The Best Digital Gifts to E-give This Holiday

Guide • Dec. 9, 2019

So the Thanksgiving turkey has been digested well and now it’s time for the holidays to begin. We can’t wait for it and we’re sure that it’s quite the same case with you. While we start preparing for the holidays, we’d been thinking about the best digital gifts to e-give our loved ones this holiday.

E-give? Yes! By e-give, we mean that you give a gift to someone electronically, rather than physically.

But before we begin exploring the best digital gifts for this holiday, let’s explore some benefits of gifting things digitally.

Reduce physical waste at a time when it is accumulating
E-gifts can be used and enjoyed, and not just rest on the table
They are cheaper and more useful
Easy to purchase, send, and receive

All right, so now that we know the benefits of digital gifts over physical gifts, let’s look at some of the most useful and best digital gifts you can give to your friends, colleagues, family, and loved ones this holiday.

1. Kindle ebooks

So someone close to you owns a Kindle?

If yes, then it is a perfect time to gift them a few Kindle ebooks. Kindle ebooks are much cheaper than paperbacks and hardbacks, so you can take them on a Kindle shopping spree.

To gift a Kindle ebook to someone, log in to the Kindle store from your desktop browser and then select the book that you want to purchase as a gift.

Once you are on the product page, you have to click on the Buy for others option and then enter the email address of the recipient.

You also get to enter a delivery date and a personalized message. A Kindle ebook this holiday could just be the thing your bookworm friend or sibling could be looking for.

2. Digital movie and TV subscriptions

Does your younger sibling always pester you, asking to add them to your Apple Music or Netflix account? If the answer to this is yes, then it’s high time that you gift them a subscription this holiday.

Yes, digital subscriptions are one of the best digital gifts that you can e-give someone this holiday season. They can sit back on their couch, relax, and entertain themselves. How nice is that after a long and eventful year!

If you are eyeing a Netflix subscription for someone, then you will be glad to know that Netflix sells gift cards that range between $25 and $200.

You have to make the payment and enter an email address, and Netflix will then send the promo code to the recipient. However, if your loved one already happens to have a Netflix account, then these vouchers can be used for an additional few months to top things up for them. If you’re wondering about how long these packages are going to last, then this depends on the Netflix plan that they are on.

Even Hulu for that matter works similarly. You choose either $25 or $50 and then load them to the card, enter the email address, name, personal message, and delivery date. Hulu does the rest!

Newer streaming services like Apple TV+ and Disney don’t quite have a gift option yet. Since these are relatively new, it’s going to take some time for them to introduce a gift scheme that could work in a way similar to Netflix or Hulu.

3. Digital music subscription

Well, music is something that a lot of us claim not to be able to live without. And what could be better than gifting those music lovers a subscription to their favorite music streaming platform?

Spotify is, of course, the most popular music streaming platform. Spotify, for now, doesn’t sell gift cards directly, but you can pick them up from Amazon at $30 or $60.

Spotify Premium is ad-free and comes with amazing features such as offline playlist, higher audio quality, and more. It costs $10 a month. That way, you could gift your loved one a Spotify subscription for three months or six months. That’s a lot of free music! When they run out of this balance, they get the option to either continue their subscription or just rollback to their free plan.

If you prefer Apple Music instead, then you’d be disappointed to know that it doesn’t quite offer a gift card option through the app. However, you can buy an iTunes gift card which can work with Apple Music (not with Apple TV+). Apple Music also costs $10 per month, and you have the option to top up your card between $10 to $200.

Apple even gives you the option to customize your gift email with a lot of cool designs!

4. Amazon Prime subscription

Amazon Prime is pretty cool and offers features such as access to streaming videos, faster delivery, and more.

Amazon has a page which is set up for this gift purpose. To start with, you have to choose the time for the gift subscription — ranging from three months to twelve months, purchased at $39 and $119 respectively. Then, you enter the email address of the recipient and choose the delivery time, which can be scheduled for up to one whole year.

5. YouTube Premium subscriptions

Now, you have the option to give someone the gift of YouTube. To gift a YouTube subscription to your loved ones this holiday, all you have to do is head over to Amazon and buy the subscriptions that come with pre-filled denominations that range from $25 to $50. Like the other gift options, you also get to add a custom message so that you recipient can know how you feel about the gift. You also get to choose a delivery date for your subscription.

In case they don’t want to use the gift card for YouTube they can redeem it for Google Play Store games, apps, books, and more.

With a YouTube subscription, your loved ones can enjoy ad-free subscription to exclusive content this holiday.

6. Other premium web services

What better gift could you make, than to improve your friend]s experience with their favorite online app service. Find out which app services they frequently use and surprise them with an upgrade.

If your friend or family concerns about security, then check Password Manager Premium, they can secure passwords stored online and synced across devices.

If they want to use a VPN to access another region’s Netflix, you can get best VPNs to unblock Netflix.

7. Android and iOS apps

Apps form the lifeline of any smartphone, so you can also consider them for the best digital gift to e-give this holiday season.

You cannot gift specific apps on Android, but you do have the option to gift Google Play Store gift cards. They’re also available for purchase from third-party sources such as Amazon, PayPal, and Walmart.

The minimum amount here is $10 and trust us — this is enough for most of the apps. But you do have the option of going up to $200.

Gifting iOS apps is easier than Android. Once you pay for the app, the recipient of the gift gets an email with a download link through which they can download the app for free. There’s an option to have immediate downloads and an option to schedule them for a later date and time.

To make a gift, tap on the Share button on the app page and select the Gift App. Follow the prompts, enter the email address and an optional message, and continue to the payment.

8. Console games

If you have someone in your life who is a game lover — has all those titles and walkthroughs on the tip of their tongue — then what could be better than gifting them gift cards to buy their favorite titles.

PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo have the option of gift cards for their games.

For Nintendo, you can purchase eShop gift cards worth $10, $20, $35, and $50. However, you must note that these gift cards get sent through the post, and not email. These can then be discounted for the Nintendo 3DS, Wii U, and Nintendo Switch.

Similarly, you can purchase PlayStation gift cards that can be redeemed for the PlayStation Plus service. Unlike the Nintendo cards, they can be delivered digitally. You can purchase the for $10, $20, $50, $60, or $100. You also get to cover PlayStation Plus subscription for an additional $10 for a month and $25 for three months.

Microsoft also has gift cards. The Xbox gift cards work much like the PS ones and can be purchased for a value which is between $1 and $100. You can also gift access to the multiplayer service — the Xbox Live Gold — for one month, three months, six months, and a full year, priced at $10, $25, $40, and $60 respectively.

Give the gift of happiness

So these were some amazing gift options that you could e-give your loved ones this holiday. They won’t require you to wrap any paper or even gather that dust when they are not used.

They can rest on the server if your loved ones do not use them for a while. And yes, they can even be used for some last-minute gifting, in case you run out of ideas.

So we leave the gift-choosing part to you and wish you happy holidays!