mean they’re into drinking wine. Picking out the bottle with the coolest label or choosing based on price alone does not a wine enthusiast make. The point? Even if your friend has graduated from Two Buck Chuck to a bottle within the $15-$20 price range, she’s still got a lot to learn about wine. Help her become more educated about her favorite subject by getting her a subscription to Club W. For just $39 per month, Club W sends three bottles of wine to try, and prior to sending, your friend will fill out a questionnaire so they can be sure they’re sending her bottles she’ll actually like rather than have to regift at the next dinner party she goes to.3. Wine Gems ($76, Rab Labs):
The very act of slipping an ice cube into your wine makes everyone stop and say to themselves, “Oh my God, I’m turning into my mother.” While putting ice in your wine may be a little declasse (read: trashy), you want to enjoy what you’re drinking, right? That’s why Rab Labs paired up with Kim Crawford Wines to make Wine Gems, which are essentially the wino’s answer to whiskey stones (they chill your drink without diluting it). Crafted out of gorgeous fluorite stones, you pop them in the freezer for a few hours before popping them into your wine. Magically, the wino can go from trashy to classy while still keeping her wine chilled just the way she (and good old mom) likes it.4. Tervis Wine Glass Set ($40):
Ask the wino how many wine glasses she’s broken over the years and the answer is probably somewhere between 6 and 100. Why is something so delicate the chosen apparatus for getting wine drunk? The world will never know, and neither will the wino—all she knows is that she can’t afford to keep breaking and replacing wine glasses. Enter the Tervis Wine Glass Set. Perfect for patio drinking, the glasses are indestructible and will keep your white wine chilled even when sitting outside on a hot summer day.5. Fermented Grapes Wine Box ($59, Scoutmob Shoppe):
Given the wino’s proclivities, it’s safe to assume she probably already has a wine rack (whether it’s a nice one remains to be seen). Instead, get her something that will nicely display a bottle of wine she has reserved for special occasions, like this Fermented Grapes Wine Box. Though, it’s probably ALSO safe to assume that she doesn’t have anything reserved for special occasions because she drinks any wine she buys immediately, so buy her a bottle and gift it with the box—she ain’t gonna spend $50+ on a bottle for herself…yet.Want more holiday gift suggestions? Check out You’re Welcome’s 12 Days of Gift Guides.
Amanda Waas is the creator of You’re Welcome, a gift guide site for all of life’s awkward occasions. Her writing has appeared in Every Day With Rachael Ray, Glamour, Made Man, HiConsumption, AOL’s Shelterpop and DIY Life, and various others. Follow her on Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook and sign up for her succinct, not-annoying weekly e-newsletter for gift suggestions sent right to your inbox.
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