Christmas Gifts for a Group of Friends

When you want to give something to every friend in your group, the trick is not to hunt for six different gifts. Pick one idea, make it for everyone, and put something of each friend into it: her name, her inside joke, her color. Or give the whole group one thing you'll all enjoy together. Below are both ways, with ideas you can make in a single evening, and how to hand it all out so nobody feels she got less.

First decide: a gift for each, or one for all?

• Four friends or fewer: you can make something different for each one. It shows, and it won't eat your whole December.
• Five or more: the same gift for everyone is the fairest and the easiest. The personal part goes on the tag, in the color or in a note inside.
• A tight budget: one gift for the group (a plan, a night, a short trip) is worth more than six little things nobody uses.

And if your group already does an exchange, don't compete with it: here are gift exchange ideas for friends.

The same gift, made personal

You can make these in one evening, in a batch, and each one carries something that belongs only to that friend.

• An ornament with her name and the year. Clear ornaments, a paint marker and an evening of music. Every December when she hangs it, she'll think of the group.
• A photo of all of you, printed, with a note on the back. The same group photo for everyone, but on the back of each one you write something different: what you love about that friend, or the day she saved you.
• Cookies in jars. The same cookies for all, each jar dressed in her favorite color.
• Matching socks or pajamas. On one condition: the next group photo is taken wearing them.
• A family recipe from each of them. Ask every friend, without saying why, for one recipe from her family's table. Make a little book of all of them and give everyone a copy. It's the gift that gets kept longest.
• Something from the same small shop. The candle maker at the holiday market, the bakery you all love, the local roaster. The same thing for everyone, chosen for each one: the scent, the flavor, the roast.

One gift for the whole group

• A night that's already planned. You bring the date, the place and the snacks. They just show up. A movie, a board game, karaoke in the living room.
• A date in the new year. A short trip, a beach day, a long Saturday brunch. Write the date on a card for each of them, like a ticket.
• The traveling album. An empty photo album with the first pages filled in by you. It moves from house to house all year and everyone adds to it. Next Christmas, it comes home full.
• The group's year in a slideshow. Gather everyone's photos from the year and play them on the TV at your holiday get-together. It costs nothing and someone always cries.

So nobody feels she got less

1. The same limit for everyone. If you spend more on one friend, make it time, not money.
2. A list of names. Write them all down before you start, with what goes to each. Nobody gets forgotten, not even the friend who joined the group this year.
3. Wrap everything the same night. Music on, coffee made, one sitting. Label each gift the moment it's wrapped.
4. Hand them out together, if you can. Opening gifts at the same time is half the gift. If one friend lives far away, have her open hers on a video call with everyone. For her, there's a guide to Christmas gifts for a long-distance best friend with this year's mailing dates.

A different print for each friend

We make prints of Capy and Bara, two capybara best friends, and of Pincho, Capy's cactus. Capy is calm and carries everybody; Bara is restless and wants to fix everything. Most groups have both. In the print in the photo, Pincho wears string lights and a red star under the words "Our tree is small. Our friendship isn't." There are many more: Capy, Bara, the two of them together, and Pincho. Add one name or both, pick the color, and collect it with Same Day Pickup at a store near you, or have it mailed free to any address in the 50 states. See the prints.

Not sure which print fits which friend? Have everyone take the Capy or Bara quiz at your next get-together. You take notes.

For the tags

For the one who's always late and always there.

This group is my favorite gift. This is just a little extra.

Merry Christmas to the friends who put up with me all year.

If you'd like tags ready to print, here are eight free printable Christmas gift tags with Capy and Bara. And if you want something special for the best friend in the group, here are Christmas gifts for your best friend.